Credit: Alla Boara
A cannoli before lunch? On Saturday, April 13, about 45 people indulged in one, along with a cup of coffee, courtesy of Stissing Center for Arts and Culture.
“This is how you do it ladies and gentlemen. You can’t bring a four-hour old, pre-filled cannoli to a party,” said Anthony Taddeo, leader and percussionist of the contemporary Italian-folk-fusion band Alla Boara.
As a complement to the band’s free public warm-up performance that afternoon, attendees enjoyed complimentary coffee and cannolis — freshly made that morning and filled on site. Alla Boara, whose name translates to “to the work” in Italian, told stories about the origin of the group and the songs it performs in jazz-infused arrangements.
“This was the first time we were able to offer something like this and we are actively looking to create more of these opportunities this year,” said Stissing Center’s director Brett Bernardini of the free community event. “The ‘coffee and cannoli’ crowd was overwhelmingly first-timers. It was awesome.”
The six-piece band included Taddeo, violinist Jarina Jasnickaya, guitarist Dan Bruce, bassist Ian Kinneman, trumpeter Tommy Lehman and singer Amanda Powell. They drove to Pine Plains in a single van.
Credit: Lenora Champagne
Taddeo studied jazz at The New School, in New York City, where he wrote a paper focused on Italian folk music. His father is Italian, and he wanted to learn more about the tradition. “There’s such a human quality to folk music,” Taddeo said.
While doing research, Taddeo discovered that Alan Lomax, famous for recording American field working songs, also recorded a multitude of Italian work songs during a trip there in 1954. Taddeo explained that these songs are mostly in dialect, rather than standard Italian. Powell, who was classically trained in Italy, works with the recordings to approximate a translation into Italian, so she can explain what she’s singing to the audience.
Several of the songs have a call-and-response rhythm. One was sung by workers in the sulfur mines accompanied by jaw harps, which they could easily carry into the mines. Another was sung by women working in the tobacco fields to remind one another to always go about in pairs for their safety, and to warn one another about certain overseers to avoid.
“Similar stories have diverse treatments in different areas,” Taddeo said. In other words, similar stories pop up, with regional differences. “When Lomax was there, in 1954, individual differences were starting to die down, because of television.” Alla Boara, which released its first album in 2022, “Work and Song,” aims to keep these various songs alive by recharging them with contemporary musicality.
“That reminded me of my grandmother’s kitchen!” said an audience member following the first lively number. The music, and perhaps the cannolis too.