>>> Danza d' Amore
The Dance of Mystic Love

This is a journey through space and time following the thread of mystical thought .
Amelia Cuni´s performances of the uplifting tradition of dhrupad singing from North India have attracted widespread acclaim in the Indian national press. The CD 'Danza d´Amore' is published by New Earth Records, Munich 1998.
In this work Amelia´s music achieves a novel dimension by integrating her Italian roots: her singing becomes a bridge between ancient traditions of India and Italy.
Dhrupad is an inspirational, devotional genre and at the same time passionate and earthy. It is highly melodious and cosists of structured and meditative moments as well as improvisations of great rhythmic vitality.
Here dhrupad is combined with the following elements to create an organic presentation rich in nuances, unexpected sound-textures and a fascinating dance vocabulary:
>Innovative accompaniment influenced by Early European music
>European, Middle-Eastern and Indian percussion rhythms
>Original choreography based on Indian Bharat-Natyam and
Western contemporary dance.

The carefully selected texts are the focus of all the musical and choreographic efforts. These mystic verses become a unifying element producing a strong emotional impact, full of suggestion and atmosphere:
>temple hymns of medieval India
>hymns of the ancient Romans (in Latin)
>Laudi of medieval Italy
>plain-chants of the Cistercian monastries (in Latin)
> modern Italian verses
>>> besides Amelia Cuni´s compositions, this concert may include pieces by Terry Riley, Jonathan Lloyd and other composers, specifically written for this ensemble and fitting the artistic direction of this performance.
In Danza d´Amore we invite the audience to join us in our pursuit of an ideal where the performing arts are conceived as an offering of the Self to the Divine, a sacred moment of contemplation and ecstasy, food for mind and soul.

music and concept: Amelia Cuni
arrangements: Federico Sanesi, Francis Silkstone
choreography: Nuria Sala Grau
costumes: Angela Gramolini

>>>The performers:
Amelia Cuni : vocals, tanpura
Federico Sanesi : tabla, mridangam, pakhawaj, kettle-drums, etc.
Tatty Theo : baroque cello
Francis Silkstone : baroque violin, surbahar
Nuria Sala Grau : dance

>>>selected performances

- Festival E' Vento e Suono 1996, Teatro Rossini, Pesaro

- Udine Estate 1997, Teatro S.Giorgio, Udine

- Festival: Il Sacro attraverso l´Ordinario, Chiostro di S.Francesco, Torino 1997

- Capannori in Festival, Villa Mansi (Lucca) 1997

- U.K. Tour 1997 with SOUNDS BAZAAR (London, Dorchester, Bath, Winchester, Oxford)

- Festival Cusiano di musica antica 1998, Isola di S.Giulio-Orta

- Teatro delle Erbe, Milano 1998

- Dartington International Festival of Music 1998, Devon/U.K.
- Festival Nature Dei Teatri 1998, Corte di Giarola-Parma

- Etnofestival 1998, S.Marino

- Festival internazionale di musica sacra 1998, Pordenone
- una via teatrale, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Torino 1999

- Aspekte Indischer Musik-Tradition und Innovation, Passionskirche-Berlin 1999

-concert tour in the U.K. 1999 with Terry Riley : Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Festival `Rainbow over Bath´ and Oxford Contemporary Music Festival.

-Pellegrinaggio in Oriente, Villa Rizzardi, Dolcè (VR) 2000

-35th Festival Autunno Musicale a Como, 2001

-5. Festival di Danza, DANZARTE, Brescia 2002

-IL MISTERO DELLA VOCE, percorsi nella cultura del canto;
Fondazione Teatro La Fenice, Venice 2002

press reviews

...radikal, unerwartet, aber sehr elegant...
Waltraud Schwabe, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 7/12/1999

...chiudere gli occhi e lasciarsi portare dalle limpide vocalizzazioni della Cuni e dalle ritmiche cadenzate e leggere del suo cantoinfonde un fortissimo senso di armonia.Altrettanto affascinante la performance di Nuria Sala Grau...figura misteriosa e ascetica, la danzatrice accompagna il canto 'disegnandone' il racconto.
Federica Sassara, Il Gazzettino del Friuli, 8/7/1997

U.K. tour with Terry Riley and Sounds Bazaar
October 1999

...Amelia Cuni´s own 'Danza d´Amore' (is) a beguiling marriage of medieval Italian poetry with mystic Indian traditions, given in tandem with the premiere of her 'Venga alla Danza'. This is 'crossover' at its most fruitful, in which irregular dance rhythms come tumbling out against the nasal yet dusky singing of the Italian-born Cuni, whose voice makes a good case for reincarnation.
John Allison, The Times, 15/10/99

...Even more striking - indeed, for me, the most remarkable work in the programme - was Amelia Cuni's performance of her own 'Danza d'Amore'...Since its spiritual content is so very close to Indian mysticism, Cuni has here truly created a musical bridge between East and West.
Hugh Vickers, The Independent, 29/10/99

the CD:
...A remarkable and distinctive synthesis of Indian and Italian mystical and musical traditions ...Her pitch is laser-precise, her enunciation exquisite, and her delight in the rich Italian vowel sonorities is palpable. DANZA D´AMORE is a treasure-trove of surprise fulfillment, reflecting the imaginative conception of a marvelously accomplished musician.
Charles Rankie, RhythmMusic, U.S.A. November 1998

Short biographies:

Amelia Cuni was born in Milan and lived in India for more than 10 years studying dhrupad singing from renowned masters like R. Fahimuddin Dagar, Vidur Mallik and D. C. Vedi. She has also learnt kathak dance and drumming and has received scholarships from the Indian and Italian Governments for four years. She performs and teaches in Europe and India and her singing is featured on several CDs. She has initiated various projects of traditional as well as experimental orientation; several composers have written for her voice. She is the only woman dhrupad singer to have achieved recognition both by the Indian national press and music community notwithstanding her non-Indian origin. As of 1992 she is based in Berlin.

Tatty Theo read music at The Queen's College, Oxford, continuing her studies at postgraduate level at the Royal College of Music with Anthony Pleeth and Jennifer Ward Clarke, where she was awarded her ARCM and MMus degrees. Tatty won many prizes including first prize in the 1995 Century Fund Early Music Competition, and was the recipient of a NOSWAD scholarship to further her studies.
She has performed with many ensembles and at festivals and concert halls thoughout Britain and abroad, with broadcasts on BBC Radio
and television. In addition to concert performances and lectures on related subjects, Tatty is currently preparing performing editions of several unpublished works by Handel. She is the founder and director of The Brook Street Band, the award-winning period instrument ensemble specialising in the music of Handel and his European contemporaries. Lives in London.

Federico Sanesi was born and lives in Milan, Italy. He started studying percussion at a tender age. When he was 16 he travelled to South India in order to learn the ritualistic drum tavil. Since 1980 he has been learning tabla from Shankha Chatterjee in Venice, Berlin and Calcutta. He received further training in South Indian drumming at the Kalakshetra in Madras. His musical interests are focussed on the so-called `ethic´ percussions of Europe, Middle-East and India. He works on integrating various musical languages and is involved in theatre, dance, poetry, cinema and visual art projects. While persuing a very active international career as a live performer he is also a sought after studio musician. He has contributed to more than 25 CDs and performs with renowned Indian classical musicians and dancers as well as in jazz and world-music ensembles.

Francis Silkstone is an English composer, performer and ethnomusicologist who works with various Western and Asian traditions. He studied classical and Baroque violin, sitar as a Commonwealth Scholar in India (with Imrat Khan). During his 3 years´stay in Bangkok he learnt the Thai classical fiddle which has been the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation. He has recorded five Cds of original library film music compositions for De Wolfe Ltd. He has worked as a music consultant on Attenborough´s film, `Gandhi´, on `The Jewel In The Crown´, and for the Asian Music Circuit. He is a regular guest lecturer at various Universities and Colleges in England. He is the founder of the ensemble Sounds Bazaar and of East-West Music Theatre. Lives in Dorset (U.K.)

Nuria Sala Grau starts her dance training in Lausanne (Switzerland) with the Graham and Limon techniques. She continues in Paris and Lyon with classical and contemporary dance. Back in Barcelona she becomes a member of the `Associacio de Ballarins i Coreografs Professionals de Catalunya´. In 1987 she joines the dance company `Cecil P. Booth´directed by Chantal de Launay and based in Paris. Here she meets the Indian dancer Savitri Nair from whom she starts learning Bharat-Natyam. She regularly goes to the famous Kalakshetra Dance Academy in Madras for further training with Krishnaveni Lakshmanan. Kamala Rani is her music and nattuvangam teacher. Nuria lives in Milan and teaches in several Italian dance and theatre schools. She performs in India and Europe traditional Bharat-Natyam and contemporary dance as well.