The trio composed of students from the two-year jazz course at the Ferrara Conservatory won the prize for the best original composition in the competition between jazz bands from the Conservatories of Music and Higher Education Music Schools (Afam) from all over Italy, the Jaci&Jazz Academy Award, organized in Acireale (Ct) by the Sajamastra Cultural Association and under the artistic direction of maestro Antonio Marangolo, now in its eighth edition.
The trio composed of François Ndayambaje, guitar, Raffaele Guandalini on double bass and Giovanni Ziparo on drums, after having passed the semi-final stages, performed on June 22 in front of the audience of Acireale in the Court of the Palazzo del Turismo, in a concert that saw the participation of other bands from national Conservatories and AFAM Institutes and was awarded in the “Best Original Composition” section. The piece “Sueño” by François Ndayambaje, was in fact defined as “a quiet and elegant opening page, capable of then opening up to temperatures in progressive crescendo capable of characterizing with absolute precision an unfolding that is anything but banal”.
The jury, chaired by the well-known critic Alberto Bazzurro, historic signature of the prestigious monthly magazine “Musica Jazz”, assigned the prizes to the best band, the best musician and the best original song. The Coordinator of the Award is Maestro Carlo Cattano, well-known musician and teacher at the Conservatory of Nocera Terinese.
François Ndayambaje began his music studies in 2018 by enrolling at the GB Martini Conservatory in Bologna, where he obtained a three-year degree in jazz guitar; he subsequently enrolled at the Frescobaldi Conservatory in Ferrara for the two-year course, where he is currently completing his studies. The trio in his name was born within the walls of the conservatory, to be precise, the Torrione Jazz Club, where the three meet during numerous masterclasses and concerts. The band offers original compositions written by François, who mixes purely jazz sounds with his own personal taste, proposing very different pieces and consequently creating ever-changing scenarios.
Proud of the students’ results, Professor Marta Raviglia, coordinator of the Jazz and New Technologies Department of the G. Frescobaldi Conservatory of Ferrara, comments: “In the last three or four years, the jazz course at the Ferrara Conservatory has seen the average level of students increase dramatically thanks to a greater selection, but also thanks to the harmony of the teaching staff and all the staff of our institution who are spending a lot to ensure a quality training offer that goes hand in hand with the most professionalizing aspects of a course like ours, namely those related to production activities. In this scenario, many talents are taking flight, strong in the skills acquired, but also in the opportunities that we are trying to create around their course of studies in which the experience of playing live is acquiring an ever greater role, given that we find ourselves in an era in which it is increasingly difficult for young musicians to find containers, spaces in which they can propose their music and their projects. The case of the trio of guitarist François Ndayambaje with Raffaele Guandalini on double bass and Giovanni Ziparo on drums fits perfectly into this phenomenon. François has distinguished himself in recent years for his recognizable guitar style, but also for his compositional refinement and so have his traveling companions who are among our best students. I am very proud of them both because they deserved this recognition and because they have brought the name of our Institution high at a national competition and I am sure that this will be the beginning of a brilliant and rewarding journey.”
