L’ Usignolo is the title of one of Luigi Boccaccio’s most famous waltzes and gives the name to a new group but with roots far back in time, when there were still the so-called “Concerti a fiato,” very different (in composition and style) from the “orchestras” as we think of them today.
At folk festivals, for grape harvest festivals, people wanted to dance, and groups of true pioneers of the genre accompanied them already at the end of the 800, who on the fast-paced rhythms of waltzes, mazurkas and polkas allowed clarinets and trumpets to go wild in sequences of frenzied notes and lead to the most daring high notes.
Percussion or rhythms of the Spanish or South American tradition were not yet in use, nor voices were used, perhaps due to the lack of amplification; only wind instruments with added, at times, the double bass were used.
Musicians from academic and non-academic backgrounds, active in the most varied musical genres, (classical, pop, contemporary) found the entertainment, the pleasure and the great value of the popular music of our land.
The group, in addition to performing the most famous and still beloved pieces of this repertoire, is also researching the lesser-known pages to offer them to its audience, and does not fail to include the new compositions of Francesco Gualerzi (founder of the group along with Mirco Ghirardini), who with great sensitivity and talent manages to reconnect with the tradition while respecting its style and atmosphere.
A proposal of great cultural value, of recovery of the musical language “nostrano” but also an opportunity for genuine fun to discover a prodigious and exciting style.
“Di buon mattino” is the title of the CD made in December 2007, containing original songs and reinterpretations.
“Sciopero dei Musicisti” is the title of the second CD made in 2009 which contains songs from the repertoire of the Barco Concert.
Beyond the normal concert activity related at the own repertoire, L’Usignolo in these years has done concerts of various nature with the cooperation for example of writers (Pignagnoli ballabile with Daniele Benati, Paolo Nori, Marco Raffaini and Ugo Cornia, Orchestra Disatri with Paolo Nori and Marco Raffaini, Tutto Tranne che il liscio with Paolo Nori) with singers (Crepacuore with Mara Redeghieri) and actors (I babbi deli sposi with Vito production of the Arena of Sole from Bologna).
(da “informazioni”, pagina Facebook della band)
Members of the group
Francesco Gualerzi
Mirco Ghirardini
Fabio Codeluppi
Valentino Spaggiari
Dimer Maccaferri
Marco Catelli
Gianluigi Paganelli
Hometown
Barco di Bibbiano (RE)
