Carlo Rizzo

Carlo Rizzo is an Italian music composer and percussionist who specializes in the tamburello, a southern Italian form of the tambourine. Living in France since the 1980s, he has played internationally with numerous musicians of avant-garde jazz, traditional as well as ancient music and is also known for his compositions of French contemporary music.

Life and career Rizzo studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome until 1979. During this time, he also learnt the technique of playing the jingled frame drum tamburello with Alfio Antico and the Neapolitan tammorra with Raffaele Inserra, both folk musicians from southern Italy. He perfected his skills as a self-taught musician and was soon performing with various Italian traditional music groups. In 1983, he made a guest appearance as a musician in Italian songwriter Giovanna Marini's Il Regalo dell' Imperatore in France, where he moved the following year. He first lived in Paris and later in Grenoble.

In 1988 Rizzo taught percussion at the Conservatoire National in Réunion and later in 1994 at the Rueil-Malmaison conservatoire. Between 1991 and 1993, he also lectured about traditional Italian music at the University of Paris. Further, Rizzo developed two of his own forms of the tamburello (Tamburello Politimbrico and Tamburello Multitimbrico), which he manufactures himself. Since 1988, Rizzo has founded or participated in about thirty ensembles, performing both jazz as well as traditional and contemporary music. He has played with musicians including Gianluigi Trovesi, Rita Marcotulli, Jean-Jacques Goldman and Montserrat Figueras. Starting in 1992, he has also appeared as a solo artist, performing on percussion and singing at the same time. Further, he has performed at concerts and festivals throughout Europe, the USA, the Caribbean and Latin America, Asia and Africa. His own compositions of contemporary music have mainly been commissioned by French cultural organizations or festivals.

Reception and distinction As a member of Lucilla Galeazzi's trio Il Trillo, Rizzo was called a "virtuoso percussion player" in the Rough Guide on music from Italy. In 1999, The Economist reported about the International Percussion Biennale in Conakry, Guinea, where Rizzo was featured in a duo with Senegalese master player on the talking drum Pape M'baye. The article commented: weaving "their rhythms around each other, it sounded like a conversation." In 2015, the album Stupor mundi of ancient music by Vincent Klink, Patrick Bebelaar, Michel Godard, Gavino Murgia and Carlo Rizzo was awarded the German Record Critics' Award, an annual German prize presented for achievements in recorded music.

In 2001, Rizzo was distinguished as a Knight (Chevalier) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.

Discography

Luc Ferrari: Matin et Soir, 1989 La Grande Bande Des Cornemuses, 1990 Il Trillo, 1992 Michael Riessler: Héloise, 1993 Journal de Bord - 38è Rugissant, 1993 Tanz Folkfest Rudolstadt, 1993 Anthologie de la Chanson Française - La Tradition, 1994 André Velter: Le Grand Passage, 1994 Valentin Clastrier: Le Bûcher des Silences, 1994 Clastrier - Riessler - Rizzo: Palude, 1995 Michael Riessler: Tentations d’ Abelard, 1995 Ambrogio Sparagna: Invito, 1995 The Justin Vali Trio, 1995 Antonio Placer: La Danza De Los Azares, 1995 Micrologus: d’ Amor Cantando, 1995 Édouard Glissant: Les Poétiques, 1996 Schérzo Orientale, 1997 Ambrogio Sparagna: La Via Dei Romei, 1997 J. P. Yvert - J. Mayoud: Fragment de Routes, 1997 Eric Montbel: Ulysse, 1997 Carlo Rizzo - Ibrahim Jaber: Rituel Du Feu, 1997 Vents d’Est: Ballades pour une mer qui chante, 1997 Antonio Placer: Un poco cielo, un poco tierra, 1998 Italie : Musiques Populaires d’Aujourd ‘hui, 1998 Michael Riessler: Honig und Asche, 1998 Rita Marcotulli: The Woman Next Door, 1998 Toscane, 1999 Paolo Damiani, Carlo Mariani, Michele Rabbia, Sandro Satta, Carlo Rizzo: Mediana, 1999 Dhafer Youssef: Malak, 1999 Trio Chemirani, Montanaro, Rizzo: Alazar, 2000 Gianluigi Trovesi Nonet: Round About a Midsummer's Dream, 2000 Jean-Jacques Goldman: Chansons Pour Les Pieds, 2001 Une Anche Passe: Nigriz, 2002 Jean-Luc Fillon: Oboa, 2003, mit João Paulo Montserrat Figueras: Lux Feminae (900-1600), 2006 Eugenio Colombo, Michel Godard, Carlo Rizzo: Ciaobelleragazze, 2006 Patrick Bebelaar: Pantheon, 2007 Henry Fourès, Carlo Rizzo, Beñat Achiary, Célébration du contre-jour, Radio France, Harmonia Mundi, 2007. Vincent Klink/Patrick Bebelaar: Stupor Mundi, 2014, with Michel Godard and Gavino Murgia

Compositions

Tammurriata, 1991 Poliritmia, 1992 La Fête des Reugnes, 1993 Toscane, 1998 Canto Ritmico, 2000 Lumiera, 2000 Les Trans(e)tambourins, 2003 Pas de Géants , 2008 Da vicino e da lontano, 2009) Du signe au son, 2009 Rhytmhus, 2010

Literature

Wolf Kampmann: Mister Tambourine Man: Der Perkussionist Carlo Rizzo. In: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (1991-), vol. 157, no. 6, (Schlag-Werk) Nov.–Dez. 1996, pp. 34–36 (in German)