Rachele Andrioli & Rocco Nigro

Devil’s art from Southern Italy.

In Salento, located in the heel of the Italian boot, they play with fire. Not ordinary fireworks filled with gunpowder, but pure musical fire. The peninsula is the breeding ground for the tarantella, the dance of fools, triggered by the bite of the venomous tarantula, as mythology would have it. Spider bite or no, it gets pretty intense. Fired up by furious drum rolls on tambourines, the dancers reach ecstatic states until finally collapsing to the floor, exhausted.

Rachele Andrioli and Rocco Nigro turn it into an auditory experience. The traditional melodies may sound sweet and innocent at times, but the way Nigro subtly disrupts them with his virtuoso accordion play is a pure pleasure to the ears of connoisseurs. At other times their musical shenanigans get so extreme, the music sounds almost atonal. Andrioli’s vocal cords are a powerful instrument, capable of enchanting cooing as well as fiery belting. Equally impressive are the sounds and rhythms she manages to extract from her tambourine. Together, the duo exceeds the limits of their own region; sometimes you can even catch glimpses of chanson à la Piaf with a whiff of Kurt Weil.

Formation

Rachele Andrioli – vocals, tambourine
Rocco Nigro – accordion