Lafasciano takes Jakartans on a musical journey

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.