Stefano Saletti & Banda Ikona in concert, Mediterraneo Ostinato: il canto del Sabir

The Three Cultures Foundation of the Mediterranean and the Italian Institute of Culture offer a concert by Stefano Saletti & Banda Ikona at the Foundation's headquarters in Seville.

Stefano Saletti & Banda Ikona are the fruit of the Mediterranean character: obstinate, combative, resistant. They manifest a possible new "Mediterranean identity" in the name of a past made of art, culture, open doors, encounters, exchanges which, like a large network, have intertwined to create new routes, shared histories and a common Mediterranean soul.

It is sung in Sabir, the ancient language of the Mediterranean that Saletti has rescued from oblivion to bring it to life in his original compositions, which are also based on the great heritage of Mediterranean literature: from Calvino to Passolini or Alda Merini; from Matvejevic to Machado and Kavafis; from Cecco Angiolieri to Rilke or the Kurdish poet Abdulla Goran.

In the Mediterranean, everything remains the same: the sunny squares at midday and the darkness that accompanies the migrants' routes, joy and despair, good and evil.

The result is a fascinating, mixed Mediterranean folk world, rich in rhythms and melodies, suggestions and colours, based on Sephardic, Arabic, Balkan and southern Italian traditions.

Stefano Saletti's travelling companions, a multi-instrumentalist who founded the Novalia and plays the oud, bouzouki, saz baglama, guitar, are the musicians who have been part of the Ikona Band for years: Barbara Eramo (tarantina singer, one of the most interesting voices of World and popular music), Gabriele Coen on winds (great researcher of the Sephardic Jewish tradition), Mario Rivera (bass player), Giovanni Lo Cascio (percussions and drums).

Admission is free.