Il gruppo

Born in Carloforte, after teaching himself to play the guitar, he began studying violin at the age of 21, first under his grandfather's guide and then with an academic teacher. From his very first notes, he introduced the violin in unusual genres: from the rock-blues of the “Tabarkina” Joe Over Band[1], to the afro-reggae of Git et les Poulettes[2], to the Latin-rock of Latin Lovers. The constant need to create his own music was already evident in these early experiences, when he also started the decade-long collaborations, both musical and non-musical, that enrich with feeling and harmony the current project. He then began a series of guitar and vocal solo performances in several clubs in Sardinia and in the rest of Italy, which, besides improving his composing abilities and contact with the audience, allowed him to give shape, in embryonic form, to the MARENOSTRUM project, thanks to his new-found awareness of the importance of the dialect and of musical contamination.

However, together with his project he still pursued several undertakings with other musicians. With the ethnic group Pangea[3], of which he is one of the two founders, he played at Ichnos '97 and won Arezzo Wave's regional selections. In '96 he worked at the CDs Il veleno della mente, by Dorian Gray[4], and Madausavida, by Sardinian folk-singer Franco Madau. Besides these “traditional” experiences, he also participated in experimental projects such as the international itinerant exhibition Plexus (in '87 and '97) and several poetic performances and multimedia jam sessions[5].

In '98 he sped up the MARENOSTRUM project, playing at the international exhibition Dall'isola dell’isola di una penisola in Carloforte. The recording of this live performance gave birth to the demonstrative CD Ricordo… Carloforte 4/9/98, which was presented in Carloforte on Jan. 1st '99[6]. Some of the music from this CD was broadcast by Radio RAI International[7], by Swiss RSI 2[8] and by the German WDR[9], together with an interview to Mario Brai. In Sep. '99 the MARENOSTRUM project landed at the 17^th Culture Month in Ghilarza, where it also offered a tribute to the recently departed artist Fabrizio De Andrè, and in Dec. '99, with a smaller format, at Emmas Festival in Olbia. On a different front, in June '99 he performed a violin-solo show on the Kosovo tragedy, Mondi Viol-ati, that was presented at the 12^th InterAzioni festival[10] on Jun. 2^nd and at the 3^rd Dall'isola dell'isola di una penisola exhibition in Carloforte on Sep. 11^th.

In 2000 the group’s activities sped up significantly. The second CD, Millenovecentonovantadieci, recorded live in Ghilarza, was presented in Siena[11] on Apr. 19^th, in Cagliari on June 28^th, in Malta[12], within the University festival “Evenings on campus”, on Aug. 17^th, and in Carloforte[13] on Sep. 2^nd. Some of its tracks have also been broadcast, together with an interview to Mario Brai, by Controradio[14] in Florence, by Notturno Italiano[15] on RAI 2, by RAI International[16] and by Radio Press[17] in Cagliari. During the summer they participate to the benefit performance Ichnos[18] (Jun 18^th), to the Sardinian Wine Expo[19] in Cagliari on June 23^rd, to the Mediterranean Festival in Bisceglie (Bari) with their concert on Aug. 23^rd and their contribution to the multimedia performance Oracles on Aug 25^th, and to the “Summer in Florence” festival[20] on Aug 28^th , with a concert enriched by the participation as a special guest of the famous Italian violinist Mauro Pagani. In these last performances the group has been occasionally joined by other musicians, actors, poets, such as Zefir Towil (Palestine), Renzo Spiteri (Malta), Riccardo Zappa (Italy), Ahmed Sirag (Egypt), Georgia Sylleou (Greece), Rino Zurzolo (Italy), the percussion group Etno Drums, Provençal group Gai Saber, Gino Locaputo, Massimo Barilla, Antonino Praticò and many others.

[1] Sardegna rock, Giacomo Serreli, Scuola Sarda Ed. 1994 (p.168) and previous edition; Carnet, De Agostini Rizzoli Periodici, January 1997, Paolo Scarpellini

[2] Sardegna rock, p.164

[3] La Nuova Sardegna, 23/6/1997, Walter Porcedda; 14/2/1998, Carlo Argiolas; 3/5/1998, Antonio Canu;
L'Unione Sarda, 14/2/1998, Cristiano Sanna

[4] Musica di Repubblica, 23/4/1997, Flavio Brighenti

[5] La Nuova Sardegna, 10/6/1997, Walter Porcedda

[6] L'Unione Sarda, 7/1/1999, Nicolo Capriata

[7] Con voi sul mare, Letizia Bracci

[8] Enrico Bianda

[9] Cosmo, Marina Collaci; Paesaggi sonori, Werner Fuhr

[10] La Nuova Sardegna, 4/6/99 and 9/6/99, Walter Porcedda

[11] Siena Oggi, 19/4/00

[12] Times di Malta 27/7/00; Sunday Times 20/8/00, Paul Xuereb

[13] La Nuova Sardegna, 30/8/00, Walter Porcedda

[14] Enrico Bianda

[15] Giuseppe Vota

[16] Francesca Saitto

[17] Angelo Porru

[18] La Nuova Sardegna, 16/6/00 e 19/6/00, Walter Porcedda

[19] La Nuova Sardegna, 23/6/00, Walter Porcedda

[20] Corriere di Firenze, 28/8/00

A versatile and well-esteemed musician based in Carloforte, he plays in different Sardinian groups throughout the island's festivals. In '93 he began playing the bass in the Joe Over Band and over the last five years he has constantly co-operated with Mario Brai, becoming soon one of the mainstays of the MARENOSTRUM project. On Sep. 9 '99 he played in Battista Dagnino's Animanimale concert at the international festival Dall'isola dell'isola di una penisola in Carloforte. In 2000 he played with MARENOSTRUM at Ichnos, at the Wine Expo in Cagliari (where they were the support band for Almamegretta), at the CDs' presentations and in the Sardinian concerts.
He also features in the song recorded for the compilation Tajrà vol. II.

Born of "Tabarkini" parents, he attended several workshops held in Cagliari by important percussion players such as Roberto Evangelisti, Ray Mantilla and Cino Ciang. In '84 he began playing in several clubs in Cagliari and Oristano, also joining in some occasional jam sessions with Giovanni Imparato and Mauro Pagani. He moved though different music genres, playing for the afro-dance lessons of Caribbean dancer Miguel Sorano, but also in the experimental performance Gabbie by Spazio Arka.
An old friend of the Joe Over Band, he took part in several Festivals of the Tabarkin Song in Carloforte and in the Guilcer Rock festival in Norbello. He has long been co-operating with Mario Brai and he has been playing with MARENOSTRUM from the start. He is one of the mainstays of the two CDs, of the concerts of the 2000 tour and of the track included in Tajrà Vol. II.

A sea captain by profession, he was born of a Neapolitan father and a Tabarkin mother, and therefore he had a tendency to mix since birth. Already as a child he showed great interest in music, learning all the popular songs of the time by heart. When he was eight he received a Bontempi keyboard as a present and began playing anything from church songs to pop hits. At the age of 15 he began playing the drums out of sheer despair, since no one else in his friends' group was capable of handling a drumstick. This junior group then grew into the Joe Over Band, which played for several years in Carloforte, but also at Forte Prenestino in Rome. In '90 he began a serious study of his instrument under R. Pisano's guide, and the next year he left for Milan, where he attended Luca Turolla's lessons at the Accademia Musicale Moderna and followed some workshops by professional drummers such as Franco Rossi and Tommy Campbell. In the same period he worked on the technical staff of several concerts (Billy Idol, INXS, Gianna Nannini, Eros Ramazzotti, Fabrizio De Andrè, etc.), where he got to know famous Italian drummers such as E. Baldini, E. Rivagli, L. Melotti… His Milanese season peaked with his participation in Vasco Rossi's tour as an assistant stage technician.
Going back to his hometown, he reunited with his friends of the Joe Over Band and played in Carloforte with Mauro Pagani and at Guilcer Rock in Norbello. He also co-operated with several Sardinian musicians, playing in several bands, such as A Yoghi son house, Nuova Espressione, Enigma, Lords and New Team. In '97 he founded his current group, the Bambagia Blues Band, with which he still plays every summer, despite his difficult job as a seaman. In 1999 he played in Battista Dagnino's project Animanimale in Carloforte's international festival. He has been playing with MARENOSTRUM since 1998 and he is the percussionist of the two CDs and of the concerts at Ichnos, at the Wine Expo in Cagliari, in Bari and in Florence.

He studied oboe and composition at Cagliari Academy of Music. Then he started studying saxophone by himself, following also several courses and seminars. A very active musician, he played in several bands and groups, working among the others with Tullio De Piscopo, Bruno Tommaso, Franco Cerri, Nicky Marrero, Lester Bowie, Don Moye, Andy Gravish, Cagliari's Opera House Orchestra, Paolo Nonnis, Jon Hendricks Explosion, Bill Russo's Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Umberto Fiorentino, Scott Hall, Massimo Ferra and so on. During his career he played in all the most important festivals in Sardinia: Jazz in Sardegna in '93, '95 and '96; the international festival Ai confini tra Sardegna e Jazz in S. Anna Arresi in '94, '98 and '99; the international festival La notte dei poeti in Nora (CA) in '93; Time in Jazz in '90, Interplay in '96 and '99; Impront in '96, '97 and '98; Q/Art and Ichnos in 2000. At the moment he is the director of Cagliari Jazz Orchestra and he plays with a jazz trio that goes under his name, with the camera ensemble QuarTrio Mephisto and with MARENOSTRUM (2000 tour).

After studying drama with Italian and foreign masters and attending the National Dramatic Academy in Rome, in '96 she moved back to her hometown, Cagliari, where she has worked with several companies active both in Sardinia and in the rest of Italy. In addition to acting, she has always worked in collateral activities, such as organisation, direction, light design, etc. This because she has always been attracted by everything that involves performance, or better still, by all kinds of communication and interaction through performances.
Besides working in theatre, where she has interpreted the most varied roles from a street singer boy to an insane woman for directors such as Senio Dattena, Rino Sodano, Angelo Savelli e Marco Gagliardo, she has also devoted herself to radio and TV. She has being working as an actress in Taccuino Italiano by RAI International and as a speaker and an editorial assistant for local TVs Sardegna Uno and Videolina. In '96 she also worked as assistant director and assistant producer in the short La volpe e l'ape [The fox and the bee] by Enrico Pau, that won the 1º prize at the international festival of short and medium films in Bologna.
In the past few years she embraced the MARENOSTRUM project, giving her important contribution both in some of the concerts (Ghilarza, Cagliari, Bisceglie and Florence) and in the CD Millenovecentonovantadieci.

Born in Palermo, he moved to Cagliari at the age of 22 and started frequenting the town's clubs where he saw the best local groups at work. He soon got to know Argentinean saxophonist Hector Costita and Brazilian guitarist Don Betto, with whom he started playing Caribbean music. In '92 he began playing bossanova and samba with Rinaldo Pinna and Filomena Campus. In '93 he founded the Salsa Piccante group with Andrea Palmas and Marco Sassu and he started playing with Mario Brai and Roberto Deidda under the name of Latin Lovers. In '95 he worked at a revisitation of traditional Cuban music with the Quartetto Picaflor. In '96 he founded the group Nuraghe Son with Andrea Palmas and Luca Nulchis. In '97 he played in the poetry and music performance Così è, by Sardinian actor Giuseppe Boy, which obtained very positive reviews from the press (Walter Porcedda, La Nuova Sardegna, 10/6/1997). He played with MARENOSTRUM for the presentation of the Millenovecentonovantadieci CD and for the summer 2000 tour.

Born in Carloforte, he was one of the founders of the Joe Over Band, of which he was lead guitarist and lead singer, besides being author of part of the music and lyrics. He soon left his mother-island to live different experiences in the musical field. Between '89 and '91 he toured through Switzerland, France and Germany with the Swiss group Exil. Between '92 and '93 he worked as a backing vocalist and a guitar-tuner in Fabrizio De Andrè's tour throughout Italian theatres. He then settled in Milan for a couple of years, and there he composed some jingles for Radio 101, played the guitar with the rock-band Disegni di Verlaine and worked as an assistant sound engineer in Mauro Pagani's recording studio. There in particular he worked as a musician in some adverts (Illy Caffè, Omnitel, Volksvagen, Vallelata, Mercedes, etc.), as a studio assistant in the soundtrack of Gabriele Salvatores' Nirvana and as a backing vocalist in the CDs Buoni con il mondo by Brando, Strade Perse by Lorenzo Riccardi and Bruciare davvero by Fabio Roveroni. He is also one of the authors of the CD Metallo non metallo by Bluevertigo.
On 9/9/99 he launched his Animanimale project playing at the international festival Dall'isola dell'isola di una penisola in Carloforte. He also played with MARENOSTRUM in the presentations of the CDs, at Emmas' world music festival and in Tajrà vol. II.

A self-taught musician, he began playing drums in some Sardinian rock-bands, with which he took part in several rock festivals, such as the first two Rockarea festivals in Cagliari and Tonara. Towards the end of the '80s he began studying tenor saxophone, again self-taught, and he soon played in easy-listening bands, such as Fair Society, with which he was ranked third at Chianciano's musical contest in the jazz-fusion section. In the early '90s he began studying jazz improvisation and playing with several local musicians, besides with American trumpet player Andy Gravish, and he attended a workshop by American sax player Andy Grossman.
In recent years he also dedicated to soprano sax, and his interest in the New Age phenomenon induced him to use computers, synthesisers and a midi sax. Between '96 and '98 he co-operated with trumpet player Mario Massa in the Ragatronic duo, which obtained a fair amount of interest from the critics and took part in several jazz festivals in Sardinia (Posada Jazz, Jazz d'autore, Impront '97, Sunpop Festival). In '98 he joined the quintet guided by pianist Silvia Corda, co-operated with Italian saxophone player Tino Tracanna and founded a group of his own, with which he produced a CD demo. He joined the MARENOSTRUM project in Sep. '99 at the 17th Culture Month in Ghilarza and he is therefore the saxophonist in the CD Millenovecentonovantadieci.

He began his activity back in the '70s with the Sardinian group Suonofficina, which performed in several Italian and European cities and with which he recorded two LPs, Pingiada and Andimironai, besides working on Elena Ledda's Is arrosas (Key Records). In '84 he founded the band Tomato Ketchup together with Giovanni Piga and Alberto Susnik, which survived until '89. From '90 to '91 he worked with the Latin American poet and composer Miguel Puello Soriano, with whom he founded a group called Meigama. From '91 to '93 he collaborated with the Swiss choreographer Cornelia Wildisen, composing the music for the Blumen Schaum ballet and, with the violinist Adele Madau, for Ausflug, which both toured several Italian cities. In '93, together with Giovanni Piga, he founded Super Partes, which obtained a special mention at Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival.
He has also co-operated with several artists in different fields, such as Paris dancer Marie France-Schott Bilmann, guitarist Riccardo Lay, guitarist Alberto Balia, poli-instrumentist Sandro Fresi, with whom he recorded the CD Iskeliu (Acc. Gabriel), Swiss singer Dodo Hug, with whom he recorded the CD Chameleon (MCA), Teatro di Sardegna, with which he worked at La Baraja (directed by Orlando Forioso), dancer-choreographer Simonetta Nulchis for Sa Ena and Majardzas, Corsican musicologist Jean Jacques Andreani, and Haitian dancer Herns Duplan. He has also been co-operating with the ethnic group Calic for several years, and he recorded Terres de mar (CNI) in '95 and Attinde (CNI) in '97 with them. He has also joined in several jam sessions with musicians such as the Briton Alan Stivell, the Corsican Carramusa, the Sardinian Choir of Neoneli, the Argentinean Diego Jascalevich and Tony Osanah and the Sardinian Massimo Ferra and Rossella Faa. Last year he started working with Andalusian musician Manuel Lopez Romero and dancer Maria Jesus Rodriguez.

Born in Cagliari, he studied violin at his hometown Academy of Music, where he also attended the experimental composition course by Franco Oppo. He began playing the bass and jazz in '89. Two years later he attended the Master Jazz workshop held by Dave Holland, and in '92 and '95 those held by Attilio Zanchi at Nuoro Jazz. In '96, under Furio Di Castri's guide, he obtained an important Italian jazz qualification (Alta qualificazione professionale per musicisti jazz e derivazioni contemporanee). Still in '96, he followed the Mister Jazz workshops held in Ravenna by Marc Johnson and Miroslav Vitous. He took part in several competitions and festivals, such as Time in Jazz '96 and '97, Nuoro Jazz, Posada Jazz Project, etc. In '96 he played with Italian jazz singer Mariapia De Vito at an exhibition organised by the club L'Ultima Follia in Cagliari. In '97 he moved to Bologna, where he played in various groups, and in '98 to Den Hag, where he is attending the local Academy for Jazz Music.
He played with Mario Brai at the Festa di Luna Crescente in Abbasanta, also having a hand in some of the songs' arrangements.

He began to study piano at Cagliari Academy of Music at a very early age. He then moved on to the trumpet, which he began to play in Cagliari City Band. He then attended a course held by American trumpet player John Faddis and studied jazz improvisation with pianist Luca Mannutza. He played in the poetry and music performances Oh generazione sfortunata and Così è, by Sardinian actor Giuseppe Boy, and has been collaborating with Mario Brai for several years.
He is the trumpet player in the CD Ricordo… Carloforte 4/9/98.

Born in Cagliari, he taught himself to play the drums. He then pursued his drums studies at the St. Louis Jazz School in Rome, following the courses held by Ettore Fioravanti. He followed several workshops among which Mister Jazz in Ravenna, held by Peter Erskine, Pierre Favre and Jon Christensen. He has worked with several Sardinian bands, both ethnical and jazz, playing both drums and percussion. He recently recorded the CDs Verdadera by the Cagliari group Super Partes, with which he also worked on their Italian tour, and Madausavida by Franco Madau.

	THE BAND
The open group plays in different formats according to the occasion, ranging to three to five (basic format) to seven elements. In occasion of presentations or similar, the leader can also pay alone in a guitar-and-voice solo performance.
Mario Brai (guitar, violin, lead vocals) Antonello "Tuan" Aversano (6-string bass, fretless bass, backing vocal) Riccardo "Trappa" Loi (percussion, backing vocals) Antonello "Frank" Coppola (drums, percussion, backing vocals) Nicola Piras (Tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, vocals) played with us in our 2000 tour… Aurora Simeone (narrating voice) played with us in our 2000 tour… Sergio "Giaco" Giacobello (5-string bass, vocals) played with us in our 2000 tour… Sergio Farci (percussion, sax) played with us in the Sardinian concerts and in Tajrà vol. II Battista Dagnino (electric and acoustic guitar, bouzouki, vocals) played with us at the presentations of the two CDs, at the Emmas festival in Olbia, in Tajrà vol. II… Marcello Carro (tenor sax, soprano sax, midi sax) he is the saxophonist of the CD Millenovecentonovantadieci Alberto Cabiddu (percussion, backing vocals) played in Tajrà Vol.2 Manolo Cabras (double bass, electric bass) played with us at the Festa di luna crescente, in Abbasanta. Agostino Scano (trumpet, backing vocals) *played with us at the Festa di luna crescente, in Abbasanta.* Paolo Romby (trumpet, backing vocals) played with us at the international festival Dall'isola dell'isola di una penisola in Carloforte Nico Meloni (electric guitar) played with us at the presentation of the CD Millenovecentonovantadieci in Cagliari Alessandro Garau (percussion)