“Marammè: a sound that becomes a cult”
Claudia Feger| Sächsische Zeitung
Marammè is a project founded by Mario Sollazzo in collaboration with Italian and German musicians that aims to research music starting from the popular music of southern Italy, both with interpretations of traditional music and with their own compositions. Marammè is based on the ritual and magic characteristic as well as the story that is a founding the musical culture of southern Italy, absolutely far from the temptations of revival and folklore. Marammè has held more than 100 concerts in Europe, won the Creole World Music Prize in 2007, has produced two albums: “Frate Nunzio e la sua Storia” (2007) and “Terre senza’acqua” (2010) and, after a life as an autonomous group, has joined Alraune that welcomes all the musical projects of Mario Sollazzo and Stefano Zanobini enriching the repertoire and preparing to produce the third album to be released in 2024. Marammè is a project born exclusively from live concerts, The concerts are founded on a theatrical component linked to the story that Mario Sollazzo create, immersing the audience in a musical ritual more than in a concert. Each concert generates the stories that then feed the next concert and, slowly, reach maturity to be stopped in a record.
Marammè played for: TFF Rudolstadt, Grimmaer Liederflut, Litomericki Koren, Schaubuden Sommer Dresden, Staatsschauspiel „Kleines Haus“ Dresden, Musik zwischen den Welten, Creole Preis für Weltmusik Mitteldeutschland, Mikro! Festival Dortmund, Cantinando Festival, Villa Pennisi in Musica Festival, Moritzbastei Leipzig, Theater Halberstadt, MAR Roma, Arthur Chemnitz, Tietz Chemnitz, Societätstheater Dresden, Stelzen Festspiele, TheaterRuine StPauli, Dresdner Neustadtfest, Theater Magdeburg, Kulturbrauerei Berlin, Festival Stimmen Europas, Bernau Alte Musik Festival.
Some reviews about the concerts of Marammè:
“The audience gave a standing ovation to the Italian ensemble Alraune in the opening concert of the Alte Musik Bernau Festival. They didn’t seem to want to let the musicians off the stage and so came the pleasure of numerous encores. Alraune has captivated the audience through the great soloists and the engaging performance of the ensemble. This evening will remain as a great and touching dance from the baroque ingredients, without ever depriving itself of a certain dose of joke and lightness.”
Olav Schröder | Märkische Oderzeitung
„In a musical world where now, what is called World Music, has pulled down any geographical limit to contamination, does not make news that a Tuscan, a Neapolitan, a Sicilian and two Saxons have started to make music together. What is surprising is that the result is more “authentic” than many contemporary neofolk products and totally rooted in the oral tradition of southern Italy“.
Daniele Follero, Sentire Ascoltare
“Marammè proves to be too unpredictable for any music category. The universes of sounds and stories of Marammè with all their allusions and assonances are already so illustrative and full of images that the imagination of the listener begins to do flips. During the concerts you let yourself be guided by Mario Sollazzo and you can not do otherwise.“.
Oliver Rinhardt, Sächsische Zeitung
“Mario Sollazzo leads us through the story of Nunzio the necrophile Monk. There are visions of saints, damned and blessed, hungry peasants, loves of men and women who could not be more Dionysians.“
Christian Ruf, Dresdner Neueste Nachricht
“On stage Marammè proves once again both musically and scenically unpredictable. Mario Sollazzo kidnaps” listeners and does it in a sensual, sometimes scurrilous and always sarcastic way. Every scene evoked by the story is followed by songs with unexpected and very personal sounds characterized by an extreme musical tension.“
Niederelbe Zeitung
“A journey like a fairy tale, through the opera buffa, and melodrama, classical music and musique du midi”… Marammè are serious and presents one of the most beautiful and original works recently heard… There are insurrectional arguments to say it all in the lyrics of our… music of the highest level, played with grace and precision, competence and good taste; a work that is carried out in an accomplished way, articulated, evoking a thousand memories and leaving the listener pleasantly surprised… a thousand words would be needed to describe the beauty of this work; all grateful for the imagination, the intelligence and the heart that fill this record and the boxes or headphones of the lucky listeners who came across, between albums full of lies and “wallpaper music”, with this sparkling debut of Marammè.”
Aldo Migliorisi, Sicilia Libertaria
“You must have heard him: the Neapolitan Mario Sollazzo, aka Nunzio, telling the story of his life: “I came out of my mother’s womb, let me… butt!” Indeed, to be precise, you must not only hear him, you must see him! A sound that beats and sweats and that is not even remotely “museum music” or sold to the music market. In Marammè also the bedpan sounds good!“
Jens-Uwe Sommerschu, Sächsische Zeitung
“Each melody of Marammè begins in an innocent way and then releases all its fury in a few minutes. Everything is played with an almost anarchic force to the limits of the possible for the acoustic instruments available“
Grit Friedrich, Folk und Welt, MDR Radio
