UN BALLO LISCIO
– Riccardo Tesi diatonic accordion, Claudio Carboni saxophones, Nico Gori clarinet, Maurizio Geri guitar and vocals, Roberto Bartoli double bass, Massimo Tagliata piano and accordion, Gianluca Nanni percussion, Alborada String Quartet –
A journey through a century of the history of the Italian popular dance par excellence: liscio.
A multiethnic orchestra, composed of some of the most representative musicians from the ethnic, classical, and jazz scenes, revisits—with both rigor and boldness—the melodies and rhythms that made entire generations of Italians dance: from the classical echoes of Carlo Brighi to the band-like atmospheres of Concerto Cantoni and the jazz openings of Gorni Kramer, without forgetting the ethnic influences of regional variants, the Bolognese style, and the Romagna sound of Secondo Casadei.
An opportunity to rediscover the evocative melodic structure, the instrumental virtuosity, the fascinating timbral combinations, and the more hidden and seductive aspects of a musical genre that has been undeservedly underestimated.
Liscio is synonymous with popular dance and designates a musical genre that still enjoys enormous popularity throughout Italy.
However, this popularity is often matched by a reductive and stereotypical image.
A closer analysis of its history instead reveals a broad and complex phenomenon: in fact, liscio has cultivated roots and originated in the 19th century in the wake of the Viennese school of Johann Strauss and the great fashion for waltz, polka, and mazurka that dominated bourgeois dance culture of the time, before spreading to the popular classes and marking the gradual and definitive transition from collective dance forms to couple dancing.
Small orchestras of violins and mandolins, bands and small wind ensembles, and ocarina quintets formed a reservoir of literate instrumentalists who, together with musicians from oral traditions, were ready to integrate and disseminate this repertoire.
Throughout its long history it has continuously evolved, assimilating imported rhythms (tango, beguine, paso doble, etc.), introducing new instruments (accordion, saxophone, drums, guitar…), and blending with jazz, popular music, and song.
VIDEOS
– Watch the Un Ballo Liscio videos –
Viralissima – Un Ballo Liscio