Join Mel this month as she sits down for a long-awaited catch up with Filippo Gambetta since meeting him at Halsway Manor Melodeon Study Week 2023. During that week, Filippo shared stories, videos and field recordings that he had made across several trips to Madagascar. During his time on the island, he has been able to visit different communities, take lessons with native diatonic accordion players with their unique style and application of the instrument, and even be invited to witness and take part in spiritual posession ceremonies. Tune in to find out more about this fascinating traditional culture.

Filippo Gambetta (Italy) an accomplished accordionist, clarinetist and mandolinist, has performed hundreds of concerts around the world, performing his music including three tours of major Canadian folk festivals. He has released four solo albums (Stria, Andirivieni, Pria Goaea, Otto Baffi), in addition to the duo and trio albums. In 2016, he won the most prestigious Italian award for traditional music, the "Premio Città di Loano", with his album Otto Baffi.

He is currently a member of the groups Choropo and Maestrale, with which he has performed at numerous acoustic music festivals. He has collaborated with leading world music artists, including Riccardo Tesi, Jean Michel Veillon, Nuala Kennedy and Oliver Schroer. He has also composed stage music for the Teatro della Tosse in Genoa and collaborated with dancers and actors such as Fabrizio Matteini, Gioele Dix, and Aline Nari. He has performed live on Italian (RAI), Belgian (La Premièere) Finnish (YLE), Swiss (RSI), Austrian (ORF) and German (WDR) national radio stations. As an accordion teacher he has held courses throughout Europe. Attention to the "balfolk" repertoire and Brazilian and Venezuelan music are his current strong interests.

Filippo's Links:

Website

Join my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:

www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusic

Learn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes - Improvers L2 Mar 14th:

https://stables.org/workshops

Tickets on sale for Cosmos Chocolat bal (29/04) AND Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly (29/05) at Kilnside Folk in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire:

https://melbiggsmusic.co.uk/product-category/live-music-events/

Halsway Manor Melodeon Study Week 2023 Vlog:

https://youtu.be/TpjtG0qFoVY

Visit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:

www.melbiggsmusic.co.uk