Tarab Meets Andrea Piccioni

An intriguing meeting between pianist and accordionist Francesco Turrisi’s Tarab project, featuring bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and clarinetist Brendan Doyle, and the virtuoso Italian percussionist Andrea Piccioni, who’s in Dublin as part of The Big Bang Festival. Piccioni is a master of Arabic rhythms and hand drums, and the tamburello, Southern Italy’s ancient and enigmatic frame drum that’s an essential component of Italian folk dances like the Tarantella. In Piccioni’s hands, its an incredibly expressive instrument that lends itself to many styles of music, from funk to South Indian polyrhythms, all of which are likely to get a workout here, in a concert where the principal focus is the strong Arabic influence in traditional music of southern Italy.

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