Ars Nova Napoli is a group formed in Naples in the fall of 2009. Born out of a love for the folk repertoire of Campania, they initially took their work to the streets, making the streets of the city's historic center their natural stage. Over time, this has become a matter of course, and they firmly believe in the importance of street art as a means of sharing popular culture and free artistic expression. They grace squares, alleyways, markets, and sidewalks throughout Italy, playing at hundreds of weddings and birthday parties, and taking part in major events and festivals in France, Spain, Greece, and Switzerland. They have participated in countless folk festivals and celebrations, developing a direct connection with the music and stories of Campanian culture and deepening their ethno-musical research throughout Italy. The group currently performs a varied repertoire, open to the many sounds of the South and beyond, from Apulian pizzica to Sicilian serenades, from Neapolitan classics to Calabrian tarantellas, and by also looking beyond its own borders it discovers connections with Greek rebetiko and Balkan music.
About two years after its founding, the group took on a more stable lineup and, thanks to the recording of their first, entirely self-produced album, began participating in numerous events throughout Italy, from Fucarazzi to patronal festivals, from village fairs to historical reenactments, from ethnic music festivals to busker festivals.
Between 2010 and 2012, they toured primarily in the South, where they had the opportunity to experience new music directly from the voices and instruments of the people they met. They performed in Sicily at the Jalari Museum Park, in Calabria at the Calfrika Festival, at the Peperoncino Festival, in Campania they opened the Notte della Tammorra, and notably performed "La Thela di Partenope" at the Maschio Angioino with the international dance-theater company MacaroniCompani. The show, which featured dozens of dancers from around the world, aimed to explore the common threads of Mediterranean peoples through music, dance, and fairy tales.
In 2013, the doors to major street art festivals opened for them. They participated in the Ferrara Buskers festival for two consecutive years, winning both times: once in the accredited category and once in the invited category. They performed in the city prison, and the LaEffe television program "Storie di Buskers" dedicated an entire chapter to their story.
Throughout 2014 and 2015, they played non-stop everywhere! They were in France at the FIMU Festival in Belfort, in Paris at various venues, in Montpellier at the Bac of Jazz, at the Remiremont Carnival, and at the Italian Expo in Foire de Jura. In Spain, they played at the Desfolca't festival. In Italy, they played in Gerace for Borgo Incantato, in Treviso for Ritimi e Danze dal Mondo, where they closed with Giobbe Covatta's show one year and Sabina Guzzanti's the following year, in Veroli for Fasti Verolani, in L'Aquila in the historic center destroyed by the earthquake, and in Mercogliano for Castellarte. In Switzerland, they played at the Neuchatel Buskers Festival. In Greece, in Vasilikos, they played together with the Musicians of the Island of Evia for the On the River of the Lillas festival, and in Athens.
For television, they collaborate on various programs such as Sereno Variabile, Linea Blu, L'Infedele, and SKY Arte featured them in the program On the Road. For theater, they performed at the Musicano during the Naples Theater Festival "Miss Julia" and participated in a special evening at the Dignità Autonoma di prostituzione program.
In 2016, in the ancient Basilica of San Severo alla Sanità, "Chi fatica se more e famme" was born, a recording that Ars Nova Napoli wanted to dedicate to the key encounters of their seven-year journey. Beginning with the groups that preceded them on the streets of Naples and who gave them part of their repertoire, and culminating with the music they discovered in Sicily's Nebrodi Mountains, the project aims to retrace and restore a sonic geography in which the individual tracks become a musical narrative of a MINOR cultural tradition! The album will be presented on June 9th in Santa Fede Liberata, along with all the band members who took part in the recording, and subsequently in Mercantia, Neuchâtel, Biel, Zurich, Venice, the Teatro Agora' in Lugano, and Tramonti di Sotto.
The current lineup is:
Marcello Squillante: Accordion and Voice
Bruno Belardi: Double Bass
Michelangelo Nusco: Violin, Trumpet, and Voice
Antonino Anastasia: Frame Percussion
Vincenzo Racioppi, Mandolin and Voice
Gianluca Fusco: Guitar, Accordion, and Vocals.
Do you want to write to us?
