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FEATURING:
Carmen Consoli |
Italy’s top female singer-songwriter Carmen Consoli returns to Boston with an October 2 appearance at Regattabar. Her most recent Boston appearance was a March 2008 sold out debut concert at the Museum of Fine Arts auditorium. Consoli’s October set is titled “Anello Mancante” (Missing Ring) and features the Sicilian-born auteur on solo voice and guitar. Boston audiences will experience an offering of repertoire drawn from Consoli’s more than decade-long career re-interpreted in a minimalist manner, intentionally stripped down to expose the sophisticated essence of her songs. In these performances, Consoli’s evocative songs will be interspersed with engaging insights into her songwriting process, citing influences such as writer/director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s use of Italian dialect , the music of star crossed Roman songstress Gabriella Ferri as well as the work of leading figures from the world of Italian and international cinema.
The Sicilian-born Carmen Consoli is the most successful female singer-songwriter Italy has ever produced. The 33 year-old musician is known for her unflinching emotional live performances of songs that examine broad themes of love, illness, solitude and friendship from a feminine -- and feminist -- perspective. Her innovative mixture of Italian song with indie-rock influences, bossa nova rhythms and jazz and blues-inspired riffs have engendered a sound unique on the Italian music scene. Consoli has six studio albums and two live albums to her credit, all platinum albums in Italy that have sold cumulatively over 1 million copies.
Consoli‘s latest studio CD effort “Eva Contro Eva” (Eve Against Eve), debuted at Number One on the Italian charts in May 2006. The album was released in the US on Universal Music Latino marking the iconic singer-songwriter’s first US release. Recorded in her home town of Catania, Sicily, and featuring guest appearances by the Beninese singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo and Balkan composer Goran Bregovic, “Eva Contro Eva” is a set of musical tales depicting Consoli’s reflections on the wide range of contradictions -- the beauties and hardships -- encountered in contemporary life on the Mediterranean island.
Consoli has been honored with numerous awards including the MTV Italian Music Award for Best Video (Parole di Burro) in 2001; Best Female Artist at the Italian Music Awards in both 2002 and 2003 and Best Song at the Taormina Film Festival for the soundtrack of the international hit film “L’Ultimo Bacio” (The Last Kiss). Zach Braff’s recent film The Last Kiss is an adaptation of the Italian film, whose title was inspired by Consoli’s song.
Consoli is serving as Artistic Director of the Summer 2008 Etna Music World Festival in Sicily. In May 2006 Consoli was named a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF representing Italy then went on to headline the MTV Europe Foundation’s Exit concert in Vlore Albania, to benefit NGOs working against human trafficking in the European Union. In February 2005 Consoli was chosen to represent Italy at the Africa Unite concert in Ethiopia celebrating the 60th anniversary of Bob Marley's birth. She participated in Quincy Jones' "We Are The Future" project, a live concert held at the Circus Maximus in Rome in May 2004, which was a fund-raiser to support children in war-torn cities. The resulting benefit CD was sold in Starbucks in the US. Consoli’s debut New York City and Austin, TX appearances at Joe’s Pub and the SXSW Festival in March 2004 were aired in Italy as an MTV Rockumentary.
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