Lafasciano takes Jakartans on a musical journey

Placido, Contributor, Jakarta

At the end of the evening, the receptive audience at the Erasmus Huis in South Jakarta granted Domenico Lafasciano a standing ovation. No more that his virtuoso performance deserved.

In a 90-minute concert on Tuesday, the Italian guitar maestro took the beyond-capacity crowd on a journey through melodies that enchanted, captured, impressed and made the audience think.

Jazz, folk, Latin and modern rhythms are all part of Lafasciano's repertoire and, on this night, blended perfectly in an inebriating cocktail.

The first part of the concert offered a taste of classic compositions, Brazilian Latin jazz and an innovative combination of music and words.

Prelude No. 4, composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos and dedicated to the Amazon's Indio, is a hauntingly beautiful melody which contrasted well with the medley of compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Baden Powel that followed.

Here, three separate pieces with distinct flavors worked well as one entity with Lafasciano's arrangements. His hands raced frenetically and gracefully up and down the fingerboard, offering now a nimble arpeggio or a powerful scale pattern. He seemed to talk to his guitar and the guitar talked back, while the audience listened in awe.

The act concluded with a musical fable elaborated by Lafasciano and based on L'orange, Sonate Sentimentale by Carulli.

Words and music worked hand in hand in an involving composition that begins in a quite simplistic manner but gradually builds up in rhythmic complexity. The text was read out by Professor Ostelio Remi, director of the Italian Institute of Culture and organizer of the event.

However, it was the second part of the concert that made a lasting impact on the audience. After a five-minute break, Lafasciano returned to the stage without his bright yellow jacket and bow tie to perform a series of his own compositions.

The same compositions were presented on Thursday at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, as part of the Schouwburg III Festival commemorating the 58th anniversary of Indonesia's independence.

Here Lafasciano was one of a quartet, with three more maestri at work: Giulio Visibelli on the sax and flute, Lucio Terzano on double bass and Tony Arco on drums and percussion.

The mark of a really good group is the interaction between the members and, on this night, there was no doubt about the artists' mutual understanding. The result was a good mix between a set program and individual improvisation.

Since 1978, Lafasciano has played in the major cities in 24 nations in Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Australia. Traveling and coming into contact with different cultures has shaped and inspired his music, as seen in his compositions.

During Thursday's performance, his journey started in the U.S. with Grief in New York, a tribute to the victims of 9/11. As you would expect, the piece -- remarkable for its poignancy -- is marked with great sadness but presents outbursts of passion.

The melodies lead through a series of emotions that go from mournful sorrow to anger to hope, and in reverse order back to anger and mournful sorrow.

In Shanghai, Lafasciano takes the audience to China with a skillfully developed and harmonized composition. Here the blend of flute and acoustic guitar works wonders in enthralling the audience.

Dirham of Morocco is the next destination, with a piece that is very beautifully crafted. While Jakarta is far from North Africa, the atmosphere of Arabic markets and belly dancers takes shape through the notes played by the quartet.

Very soon the composition picks up momentum and develops into a hectic but excitingly colorful piece of music that, with a crescendo finale, had both the young audience at the Erasmus Huis and the more demanding one at the Gedung Kesenian on their feet cheering.

A tribute to every big city follows with Metropolitan, which conjures up images of busy road intersections as well as sophisticated and trendy nightlife.

In Obsession and Forse un giorno (Maybe One Day) the journey pauses. These are more thoughtful works. Still they remain musical wanders, finely created and intelligently structured.

In the first composition, Tony Arco has his moment with a five-minute solo that had the audience first fidgeting in their seats and then bursting into ovation.

In the second composition, Giulio Visibelli plays masterfully with a sensibility that opens your rib cage and talks straight to your heart.

The journey ends in Lafasciano's home country, Italy, with a light-hearted composition, Serenata and Tarantella, that captures the essence of the Italian folk culture. Here again the combination of guitar and flute/sax, filled with mellow timbres and surging melody lines, is the defining element of the quartet.

Lafasciano was born in 1955. He graduated from the Conservatory of Padua with the highest grades and has been performing as a concert player since 1978.

Esteemed by the international press, Lafasciano is regularly invited to perform abroad by Italy's embassies.

His music clearly reflects a thorough knowledge of the guitar's repertoire and makes the most of the intriguing sound potential of the guitar-soprano saxophone-flute coalition; the works sound natural, passionate, thoughtful and very creative.

Not one composition is similar to another. And on his two nights here, from the word go his musicianship mesmerized the audience.

Lafasciano's quartet delighted Jakarta thanks to an invitation from the Italian Institute of Culture.