Tripoli, 2 March 2013:
After the phenomenal success of their first concert in November, the Italian Cultural Institute organised yet another successful evening . . .[restrict]of Libyan and Italian music.
The World Music Concert 6+6 featured a fusion of traditional Libyan instruments as well as Italian performers from the island of Sardinia.
The unusual sounds of traditional Sardinian music met Libya’s musical heritage to reveal, once again, the common ground of Mediterranean musical culture that Italy and Libya share.
The first part of the concert featured Abdul Razzag Al Fahd on the violin and Hisham Bakkay on the qanun, playing traditional Libyan music.
Then they were joined by Majeid Aldehmani on the bass guitar, Mohammed Alghazal on percussion, Habib Altrabolsi playing the ney, and Shukri Khazam on the keyboard.
The Italian quintet was led by the voices of Elena Ledda and Simonetta Soro, accompanied by Mauro Palmas on the mandola and lute. Marcello Peghin playing guitars, with Silvano Lobina on the bass.
The quintet then become a sextet featuring special guest Luigi Lai. He is one of the last living musicians specialising in a Sardinian woodwind instrument, the launeddas, which has its roots in the prehistoric North African instrument, the memet.
Lai totally wowed the crowds with his stamina and ability to insert 3 different launeddas instruments in his mouth – and blow into and play all three – simultaneously
The concert was again organised by the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Embassy in Libya, in collaboration with the Waddan Hotel.
Admission was free to the World Music Concert 6+6 in the Waddan’s Leptis Hall, which was again full, just like the November concert. organised in the same venue and by the same organisers.
The crowds were impressed and expectations are now high for more cultural events, as the Italian Cultural Institute has set a great precedent and a challenge to other cultural institutes. Bravo and encore!
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