Cantabile non troppo

Miriam Palma, born November 20, 1964, in the
village of San Stefano Quisquina near Agrigento, Sicily, has been expressing
her personal vision of the world for nearly two decades. Although a political
philosopher by training, she is active in both film (as a musician, singer and
silent-movie accompanist) and music. As for her music, she might best be
described as a rare disciple of modern improvised music, a minority field
"per se" , for she creates actual music and not merely background
sound. Those brave people from the world of improvisation, after all, like to
take risks and avoid cliché whenever possible. Miriam Palma possesses special
vocal abilities, which are apparent not only in her extensive vocal range but
also, and mainly, in her ability to vocalize two- or even three-voiced sounds
in a single breath. In addition, she is distinguished by her wide variety of
interests. Primarily, she explores voice and breathing effects, experiments
with sound and works as a teacher, but she also excels as a singer of harmony
and a performer of the classical Sicilian repertoire. She exploits to the
fullest her unique combination of gifts in many bands, sometimes-international
ones, but most notably in the superb island "export" trio Terra
Arsa, which also includes Gianni Gebbia on woodwinds and percussionist
Vittorio Villa. In this trio, Palma supplements her vocal play with small
percussion instruments. The trio was once the main vehicle for creative
commotion in Palermo, a city of extreme cultural whims: when Gebbia held the
post as city councillor for culture under the leftist government in the
mid-nineties, he promoted (with the help of his friends) the development of
schools, workshops for young people and the influential music festival Curva
Minore. Sadly, this festival was later demolished, along with many other things
(including an enormous cultural centre), by right-wing city authorities linked
to the Mafia.
In Ljubljana, Miriam Palma will perform her solo project Cantabile non
troppo, which includes voice, percussion, precise direction and movement.
She will be accompanied by written electro-acoustic music conceived by herself
and Domenico Sciajno. In a work that textually relies on the poetry of Ingeborg
Bachmann, Elsa Morante and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Palma questions again and
again the relationship between what is written and what is sung. As theatre,
this approximately hour-long performance stretches from extremely intimate and
archaic vocal tones to a dichotomy of explosive/implosive effects and the
poignantly vocalised question of what is happening with megalomania and modesty
in today's world. Cantabile non troppo is a wonderful, rich work, a
superb example of the theatrical approach to voice and the vocalist's stage
presence. It presents the full spectrum of singing: chilling silence,
lamentation, whisper, screaming, melodies, lyricism, abstraction, and lushness.
The electrifying relationship between intensity and alleviation in regard to
the audience makes this an especially charismatic work.
Miha
Zadnikar

Organisation:
City of Women
In co-operation with: Klub Gromka
With the support of: Italian Cultural Institute