A magical week in Calabria
After the exuberance of the first meeting of the TarantaCeltica group in Tipperary in April, we were all excited about meeting up again, this time in the southern Italian province of Calabria. This second phase of the development of this unique cross-cultural collaboration was being organised for us the band’s Italian leader Andrea Picconi and Danilo Gatto, director of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Catanzaro-Nocera Terinese. The plan was to spend four days rehearsing, and then, as in Ireland, play three concerts.
Back in April when planning the travel for this trip, I spent many hours looking at possible permutations for getting to Calabria, which is somewhat ‘off the beaten track’, requiring more than one flight, or a combination of air and rail. Flights to Rome from Ireland for August were already prohibitively expensive, so I chose to fly the four of us based in Ireland via Milan, with a 3-4 hour stop-over to be sure of catching the connection to Lamezia Terme, where we were to be collected. Our Portugal based band member Dave Boyd was flying to Rome the same day, getting a train south to meet us at Lamezia Terme. As luck would have it, both the flight from Cork, which Brian Morrissey and I were taking, and the one from Dublin with the Cullen sisters, were badly delayed. Brian and I were lucky to catch our connection by a hair’s breath, the ladies however, missed their Milan check-in by 2 minutes and were forced to stay-over and catch the red-eye flight south the following morning. As the four of us were rushing through Milan airport in a sweat and struggling with uncooperative and unsympathetic ground staff, we received a selfie from Dave, sitting back on his train to Calabria enjoying a complementary glass of prosecco.
The following morning when the Cullens reached Lamezia Terme, the five of us were collected and driven across the Calabrian peninsula to Monasterace Superior, an ancient sleepy town on a hill overlooking the Ionian sea.
With the trials of air travel behind us, its thumbs up from Courtney as we load up our gear for the last leg of our journey over the mountains to Monasterace
The four Irish musicians and myself were sharing a house on the edge of the southern fringe of the village. Our Clonmel camera man Michael Hughes and our audio recording engineer Mac Ritchey staying in the house next door. Each morning, after an expresso on the veranda in the comparative coolness of the morning, we walked up the hill through the charming shaded piazza, exchanging “buon giorno” with the residents we encountered on our way to the cultural centre, where we met up with the Italian musicians to rehearse. Remembering how the Italian musicians had huddles around the wood stove in the rehearsal studio in Tipperary, it was amusing to see the Irish musicians clustered around the fans as they struggled with the 35 degree heat.
Dave, Courtney, Lottie and Brian enjoying a jews harp duet from Andrea and Mico during a break in rehearsals
During the ensuing days the TarantaCeltica musicians reacquainted themselves with the bands repertoire. They also welcomed a new member, Marcello Di Carolis, who was replacing Francesco Loccisano, and worked with two other Tarantella musicians that had been invited to perform as guests on a number of pieces during the Italian concerts.
The first of these concerts, which happened on Thursday 24th August, was part of the prestigious Festival d’Autunno, a highly regarded concert series run annually in Calabria. The venue for this concert was Grangia di Montauro, the remains of a 1000-year-old Benedictine Monastery on a hill overlooking the Ionian Sea, which struck me as the Calabrian equivalent of the Rock of Cashel. The response from the sold-out crowd of over 400 ticket holders was terrific, with the band receiving a standing ovation and returning for two encores. It was heartening to see exuberant attendees of all ages dancing along to the tunes, either side of the crowded seating area.
TarantaCeltica on stage at Grangia di Montauro as part of Festival d’autunno.
The second concert, in the piazza of the Mediterranean coastal town of Fuscaldo, was part of a free Summer Festival. While some villagers passed by stopping for a tune or two, most of the 200 strong crowd stayed through the 90-minute concert, giving the band a well-earned standing ovation. The final concert was in the medieval town of Monasterace, where we had been based for the week. This was the opening concert of the Tarantella Power Festival, which from what we could gather was the Tarantella version of the Willie Clancy Festival in County Clare with musicians coming for tuition from the foremost musicians in the tradition. The audience for this concert was composed of villagers and the visiting music students. Performing in the village the group had lived in for the week, gave this concert a very special feel. Following the Calabrian tradition of the ‘rota’, dancers stepped into the circle in front of the musicians, dancing for a while before stepping back to leave space for anotherdancer as they stepped into the circle. During the evening we witnessed Itlaian dancers drawn to the circle by the Tarantella rhythms, not miss a beat or change their flow when the tune shifted to an Irish gig, providing evidence, if it were needed, of the extraordinary synergies at work in the TarantaCeltica repertoire. Another highlight of the evening was undoubtedly Lottie Cullen’s playing a slow air on the pipes. The tune, one she had composed and dedicated to the memory of her friend and fellow musician Ashling Murphy, was followed by rapturous applause.
As in Ireland, TarantaCeltica received an enthusiastic response in the heartland of Calabria, all the more remarkable given that the band played three such dramatically different arenas, from a large stage with PA and elaborate lighting, to an acoustic performance in a village square. On a personal level, the visit to Calabria was one that will be remembered by all of us for many years to come. The hospitality we received was second to none, with delicious meals cooked for us each day by members of the local community, each one more delicious than the last.
Lottie, Brian, Courtney and Dave with Andrea with Andra Daqua, president of the Monasterace Cultural Centre and his family.
Thankfully, I had made smarter travel plan for the way home, with all of us taking the train north from Lamezia Terme to Rome, where we were to catch flights to our respective homes. As on the way over we experienced long delays, but with the work behind us and no connections to catch, we were able to bide our time and enjoy the last few hours together before reentering our everyday lives. We also had time begin conversations about what next for TarantaCeltica. As yet this story has to be written, but the seeds for next year have been sown during this magical week in Calabria and we await their germination with anticipation.