TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsItalian jazz quartet melds cultures through Brazilian songs of life and love
The jazz concert is part of a series of cultural programs organized by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Institute of Culture to commemorate 70 years of Italian-Indonesian relations.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
On rhythm: The Susanna Stivali Quartet, an Italian jazz ensemble, performs the songs of Brazilian singer-songwriter Chico Buarque on Oct. 7 at Usmar Ismail Hall in South Jakarta. (JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak)
T
he guttural vocal gradually grew into a heart-wrenching, melodious wail that was sometimes disruptive in counterpoint to the accompanying musical instruments.
The sound came from the highly controlled vocal talents of Italian jazz singer Susanna Stivali, back phrasing and scatting in "La Costruzione" (Construction) to convey the final moments of a man who loses his life on the way to work .
The renowned singer and musicians of the Susanna Stivali Quartet was recently in town for a concert held by the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Institute of Culture to commemorate 70 years of Italian-Indonesian bilateral relations.
The jazz quartet played tracks from their latest studio album, Caro Chico (Dear Chico), released last year, a homage to Brazilian artist Francisco “Chico” Buarque de Hollanda, known as Chico Buarque.
"La Costruzione" was composed by Buarque in 1971 under the original title "Construção".
Buarque, a polyglot lyricist who was known as a genius, wrote the song in verses that contain 12 syllables – an Italian poetic style – each of which ends in a word that stresses the third-to-last syllable. The song's title thus derives from its compositional structure, not just the location of the tragedy it portrays.
"Construção" was said to be the most emotionally powerful piece Buarque wrote during the 1970s, and the Italian jazz quartet pulled it off.
