Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
ABOUT
Qui" (Here), the new album by REBIS
"Christopher Clark, an academic at Cornell University in New York State, has discovered that the blue whale has a sense of music and that music represents a vital element for them. The aquatic 'songs' allow these whales, the largest in the world, to determine their position in the ocean and to perceive what happens within a radius of kilometers."
(Adonis, The music of the blue whale, 2005)
When I first read these words pronounced by the Syrian intellectual and poet Adonis, I immediately felt as if they were narrating our story. The story of Rebis: two musicians searching for a "chant" capable of narrating their reality, capable of overcoming borders and exploring the surrounding world. The story of two musicians who dream of outlining through their songs (composed in Italian, Arabic, and French) possible "emotional bridges" between the Mediterranean shores.
Our new album: "Qui" (meaning "Here" in Italian) is an anthology of women's stories searching for a true dimension where anyone can feel connected to their own existence. The album also reveals a strong connection with our Mother Earth, which allows us to observe the world with more authentic and self-conscious eyes. "Qui" aims to awaken spirits. It's the desire to subvert the cycle of exploitation and oppression created and endured by mankind. In our songs, the oppressed is often the exiled: the one who has been chased away from his land, his history, and who asserts his right to exist.
"Give birth to me again, give birth to me to know in which land I'll die and in which land I'll be reborn."
(Give me birth again, Mahmoud Darwish, Italian translation by Lucy Ladikoff)
Passion, irony, condemnation, introspection, and nostalgia. Alessandra Ravizza's voice and Andrea Megliola's strings lead the audience through the intimate lives of the different characters who become a mirror of our current reality. The album, characterized by acoustic sounds, presents a cohesive musical ensemble, and Bruno Cimenti/Primigenia Produzioni take care of the artistic production. Moreover, it boasts the participation of the multi-instrumentalist Edmondo Romano (Lina Sastri, Tony Esposito, Ingrid Chavez, New Trolls), the Syrian cellist Salah Namek (Marcel Khalife, Majida El Roumi, Sabah Fakhri, Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, Syrian National Oriental Orchestra), the percussionist Matteo Rebora (Massimiliano Rolff, Orchestra Bailam, Gabriele Mirabassi), the violinist Roberto Piga (Orchestra Luigi Cherubini, Riccardo Muti, Luis Bacalov), and the bass players Emanuele Milletti and Kai Kundrat (Antonella Ruggero, Celia Mara, La Banda di Piazza Caricamento, Antonio Salgado). In the song "Ma maison" (meaning "My home" in French), Rebis features the Nigerian rapper Natty Scotty, who sings about his perception of home and exile.
BIO
"...I had never listened to music so obedient to Beauty..."
(Rebis: un canto purissimo, Michele Caccamo for "Fare Musica e dintorni")
REBIS is a group formed by the singer and songwriter Alessandra Ravizza and by the guitarist and composer Andrea Megliola. The word rebis derives from the Latin res bina, meaning double matter, symbolizing the balance and the union between opposites. It well describes the path that this ensemble wishes to take: departing from the enchanting harbor of Genoa, their songs are fertile ground for the encounter of the different musical traditions belonging to Mare Nostrum and its idioms. Languages alternate and entangle themselves between Italian, Arabic, and French, creating "bridges" and connections between Mediterranean peoples.
In 2017 we published the new album "Qui" (Here) and started a new journey to search for "emotional bridges" between the Mediterranean shores, performing in Italy (La Valigia dei Suoni Festival, Arcipelaghi Sonori Festival, Kantun Winka Festival, Lilith Festival, Teatro della Tosse, Teatro Altrove...), in France (Festival Univerciné, Théâtre de Poche Graslin, Espace Cosmopolis), and in Tunisia (Festival de la Musique Alternative of Bizerte, Cinéma Amilcar of Tunis, Italian Business Oscars of Tabarka).
In May 2016, we opened the International Feminist Art Festival: Chouftouhonna in Tunisia as ambassadors of the Lilith Festival of Genova. In June 2016, they fostered the dialogue between Italy and Tunisia by playing with the great Tunisian stambeli musician Belhassan Mihoub on the stage of the renowned Andersen Festival in Sestri Levante. A few days later, in Portugal, we participated in the Arraial Sem Fronteiras: a musical kermesse organized in Lisbon entirely dedicated to the encounter and exchange of cultures.
Our first album, "Naufragati nel deserto" (Shipwrecked in the desert), received a warm welcome from the critics as well as winning the Lineatrad Prize "as they've been able to renovate the songwriting Genoese tradition, by getting out of the classical patterns and presenting a shining Mediterranean beauty."
In 2013 we were selected by the M.E.I (Meeting of the Independent Labels) to represent Italian music in China at the Festival Italiano, obtaining a pleasant consent from the audience of the Italian Festival of Suzhou.
Accompanied by Roberto Izzo (Gnu Quartet, Neri Marcorè, Nicolò Fabi, Rita Marcotulli, Alf W. Lundberg, Gino Paoli), Edmondo Romano (Ingrid Chavez, Lina Sastri, Tony Esposito, New Trolls), and Lucas Bellotti (Zibba, Redwine, Sensasciou, Blindosbarra), we have performed in various international and national festivals, theaters, and contests including: Mediterrarte Festival, Musicultura, Suq Festival Genova, Il Canto della Terra Festival, Equa 2013, Common Stories of Europe, Sanremo Off, Lilith Festival, Palco sul Mare Festival, Festival Internazionale della Poesia Parole Spalancate, InChiostri d’Autore, The Acoustic Guitar Project.
In 2011 we edited for the publishing house "A Oriente" the soundtrack of the bilingual tale (in Arabic and Italian) "La goccia d’Olio" (The oil drop) sung in 4 languages (Italian, Arabic, Greek, and Turkish).
"Christopher Clark, an academic at Cornell University in New York State, has discovered that the blue whale has a sense of music and that music represents a vital element for them. The aquatic 'songs' allow these whales, the largest in the world, to determine their position in the ocean and to perceive what happens within a radius of kilometers."
(Adonis, The music of the blue whale, 2005)
When I first read these words pronounced by the Syrian intellectual and poet Adonis, I immediately felt as if they were narrating our story. The story of Rebis: two musicians searching for a "chant" capable of narrating their reality, capable of overcoming borders and exploring the surrounding world. The story of two musicians who dream of outlining through their songs (composed in Italian, Arabic, and French) possible "emotional bridges" between the Mediterranean shores.
Our new album: "Qui" (meaning "Here" in Italian) is an anthology of women's stories searching for a true dimension where anyone can feel connected to their own existence. The album also reveals a strong connection with our Mother Earth, which allows us to observe the world with more authentic and self-conscious eyes. "Qui" aims to awaken spirits. It's the desire to subvert the cycle of exploitation and oppression created and endured by mankind. In our songs, the oppressed is often the exiled: the one who has been chased away from his land, his history, and who asserts his right to exist.
"Give birth to me again, give birth to me to know in which land I'll die and in which land I'll be reborn."
(Give me birth again, Mahmoud Darwish, Italian translation by Lucy Ladikoff)
Passion, irony, condemnation, introspection, and nostalgia. Alessandra Ravizza's voice and Andrea Megliola's strings lead the audience through the intimate lives of the different characters who become a mirror of our current reality. The album, characterized by acoustic sounds, presents a cohesive musical ensemble, and Bruno Cimenti/Primigenia Produzioni take care of the artistic production. Moreover, it boasts the participation of the multi-instrumentalist Edmondo Romano (Lina Sastri, Tony Esposito, Ingrid Chavez, New Trolls), the Syrian cellist Salah Namek (Marcel Khalife, Majida El Roumi, Sabah Fakhri, Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, Syrian National Oriental Orchestra), the percussionist Matteo Rebora (Massimiliano Rolff, Orchestra Bailam, Gabriele Mirabassi), the violinist Roberto Piga (Orchestra Luigi Cherubini, Riccardo Muti, Luis Bacalov), and the bass players Emanuele Milletti and Kai Kundrat (Antonella Ruggero, Celia Mara, La Banda di Piazza Caricamento, Antonio Salgado). In the song "Ma maison" (meaning "My home" in French), Rebis features the Nigerian rapper Natty Scotty, who sings about his perception of home and exile.
BIO
"...I had never listened to music so obedient to Beauty..."
(Rebis: un canto purissimo, Michele Caccamo for "Fare Musica e dintorni")
REBIS is a group formed by the singer and songwriter Alessandra Ravizza and by the guitarist and composer Andrea Megliola. The word rebis derives from the Latin res bina, meaning double matter, symbolizing the balance and the union between opposites. It well describes the path that this ensemble wishes to take: departing from the enchanting harbor of Genoa, their songs are fertile ground for the encounter of the different musical traditions belonging to Mare Nostrum and its idioms. Languages alternate and entangle themselves between Italian, Arabic, and French, creating "bridges" and connections between Mediterranean peoples.
In 2017 we published the new album "Qui" (Here) and started a new journey to search for "emotional bridges" between the Mediterranean shores, performing in Italy (La Valigia dei Suoni Festival, Arcipelaghi Sonori Festival, Kantun Winka Festival, Lilith Festival, Teatro della Tosse, Teatro Altrove...), in France (Festival Univerciné, Théâtre de Poche Graslin, Espace Cosmopolis), and in Tunisia (Festival de la Musique Alternative of Bizerte, Cinéma Amilcar of Tunis, Italian Business Oscars of Tabarka).
In May 2016, we opened the International Feminist Art Festival: Chouftouhonna in Tunisia as ambassadors of the Lilith Festival of Genova. In June 2016, they fostered the dialogue between Italy and Tunisia by playing with the great Tunisian stambeli musician Belhassan Mihoub on the stage of the renowned Andersen Festival in Sestri Levante. A few days later, in Portugal, we participated in the Arraial Sem Fronteiras: a musical kermesse organized in Lisbon entirely dedicated to the encounter and exchange of cultures.
Our first album, "Naufragati nel deserto" (Shipwrecked in the desert), received a warm welcome from the critics as well as winning the Lineatrad Prize "as they've been able to renovate the songwriting Genoese tradition, by getting out of the classical patterns and presenting a shining Mediterranean beauty."
In 2013 we were selected by the M.E.I (Meeting of the Independent Labels) to represent Italian music in China at the Festival Italiano, obtaining a pleasant consent from the audience of the Italian Festival of Suzhou.
Accompanied by Roberto Izzo (Gnu Quartet, Neri Marcorè, Nicolò Fabi, Rita Marcotulli, Alf W. Lundberg, Gino Paoli), Edmondo Romano (Ingrid Chavez, Lina Sastri, Tony Esposito, New Trolls), and Lucas Bellotti (Zibba, Redwine, Sensasciou, Blindosbarra), we have performed in various international and national festivals, theaters, and contests including: Mediterrarte Festival, Musicultura, Suq Festival Genova, Il Canto della Terra Festival, Equa 2013, Common Stories of Europe, Sanremo Off, Lilith Festival, Palco sul Mare Festival, Festival Internazionale della Poesia Parole Spalancate, InChiostri d’Autore, The Acoustic Guitar Project.
In 2011 we edited for the publishing house "A Oriente" the soundtrack of the bilingual tale (in Arabic and Italian) "La goccia d’Olio" (The oil drop) sung in 4 languages (Italian, Arabic, Greek, and Turkish).
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