A chance musical meetup between Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi yielded roots music spanning continents. Now those artists will bring their uniquely arranged music to life on stage in Birmingham.
UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center will present Giddens and Turrisi in concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, on their “There Is No Other” tour.
Giddens is an American artist of folk and traditional music, played on fiddle and banjo. Turrisi is an Italian pianist and percussionist well-versed in jazz, early music and Mediterranean music.
When the two met in Ireland, they found that her 19th century American minstrel banjo tunes and his traditional Sicilian tamburello (tambourine) rhythms fit very naturally together, according to the artists’ bios. They soon discovered the reason for that — their respective roots coexisted in the past. Pictures of early minstrel bands all represent banjo and tambourine (called tambo) together, and in many cases the tambo is held in the same manner of Southern Italian tamburello traditions today.
“The massive effect that West African music and dance has had upon American culture is by now well-known; but centuries before, European music was being transformed by Arabic and North African modes, instruments and rhythms,” Giddens and Turrisi wrote. Working together, they trace this musical globalism by reimagining the encounter of the banjo and the frame drum, and other instruments, through their journey from Africa, the Middle East, through southern Europe and England, and over to the Americas. Giddens is on vocals, banjo and fiddle, with Turrisi on percussion, accordion and piano.
| “The massive effect that West African music and dance has had upon American culture is by now well-known; but centuries before, European music was being transformed by Arabic and North African modes, instruments and rhythms.” |
Tickets are $58, $48 and $38. For tickets, call the ASC Box Office at 205-975-2787 or visit AlysStephens.org.
ASC members may receive $10 off ticket prices. All UAB family, including faculty and staff, may receive $15 off up to two single tickets to select performances by presenting a valid UAB ID at the ASC Box Office upon purchase. UAB students may purchase $10 tickets to select performances. ASC member and UAB family tickets are limited and sell out quickly.