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CD roots out music and poetry in the language of the Monferrato
A WORLD TO DISCOVER > MONFERRATO > Music and Poetry
11/25/2007
CD roots out music and poetry in the language of the Monferrato
Ten years ago I visited the Monferrato for the first time and I fell in love with the land of my ancestors and with the family I still had living there. Seven years ago I created the Web site, www.monferrini.com to help spread the word – mostly in English – about the Monferrato.
Since I have been passionate about music for most of my life, it’s not unusual that I would be interested in Piemontese music and my search to learn more led me to Ariondassa, with whom I collaborated on two visits to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2005 and 2006.
That, in turn, led me to the idea of a CD of music – and poetry – in the dialects of Alessandria and Asti. Even though I’m not an expert on poetry, when my friend Ugo Bertana gave me a copy of Teresio Malpassuto’s anthology “Spirit Munfrin,” published by the City of Casale Monferrato, I became enchanted with the rhythm and the sound of the Monferrini dialects.
I began to seek out poets from the area and enlisted Chacho Marchelli and Gian Piero Morano to help me contact and record poets. In the meantime, I made contact with some musicians I knew, too, in the Monferrato. Although Chacho and GP likely thought I was crazy, they helped with the project and so “Rèis Monfrin-e” was born.
The disc contains 30 tracks – a mix of poems and songs – by Alfredo Rota, Luigi Reposo, Luciano Ravizza, Nina Prati, Ariondassa, I Sunadur dal Ravi and Il Canzoniere Monferrino. There is also a rare recording made in New York in the 1940s which shows that emigrants from the Monferrato took their music and their language with them across the sea.
The disc – which includes all the texts in Piemonteis, Italian and English -- was released in late summer and was officially presented to the Italian public, Monday, Nov. 12 at Castell’Alfero in the lovely castle where the father of the Italian tri-color flag – DeRolandis – was born.
About a 100 people were on hand to hear the musicians play and the poets read their work. Also on hand was Kathy Rogers, president of the Piemontesi nel Mondo of Northern California, whose financial contribution made the CD possible.
For more information or to order a copy of the CD, visit http://www.monferrini.com
Robert Tanzilo