Tarantelle e Canti d'Amore presented by the World Music Institute at Symphony Space NY, 2009.
As the internationally acknowledged expert of Southern Italian frame drum & tamborine, Alessandra offers:
• workshops
• performances: solo or with a variety of ensembles
• instructional products
• her REMO signature series line of drums.
Her shows are often booked in conjunction with one of her workshops. Alessandra Belloni and her world music ensembles are available for touring.
Dedicated to the healing power of drumming and the Tarantella Rhythm
Featuring voice, percussion and ritual dance, including Southern Italian tambourines, frame drums, ocean drum, Bodhran, shakers, berimbao, harmonium. This fiery “percussive journey” through the South of Italy will explore through songs, dance and rhythm, magic rituals, tarantellas used as music therapy and exorcism, healing chants in honor of the Black Madonna, lullabies, love ballads, work chants and protest song.
The performance ends with the authentic Pizzica Tarantata, the healing trance dance from Puglia used as an exorcism to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, a mental disorder that afflicted mainly women, and which goes back to the ancient Greek rites of Dionysus.
“Ms. Belloni sang in an exultant voice. The songs blazed with an age-old momentum." - Jon Pareles, NY Times
"Italian-born virtuoso Alessandra Belloni is established as a unique phenomenon, not just a percussionist, but also an actress, lecturer, entertainer, and healer." - DRUM Magazine
The ensemble includes violin, electric & acoustic guitar, drum set, Brazilian & Italian percussion, vocals & dance.
World renowned Alessandra Belloni has assembled a spectacular group of artists representing Native American, Southern Italian, and Brazilian cultures. These three great cultures will unite to summon the ancient healing power of indigenous drumming, chants and ritual trance dances.
A musical journey to the ancient sacred sites of the Great Mother Goddess with Alessandra Belloni & Guest Artists
A concert honoring The Black Madonna, the Mystical Great Mother of the Western world featuring traditional songs, healing chants, and drum rhythms of Southern Italy, the Near East, North Africa, Spain, France, Portugal, Brazil, and Mexico, a musical journey around the world to the sacred sites of The Black Madonna, some of which have existed since the time of The Great Mother Goddess of antiquity.
The ancient Mediterranean sound created in The Voyage of the Black Madonna is combined with contemporary world music making a bridge between primitive, traditional, and modern music.
“Alessandra Belloni - Earth Mother, muse, Artistic Director, and self styled Black Madonna, 'the dark side of the Moon…” - New York Newsday
Alessandra's World Music and Percussion performances and concerts are often booked in conjunction with a workshop session.
"….this percussion style and method is applicable in so many music contexts: Bluegrass, Freak Folk, Early Music, New Age, Music Therapy, Gospel, Jazz, Reggae... Show the opening tammorra solo from the DVD to the Heavy Metal aficionado in your life, and he might just be convinced, too! I know I am..." — Stefan, student testimonial
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce general audiences to a very rich tambourine and folk dance culture with an active current performance practice in Southern Italy. This workshop will focus on the tarantella fast 6/8 rhythms and its many variations. Alessandra will also teach chants and songs, sung as devotion to the Black Madonna, Montevergine near Naples the Sun (Jesce Sole), Pugliese, Calabrese and Sicilian chants.
Alessandra has offered this workshop in many universities and institutions, including: Eselon Institute, Findhorn Foundation (Scotland), COSM (Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors) and at many other venues.
The Workshop is designed to follow the method described in Alessandra’s book/dvd, “Rhythm is the Cure,” enabling students to continue their rhythmic journey independently after the course is complete.
As a Remo Signature Series artist, Alessandra is the designer of her own REMO series Italian tambourines and special brushes for tambourine with Regal Tip.
Rhythm is the Cure Book & DVD
This book with DVD (111 min.) will introduce the reader to the tambourine and folk dance tradition of Southern Italy, the Tarantella. Students will learn the techniques of tarantella tambourine playing as well as the history of this ancient tradition. This book reflects 25 years of field research and performance by the author, Alessandra Belloni.
Watch a curated playlist of Alessandra Belloni as a percussionist, click "Playlist" in top left corner to select among the videos.
"Tambourine, n. (1) Instrument the lead singer’s girlfriend plays.
Also, (2) Instrument you give to a preschool child at your own risk.
Not, you’d think, a difficult instrument. Or a lead instrument. Or a sacred instrument used since ancient times to summon Cybele herself: the Earth mother, goddess of nature and fertility.” — The Record
"It has been my privilege to work with and count as a friend some of the world's most accomplished percussion specialists. My experiences have enabled me to establish a criteria that I use as an evaluation tool in establishing artistic capabilities. Alessandra Belloni fits my criteria in every way. Alessandra is committed to her art more than any artist I have ever known. She is as good as it gets on her instruments technically and is, without question, musically superior. Dedicated, committed and professional describes Alessandra Belloni." — Remo Belli
