"from Marseille to Tunis, from Tangier to Limassol"

by Stefano Cavallini

Notes, readings and considerations on an obscure and contradictory part of our western culture

From these lectures it's wrote the book Un'altra musica
(only in italian)

"from Marseille to Tunis, from Tangier to Limassol"
is on the intercultural didactics catalog "Diversi come noi", published by the Istituto degl'Innocenti di Firenze (only in italian)

   what is it?

 for the high school students and teachers

  5 lectures - concerts about 70-90 minutes of conversation with the author, accompanied by an wide musical listening from Cd and showing color slides, along the most important themes. At the end, to complete the lecture, there is about one hour of concert.

The author, Stefano Cavallini, have made in the italian high schools from 1996 through 1998, with live music and slides projection. In the 1999 the lectures are transformed in a book with the slides will became into some pictures and the live music into an audio cd.

It's an historical course of ten centuries of european history (from the Roman fall to the American discovered on 1492) by the mediterranean history of culture and music, treating the three most important musical cultures: Muslim (from the born Arabian peninsula to over Ziryab in Spain), Jewish (from Sinagogue to klezmer) and Christian (from Gregorian chants to the Flemish movement).

There are also many references and several parallelismes with the music of today.

featuring: Davide Morelli, flute; Barbara Bellettini, guitar.
go to read one short extraxct of 1st chapter

2 - The Muslim civilization coming and its influence on the Mediterranean. Arabian music of origins.
The Roman Empire fall and the continuation of commercial steadiness of the Mediterranean sea in relation to the Islam birth; notes on its culture. The Mediterranean conquest from muslims, way of life, cultural increase and notes on the new condition. Comparision between the music and the culture in that age. Notes on the Arabian music origins. Comparision between the Persian-Arabian microtonality music and our tempered system.

featuring: Alì Tajbakshs, percussions; Kamran Khacheh, setar.
go to read one short extract of 2nd chapter

 
3 - Muslim civilization development in Mediterranean basin. Spain, Provence and Sicily.
Muslim Spain birth. Ziryab. The music and the culture in Spain in comparision to the music and culture of western Europe in that age. On the european polyphony birth and its Arabian influences. The Christian Reconquista. The italian literature birth in comparision to the Troubadourical culture. Frederic II Hohenstaufen, Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarca.

featuring: Patrick Vaillant, mandolines
go to read one short extract of 3rd chapter

 
4 - Jewish Music: from the synagogue to the Klezmer.
Hebrew civilization origins and the music in the sinagogues. Hasidic populations in the East Europe. An integration attempt. The Klezmer music birth and the influences by the Gypsy civilization. The Jewish culture in the Middle Europe, the consequences of the Jewish sacrifice by the Nazism and the Klezmer develope in the USA.

featuring: Luciano Biondini, accordion; Mosè Chiavoni, clarinet.
go to read one short extract of 4th chapter

 
5 - Spanish music: from Islam to Flamenco.
The former populations to the Flamingo birth. The "Cante Jondo". The cultural situation because about Christian Reconquista, about Inquisition and about the commerce develope by the Slave Trade. The "Cafés Cantantes" and their role in the Flamingo diffusion. Don Manuel De Falla an the "Concurso de Cante Jondo". The Fifties years and the birth of consumer age. The "Nuevo Flamenco": Camaron De La Isla and Paco de Lucia.

featuring: Juan Lorenzo, guitar; Carmen Amor, cantaora
go to read one short extract of 5 th chapter