Festival Reservoir

The festival re-creates the atmosphere of a village festival in the outdoor settings of Shepparton Showgrounds and Edwardes Lake Park, all areas with the highest rate of Southern European ancestry and residents. The program includes a series of dance and music performances and workshops on the main stage presented by the artists themselves, and open to the public to join in to learn and dance in groups coordinated by professional dancers of Tarantella.

Festival Day – 19 and 25 November - Event activities from 10.30 am to 8 pm.

PROGRAM for the music performances on the stage and traditional dance on the floor is the following:

10.30 – 12.30: Open festival activities, food-stores, merchandise, open workshops

12:30 am - 1 pm: Official opening of the festival. Welcome speeches and traditional owners’ ceremony and act - Wurundjeri Willam clan

1 pm - 1:45 pm: Opening Musical Performance with all artists

1:45pm – 2.00pm: : Ciccio Nucera (organetto), Michele Pacelli (tamburello) off stage roving

2:00 pm – 2.45 pm: The Rustica Project music performance

3:00 pm – 3.45 pm: Calabria Sona Quartet

4:00 pm – 4.30 pm: Ciccio Nucera (organetto), Michele Pacelli (tamburello) off stage roving

4.30 pm – 5.30 pm: Tarantella dance workshop and performance on the dancing floor (main area off stage).

5:30 pm - 6:15 pm: Santa Taranta

6:15 pm -7:00 pm: Music jam with all artists

7:00 pm - 7:45 pm: storytelling and projections and images from Southern Europe.

8.00 pm: closing of festival with acknowledgments

ARTISTS PERFORMING AT THE FESTIVAL

THE RUSTICA PROJECT

Melbourne-based band focusing on performing folk music from Calabria with a contemporary pop twist. Their sound is innovative and engaging, pulsating with irresistible rhythms characterised by traditional instruments such as the Calabrian lira and the diatonic accordion. The band consists of Felice Paone, Elvira Andrioli, Fulvio Cabrera, Tony Villella and Anthony Stalio.

SANTA TARANTA

Santa Taranta is a collective of talented musicians from the Australian world and jazz scene who come together to reinvent southern Italian folk music and to give it a local accent. Inspired by this infectious music their mission is to bring new energy into the Australian music scene and create new bridges among cultures.

SALVATORE ROSSANO

Salvatore is a musician, ethno-musicologist and composer of Italian origin. His career has so far united the passion for musical research and performance. He has travelled, played and conducted field research in Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Australia. Since 2018 he has been conducting research among the communities of migrants in Australia for the National Library. He's the founding member of Santa Taranta.

International Guests:

ANTONIO GROSSO

A multi-instrumentalist, one of the most successful and popular musician who worked with Le Muse del Mediterraneo and the Kilombo Quartet. Grosso proposes the results of his research into the evolution of the folk-popular genre. Antonio Grosso was the first in Calabria to revalue the role of the accordion, for years considered a purely traditional instrument capable of reproducing the Tarantella, without being able to look beyond it. His compositions prove his extroversion attitude to play diatonic accordion, accordions, drums, with his voice and dance.

CICCIO NUCERA

The “king” of the Calabrian tarantella, with over 40 years of successful tours all over the world. A virtuoso accordionist and great tambourine player, with a long experience of performances in village festivals, in collaborations with many artists and the Calabria Orchestra since 2014, he launched the project “The tarantella is addictive”, a successful, high-impact performance that met an enthusiastic public response. Organetto, organetto reggino, vocals, dance, frame drums.

DAVIS MUCCARI

The new singer-songwriter who is popular with a younger audience, Davis is a multi-instrumentalist, playing all traditional instruments, and more. Brought up on bread and popular music, already a musician with Ciccio Nucera, Antonio Grosso, Calabra Orchestra, Lisarusa etc., he now has his own band he takes around the world with great success, with his hit “FIURI” now played by several tarantella groups. Organ, Pepita, bagpipes, sax, guitar, Calabrian lyre.

MADDALENA GROSSO

Originally from Fuscaldo (Calabria), singer, guitarist, bass player, tambourine player and dancer, is one of the pillars of the band "Le muse del Mediterraneo", and is well known in Calabria for her many activities in popular music scene, and beyond. She has been collaborating with Calabria Sona since approaching her professional career, and has been teaching music to children since she was 16. Maddalena plays the guitar, bass, drums, vocals, bagpipes, sax, guitar, Calabrian lyre.

GABRIELE GNAWA MACRÌ

Since he was a child, Macrì has been performing on the most important stages and, thanks to his passion, he is able to play any traditional instrument. After completing his classical studies, focusing on the lyre technique, he debuted as soloist and now plays with great personalities of the caliber of Mimmo Cavallaro and Ciccio Nucera, and was also alongside Nour Eddine Fatty, well-known musician from Morocco.

ANNALISA INSARDÀ

Special Guest. Actress, author, TV presenter.

Annalisa trained at the Academy of Dramatic Arts of Calabria, dedicating to classical theater in her early years.

Later she moved to the television and cinema world, which she engaged with in an almost exclusive way. She finally returned to theater with self-written acts as "Reality shock" and "Painless manipulation", of which she is also director and performer. She was reporter for Italian TV Rai Due program "il Verificatore", by Roberto Giacobbo.