Grand Fatilla Returns to Rocky Neck!

Grand Fatilla returns to Rocky Neck!

Friday July 31 2015, 7:30 PM

The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson St Gloucester MA 01930

COST: $15 / $10 for Rocky Neck Art Colony members

At its Cultural Center concert in November 2014 Grand Fatilla placed a smile on the face of every listener for the entire night, a night that flew by far too fast. July 31 will welcome this extraordinary band back to Gloucester in a not-to-be-missed concert.

Described as a magic carpet, flying listeners to different known and unknown places, the Grand Fatilla experience is delivered by an innate spontaneity that defies world music boundaries. What began as a virtuoso trio exploring gypsy-infused, cross-cultural folk music, Club d’Elf bassist Mike Rivard, electric mandolinist Matt Glover and accordionist Roberto Cassan joined with percussionist and singer Fabio Pirozzolo, and Grand Fatilla was born. With a considerable following, notable for its raucous enthusiasm and varied ethnic make-up, audience members are drawn to the music’s infectious authenticity. The group travels from Argentine Tangos to Italian Tarantellas, from Turkish sacred Sufi songs to Irish reels, Moroccan trance to Bulgarian dance music, all performed with a signature of improvisational group interplay and playful spontaneity.

Each member of the band brings a distinct flavor and area of expertise in different World music to the collective sound: Cassan and Pirozzolo both hail from Italy where they were immersed in the folk music of that area (and play with the Italian folk group Newpoli), and have also intensely explored Armenian (both of them are also a part of the Armenian-jazz nonet Musaner), Balkan, Tango, Brazilian and South American music. Glover came to Boston from his native Newfoundland where he absorbed the Celtic influences and fiddle music of that area, as well as studying the South Indian style of mandolinist U. Srinivas. Rivard, who is also a member of Indian-jazz group Natraj and plays with the Boston Pops Orchestra, has a passion for North African music, especially Moroccan trance music. This lead him to study the sintir, a 3-stringed bass lute.

In this age of heightened global consciousness the repertoire that Grand Fatilla performs acknowledges and pays homage to the idea that it is indeed One World that we all live in, and the music of diverse cultures enriches us all.