music – the preview
noon, January 11, 2022 – 11:20 am
In the enchanting video of “Spunta lu suli”, the singer-songwriter from Catania who trained as Prins Clauss Conservatory “from Groningen moves between jazz, prog and Mediterranean sounds.
from Giuliano Delli Paoli
Etna erupting in the distance, the narrow streets of Marzamemi and the arabesque columns of the former tonnara of Vendicari. These are the enchanting scenarios of the video clip – published today in an exclusive preview by Corriere del Mezzogiorno – of «Spunta lu suli», the new single by Floriana Foti. The singer-songwriter from Catania evokes sunrise and sunset in a journey scripted in three chapters by the videomaker Marco Foti, for a piece that mixes jazz, prog and Mediterranean sounds. A “minna di San’Agata”, to put it in the culinary jargon, which charms and electrifies at the same time. «Spunta lu Suli – explains the artist – is the journey of each of us, metaphorically translated into sunrise and sunset that follow one another in a continuous and eternal cycle. A song that embodies ideas of rebirth. A real propitiatory chant staged also thanks to vocalizations that act a bit like a wind instrument, while the repeated rhythms stage precisely the constant cycle of life ». Between one dance and another, a sigh of enchantment and an apparent bewilderment, in the images of the video clip Floriana Foti sings with passion the daily rebirth of light. A metaphor in his opinion necessary, which also exorcizes the difficult moment due to the prolongation of the pandemic, sung in Sicilian dialect with a sinuous, elegant voice. An innate talent for a very refined uvula perfected through long years of academic study.
Studies in the Netherlands
Class ’85, graduated in Jazz Singing at the prestigious “Prins Clauss Conservatory” in Groningen, Holland, Floriana Foti is in fact one of the most prominent talents on the European jazz scene. She is the voice and frontwoman of the collective Floriana Foti Quartet, made up of emerging artists from different places, with whom he has been exporting his music to the Dutch scene for years, in particular on the stage of the well-known jazz festival Swinging Groningen. A path that led her to study jazz also with internationally renowned New York musicians such as Mark Gross, David Binney, Steve Nelson and Kevin Hays. The visceral love for music is accompanied by that for literature. Floriana Foti is also graduated in Literature and Modern Philology at the University of Catania. «There is a strong link – reveals the singer-songwriter – between music and literature. In The Sun rises for example, I exercised my love for letters through the text in dialect. So my passion for the Sicilian language. Which in this specific case is very poetic, not very literal. In my first album, which will be released in the spring, there are also songs in several languages. Texts in Italian, English and of course Sicilian. In short, it can be said that my love for letters is constantly applied in music through the words of my songs ».
The tambourine
Backpack on her shoulder, always traveling, in the last three decades the singer-songwriter from Catania has divided her time between Holland and Italy, concerts, performances and singing competitions, before returning permanently to her beloved Sicily to teach singing in various schools. from Catania, also thanks to a first and second level specialization in “EVT”, a vocal technique born in the United States that allows you to become aware of how the structures of the voice move. «It is a technique – explains the musician – which improves one’s awareness of how to use the larynx or other parts of the body that produce sound. However, it must be recognized that talent remains something innate. There are those who are luckier and those who are less. Of course, starting from a sufficient basis, thanks to vocal techniques, for example, it is possible to reach a full eight ». Influenced from an early age by blues, Brazilian music, soul, Mediterranean music and finally jazz, Floriana Foti has recently discovered a passion for the tambourine. Love at first sight for the ancient percussion instrument born thanks to listening to the music of Matilde Politi, singer, multi-instrumentalist and anthropologist from Palermo. «Spunta lu suli» is the first single of the debut album at the gates. In the coming months, new songs from the album will be released, as the artist says, which will be followed by a tour in the company of the inseparable Floriana Foti Quartet.
11 January 2022 | 11:20
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