The Italian singer Tosca will perform on April 13 at the 11th edition of the Jazz à Carthage Festival in a show entitled “Appunti Musicali di Viaggio” (“Musical Travel Notes”). The only Italian guest at the Tunisian festival, Tosca will present a ‘musical narration’ unfolding from a Portuguese Fado to a Russian lullaby, from a Shamanic chant to a traditional Yiddish wedding song and a Gypsy ballade, mixed with popular music from Naples, Rome and Sicily, interspersed with the words of the world’s greatest poets.
Tosca was invited to take part in the Festival through the Italian Institute of Culture in Tunis, an invitation that she accepted with enthusiasm. In the past, only one other Italian had this honour: Gino Paoli. “I have always loved to travel, not only physically, learning about life in the countries visited, but also virtually, intending travel as both surfing the web and learning from the experience of those who share our everyday life although they have a different daily living experience, forged by sounds that we should all pay attention to,” Tosca explained.
“Jazz à Carthage”
After Tunis Tosca’s next stop will be in Algiers. “I admit that my first reaction was to turn down the invitation because, when I told people of this proposal, everyone told me to,” the singer admitted. “But my desire to bring my music to other places was too great; also to get others to know about our roots, which have long been unheeded and overshadowed by a reputation of corruption.” Her repertory includes Roman and Neapolitan classics with tinges of French and Portuguese and a classical song of the 17th Century ‘interwoven’ with German, as well as traditional songs in Yiddish, Portuguese and Chinese. “Equally great is my desire to be pervaded by sounds that I will try to ‘steal’ from Tunis and Algiers, in order to write a new page in this ‘musical score’ that has been travelling with me all my life”.
