Ton's Musical Musings: Released from tradition

When Riccardo Tesi discovered the melodion (diatonic harmonica) more than thirty years ago, the only people playing it were folk musicians from Southern Italy and Sardinia. Being a sophisticated city dweller from Tuscany, Tesi couldn't care less about the simple dance tunes played in these rural areas, but the sound of the instrument haunted him. In order to use it to play the music he liked - contemporary chamber music and jazz - he had a special version of the melodion made which is chromatic rather than diatonic, which means one can play in any key, rathen than just one plus its parallel minor. De Castagnari brothers, renowned melodion builders from Italy, supplied him with exactly what he needed and he has used their instruments exclusively ever since. The three-row chromatic version designed especially for Tesi at first, is now part of their regular catalogue.

Whenever you hear Tesi perform with his regular quartet Banditaliana, it is obvious this is not a flashy virtuoso soloist, but rather a team player. A lot of attention goes into both the compositions and the arrangements, in which the other instruments in the group - guitar, voice, saxophone and percussion - shine just as brightly as Tesi's own melodion. When I met Tesi after his show at the annual Folkwoods festival in the Dutch town of Eindhoven, he stressed the fact that he doesn't like the recital form of a soloist accompanied by a band.

"When you have all these colours, why use only one? I am privileged to play with these wonderful musicians and I want to hear them! Banditaliana is not me and my musicians, but a real band which has played together for many years now. If a song needs just one note on the melodion, I'll gladly play just that one note. I listen to music in a global way, not analytical."

For more information about Riccardo Tesi, read the full article from the print edition here.

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