Sample Song
Alessandra Belloni
Biography
Alessandra Belloni is the Artistic Director, Founder and Lead Performer of "I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA", an Italian Music, Theatre and Dance Ensemble who are Artists-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. She is also the designer of a line of signature Italian tambourines made by Remo Inc.
A tambourine virtuoso, singer, dancer and actress, Ms. Belloni was born in Rome, Italy and is committed to preserving the strong and rich traditions of her native culture. She has performed extensively with master drummers from around the world.
She is the only woman in the U.S. and in Italy who specializes in traditional Southern Italian folk dances and percussion that she participating in authentic drumming festivals in remote areas of Southern Italy, held as rituals of purification in honor of the Black Madonna.
In 2004 Alessandra Belloni was featured in a National Geographic documentary on spiders entitled "Deadly Love" where she reenacted the authentic drumming and dance ritual of the pizzica tarantata, which originated the dance, tarantella, used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula. She was also featured in the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and the Seattle World Percussion Festival. In the summer of 2004, Alessandra performed her solo show in the oldest theater in South America, in the town of Orou Preto, Brazil. She has performed extensively with master drummer Glen Velez and was invited by Nana Vasconcellos and Gilberto Gil to perform in PERC PAN ’98 in Bahia, Brazil. Alessandra was also selected as one of three runners-up (along with Babatunde Olatunji and Mickey Hart) to Arthur Hull in DRUM! Magazine "New Age/Worldbeat Percussionist" category in their 1998 awards. She was featured in Modern Drummer magazine and has written articles for Percussive Notes.
She has recently started a collaboration with the Raven Drum Foundation, founded by Rick Allen, acclaimed drummer of the rock group Def Leppard and Jimmy Page’s (Led Zeppelin) Foundation Action for Brazilian Children.
He latest collaboration is with Southern Italian drummer Sergio Bellotti, also Remo artist, with whom she created a special Tambourine and Drum set duo, evolving a new style of tambourine/drum set techniques based on the Southern Italian and Brazilian rhythms.
Her recent CD "Tarantelle & Canti D’amore" release by Naxos of America on 2003 has been so far considered the second best percussion CD of the year by DRUM Magazine and has received many favorable reviews from major press.
The CD "Tarantata: The Dance of Ancient Spider" (on the Soundstrue label) released in 2000, has received a wide critical acclaim and distribution. It was also nominated one of the best CDs of the year (2002) by Jon Parales from the New York Times and Dan Hackman from the Los Angeles Times, and won the Best World Percussion CD of the Year by DRUM Magazine.
Alessandra Belloni has created a new World Music Sound, cross-cultural operas and percussion ensembles. With her one woman show "Rhythm is the Cure" - also available as a duo with Mauro Refosco, master percussion from Brazil and member of David Byrne’s band - and with her ensemble from New York she tours across the U.S. and abroad, performing and teaching workshops in various Festivals and halls:
Alessandra also travels around the world with her RHYTHM IS THE CURE workshop and performance, based on the healing power of Southern Italian ritual drumming and dances.
Every summer she holds a special one week healing workshop in Tuscany, Italy, together with a great Italian Shaman/writer Franco Santoro, who teaches at Findhorn, Scotland, where she also teaches and performs.
"I think that it is important to reach as many cultures as possible with the power of the trance rhythm of the TARANTELLA and the ritual drumming and dancing in honor of the Black Madonna from my tradition.
RHYTHM IS THE CURE has had an impact on women of all ages and backgrounds, (some who have been sexually abused or are emotional disturbed) as well as men". Alessandra Belloni
Allessandra Belloni’s visit to Australia has been made possible with the generous support of the Italian Institute of Culture
RECORDINGS
TARANTELLE & CANTI D’AMORE - Naxos World 2003
TARANTATA: THE DANCE OF ANCIENT SPIDER - Sounds True 2000
MOTHER EARTH LULLABIES - Ellipsis Arts - 2002
MEDITERRANEAN LULLABIES - Ellipsis Arts 2000
EARTH, SUN AND MOON - Lyrichord 1995
DVINE DIVAS - ROUNDER Records - 1997
SOME FESTIVALS
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FESTIVALS
BERKLEE WORLD PERCUSSION FESTIVAL
CAPE BRETON DUM FESTIVAL
SEATTLE WORLD PERCUSSION FESTIVAL
WOMAD (Seattle and Sicily),
LOTUS WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL (Bloomington Indiana),
RHYTHM STICKS, Royal Festival Hall (London,
GLASTONBURY GODDESS FESTIVAL
MONTREAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, Canada
PERC PAN, (Salvador , Bahia, Brazil, Teatro Castro Alves)
LOS ANGELES SACRED MUSIC FESTIVAL
International Women Day, Sanzio Theatre, Urbino Italy
Italian Percussion Festival, PERC FEST and DRUMMER’S UNITED
Perkusia Expo (Warsaw, Poland),
Theatre of SESC Ipiranga , SESC POMPEIA (Brazil) with Siba & others from Mestre Ambrosio
PASIC , 1996 Nashville, 1997 Los Angeles, 2000 (Dallas), 2003 Louisville Kentucky
DRUMMING AT THE PYRAMIDS (Egypt)
Cultural Center in Tel Aviv (Israel)
Julliard (New York)
Oberlin (Ohio)
Conservatory of Milan (Italy)
Royal Marine School of Music (England)
SOME THEATRES AND ART CENTERS
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Carnegie Hall Pittsburgh & Carnegie Recital Hall NY
PALLADIUM Theatre and Teatro Argentina, Rome Italy
JOE’S PUB (public Theatre in NY)
SYMPHNY SPACE, Open Center in NY
AWARDS
Certificate of Appreciation by the City of Los Angeles
Italian American Woman of the Year - Italian American Women Organization
Citation of Honor by the Sons of Italy in America
Life time Achievement by the Italian Oral Institute in Los Angeles
REVIEW
The remarkable talent and expertise of vocalist and percussionist ALESSANDRA BELLONI, for "RHYTHM IS THE CURE", a dynamic concert of both Southern Italian and Brazilian music presented at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
"Invocations and work songs, exorcisms and lullabies shared the program of RHTHM IS THE CURE in the Chapel of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.... Driven by tambourine patterns so fast that the drummer’s hands became blurs. Ms. Belloni sang in an exultant voice. The songs blazed with an age-old momentum."
- Jon Pareles, New York Times
