1. 16 OCTOBER 17, 2010 SUNDAY NEWS
STARmagazine
The five vocalists of Mezzotono: Marco Giuliani, the baritone,
Francesca Leone, a semi-soprano, Andrea Maurelli, a tenor, Daniela
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Desideri, a soprano and Fabio Lepore, another tenor; take the stage
at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday evening.
THE ART AND CULTURE CORNER
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Marco Giuliani plays the guitar to back
Francesca Leone for her solo piece.
Mezzotono gave a display of
what the human voice can do
W
By Staff Writer IMAN MANI ter a couple numbers, one realises so easy that even the uninitiated, ing the strings, with the other effectively. Also, how they would
ELL the first that their voices actually sing and may be charmed into thinking hand. move from normal singing to a
thing the visit- reproduce the different instru- it’s anything as easy as it seems. Seems there is always time combination of sounds, which in-
ing Italian vo- ments, such as a drum kit, electric When Marco Giuliani, the baritone for humour from these five sing- cludes clapping in time from the
cals quintet did, bass guitar and mandolin. in the group, took up his guitar to ers. Well they certainly know how audience, under their direction; all
when they came The originality of their perfor- accompany his colleagues: Daniela to mix it well with a continuous in one rendition. Hearing one note
on stage, was to welcome the audi- mance is evident in the repertoire, Desideri a soprano, Francesca Le- stream of serious on time music, of a tuning pipe now and then re-
ence with their rendition of ‘Malai- which consists solely of major Ital- one a semi-soprano, Fabio Lepore which has a strong beat behind the vealed how professional they were
ka’ followed by greeting them in ian music and varies from songs a tenor and Andrea Maurelli an- melody line, from start to finish. at keeping in tune throughout their
Swahili. It didn’t matter that he in ‘Barese’ dialect to some classic other tenor, for a solo, brought a Knowing that all the proceedings performance.
had to read this neither, for all traditional ones from there. This different flavour to their act. of the charity concert was going The lively audience showed
present at the Golden Tulip along might be the case but because they The large range of music the towards the ‘Help a Village Proj- how much they appreciated the
the Dar es Salaam peninsula, on employ different musical idioms five contain, cover many genres ect’ in Njombe District of Iringa performance by refusing to allow
Wednesday evening, showed they like reggae, Jazz, and even rap, in and generations, which added Region, brought another dimen- them to stop. After-all they were
appreciated the effort by giving a their repertoire, it remains fresh much colour to their repertoire. sion to having a group that could an integral part of the stage act,
round of hearty applause. and exciting to any audience. Giuliani’s fingers moving over the hold the interests of an audience. even when Giuliani sat on a chair
Got a full house, with the larg- Their versatility, coupled with guitar’s fret board revealed that he It was interesting to see how and made believe he was playing a
er majority being Europeans living a large degree of professionalism, was also an accomplished guitar- they could incorporate sounds, drum kit, with his hands and feet
right here in the city. Although makes what they do on stage seem ist, whether strumming or pluck- like a cats meow during a song, so making the movements but the
from those spoken to throughout sound coming from his mouth.
the evening, there were those from It was good to see how they
other regions in the country pres- could go from one mood to another
ent. Wherever they came from, just like that. The audience really
there was one thing they all had showed their insatiable appetite for
in common, which could be seen Mezzotono’s versatile performance
from their actions and that was the by not allowing them to stop. They
desire to be entertained. None- were called back to the stage three
theless, there were enough indig- times. For sure it can be said that
enous people there for their pres- these two ladies and three gentle-
ence to be felt. men represent modern day Italy
One thing that came out right but carry something of the old that
from the beginning is that the cannot be named or denied.
group that calls itself ‘Mezzotono’ Finally, the repeated an-
– semitone in English – have noth- nouncements, inviting everyone to
ing half about them when it comes dinner, succeeded in allowing the
to their sound or sense of humour. singing quintet the chance to leave
They certainly know how to quick- the stage. Their repertoire includ-
ly establish and then maintain a ed Italian classics like ‘La citta’ di
lively atmosphere throughout their Pulcinella’ and ‘Il Balletto Barese’
act from beginning to end. but also had numbers like Cole
Hearing that their stage show Porter’s ‘Night and Day’, Stevie
is entirely built on their five voic- Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed’, Beyonce’s
es in a-cappella mode (meaning ‘Listen’ and ‘That’s what friends
without the use of musical instru- are for’ by Bert Bacharach. Well,
ments), one could get the wrong Getting a full house at the charity concert should benefit the ‘Help a Village Project’ in Njombe District of they certainly displayed what voic-
preconception of their act. But af- Iringa Region. (Photos by Iman Mani) es are for, with style.