From Salento to Monte Carlo, to give life to a show of international standing, whose genesis is not unrelated to the role played by Princess Caroline of Monaco. Between classical dance and traditional popular music, the show is “Core Meu”, born from the meeting between the French choreographer Jean-Christophe Mailott, founder, in 1985, of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, and the 47-year-old musician and composer from Calimera, Antonio Castrignanò.
In the Principality of the Grimaldi royal family, Castrignanò found himself catapulted, in 2015, for a private event promoted by Princess Carolina herself. In the French newspapers, “your royal highness” had read about the work of the artist from Salento Greece, and after having come into possession of one of his CDs, she had immediately appreciated the visceral and archaic music, which with the use of tambourines, evokes ancestral rhythms. The knowledge of the inventor of Les Ballets then did the rest, and at the end of an infinite series of meetings, choreographies and rehearsals, “Core Meu” was born.
The work, which for the first time in Italy will be performed in Piazza Duomo for three consecutive nights, Thursday 18, Friday 19 and Saturday 20 July 2024, was presented to the press today, Saturday 29 June, in the former refectory of the ancient Seminary in Piazza Duomo, where it also received the blessing of the metropolitan archbishop Michele Seccia.
More than fifty dancers, both male and female, will give life, together with the Taranta Sound of Castrignanò, to a show, which has already been defined as a worthy heir of the Cruise 2021 fashion show, brought to the same Piazza Duomo, with the rhythms of the “pizzica” and the colors of the lights, on the evening of July 22, 2020, by the art direction of the French fashion house Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri, coincidentally, also from Salento, from Tricase.
The three-day event in Lecce is organized by Ponderosa Music&Art, Beatmi and Gente di Terra, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the collaboration of the Principality of Monaco, the patronage of the Municipality of Lecce and the contribution of the Archdiocese and ArtWork, present at the press conference with Don Antonio Montinaro, president of the Splendor Fidei Foundation and with the vice president Dario Babbo.
The start of the three shows is set for 9.30 pm. Entrances are already available on the TicketMaster circuit and in the ArtWork info-points in Piazza Duomo and Palazzo Scarciglia in via Giuseppe Libertini.
Taranta Sounds, which Castrignanò uses, is composed of Rocco Nigro (accordion), Luigi Marra (violin, mandolin and voice), Maurizio Pellizzari (guitars), Marco Schiavone (cello), Giuseppe Spedicato (bass), Giovanni Emanuele Gelao (bagpipes and wind instruments), Davide Chiarelli (drums and percussion), and the sound engineer Guglielmo Dimitri, as well as the pianist and conductor Eliseo Castrignanò. The program includes original and traditional songs, including “Quandu te llai la facce la matina”, brought to success by the tenor from Lecce Tito Schipa (Lecce 1888, New York 1965), Sufi, Respiri di pizzica, Beddra ci dormi, Fomenta, Corri, Tremula terra and Core Meu, the latter dedicated to the French dancer and choreographer Maurice Béjart (Marseille 1927, Lausanne 2007).
Toti Bellone
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Photo above: an image of “Core Meu”. Below: the presentation of the show to the press (29-6-2024)
