Tonight, Friday 21 June 2024 at 7.30 pm in Altamura in the courtyard of the “Cagnazzi” Classical High School.
Presentation of Maria Albano’s book “Desde el Alma” on the theme of emigration which introduces one of the most important female figures of Lucanian origin of the 20th century. Rosita Melo, Uruguayan musician, daughter of Lucanian emigrants and the first female tango composer at an international level. The author of the book Maria Albano talks about it.
The singer and well-known Matera actress Anna Rita del Piano, the actor Antonello Morello and the tango dancers: Fabrizio Bottone and Michela Fabbiano will perform.
Musicians, String Quintet: 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass
No one knows who gave the name tango to this dance, nor is it known exactly why it is called this way. Usually the Argentine tango is in binary time, but sometimes it instead leaves room for the more fluid and gentle musical 3/4 of vals: a type of tango characterized by a ternary tempo. It is said to derive from the fusion of the tango with the waltz.
In reality the vals it is more a derivation of the typical Alemannic waltz which, already in 1810, was danced in Buenos Aires and Montevideo among the higher social classes, replacing the older dances and mixing with polca and habanera.
But dance always takes to the streets, among the people, and so it was also for the waltz which in the “arms of the emigrants” took on softness and a desire for lightness, thus transforming itself into vals and characterized with small differences in the various South American countries. In the tango basin it took the name of vals criollo.
The main characteristics of this dance are the continuity and fluidity of the movements, the lightness and sweetness: the dancers give the impression of sliding on the floor as if they never wanted to stop, following the slowdowns and accelerations of the piece.
It is not easy to dance and you have to be very master of your “axis” which is put to the test by the many and infinite turns that the couple makes on themselves!!!
Particular attention goes to the wonderful vals titled Desde el almathis exceptional classic was composed by a woman, or rather by a little girl!
Rosita Melo, Uruguayan pianist-composer and concert performer, was just 14 years old when she composed the piece that would represent her absolute and best-known masterpiece throughout the world!
Rosita Melo was born in 1897 in Uruguay and moved with her family to Argentina at the age of 2. She married in 1922 the poet and writer Piuma Velez, who wrote the first version of the text of Desde el alma.
In 1948 the great Homero Manzi, composer and director, wanted to include the song in his film Dear my sweet mother, however with the condition of rewriting the words. Rosita Melo and Piuma Velez accepted and so Desde el alma became famous throughout the world.
The text is less light than its melody: it speaks of an “alma”, a soul wounded by love who does not want to consign its memories to oblivion and who prefers to continue mourning the lost love. She searches for him among her wounds, living uselessly sad and paying with pain for her only fault of having been a beautiful soul! A final exhortation to return to the ancient illusion and to wait for the new love that life will bring, seems at times to attenuate the wounds of the bitter night of his heart
The essential reason for this project is to enhance the figure of this musician of Lucanian origins, to listen to the music live and to be able to see some particular dance figures performed.
