Wednesday 22 July 2009

Another 4 *review from the Guardian!

L'Orchestra Di Piazza Vittorio did an amazing performance indeed, last Friday 17th July.
And The Guardian awarded them with a brilliant 4-star review!

If you missed it, here it is:

By John L Walters

It is the perfect way to introduce audiences to a new band: screen a heartwarming full-length movie about them first. When the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio troop on afterwards for their UK debut, the audience greet them like old friends.

Back in 2001, pianist Mario Tronco decided to form a world music orchestra. Film-maker Agostino Ferrente follows Tronco as he goes on a mission to recruit musicians in Rome's multicultural Esquilino district. Argentine percussionist Raul "Cuervo" Scebba, based in a lock-up garage, gets it straight away: "You mean like the Blues Brothers," he says with a smile.

But the film is closer in tone to The Commitments, as we encounter some great characters: charming Senegalese percussionist Pap; charismatic Tunisian singer Houcine Ataa; Carlos Paz, who we see playing Andean flutes for tourists. Against all odds – indifference, language barriers, money troubles, Italian bureaucracy – the orchestra give their first concert late in 2002. It is hard not to shed a tear as more than a dozen nationalities and languages unite in music.

Read the whole review here.

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