Accentonic - Corou De Berra

Cuncordu E TENORE de Orosei

Urs Karpatz

Quartet BulgarIA Slavei

"Chant niçois Polyphonies des Alpes" - Buda Musique/Universal

Song from Miédjou - Buda Musique/Universal

Michel Bianco
Primo Francoïa
Françoise Marchetti
Massimo Rosadi
Pascal Feret
Marion Bouquinet

COROU DE BERRA
Southern Alps Polyphonies

Polyphonic ensemble of six voices, mixed and harmoniously additional, Corou de Berra (Berre des Alpes's choir) interprets the traditional songs of the South the Mediterranean Sea with the sympathy typical of this people.

«The mountain separates waters and collects people". This old proverb of the Southern Alps illustrates perfectly their situation. For centuries, the permanent exchanges between Provence, Piedmont, Ligurie and Countries of Nice created in the Southern Alps a remarkable identity, rich in numerous specificities. One of them concerns the choral singing, because in this region developed an original traditional polyphony.

Corou de Berra animates this local directory at the same moment cultural symbol and essential musical entity among the regions which compose the French landscape of the traditional music. Looking for ceaselessly the songs forgotten by their patrimony, but also composing new titles, Corou de Berra is the artisan of the alive and dynamic present of an ancestral culture.

By their training and their profession, the singers of the Corou of Berra put their experiences as well as their knowledge in the service of the polyphonique art.

Some references ...
Auditorium Ravel de Lyon - Amsterdam Roots Festival - Festenal Coumboscuro - Le Chaînont Manquant à Cahors - Maison de la Radio à Paris - Les Méditerranéennes de Céret - Fiesta des Suds à Marseille - Théâtre de l’Européen - Oralies de Haute-Provence - Festival Folklore Mondial de Martigues - Rencontres Méditerranéennes de Nyons - Sonen Mai - La Conques - Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi - Musik’Alpes - Musiques Croisées de Romans - Les Temps Chauds - Conservatoire Occitan de Toulouse

Awards
Prix de la critique allemande (Asa Nisi Masa)
Télérama (Anthologie de la chanson française)
EEEE du Monde de la MUSIQUE (Très & Mès)
Talents Midem 1998
Pré-sélection Printemps de Bourges 2000

Press
"Since around ten years, behind Michel Bianco (Ex--Bachâs-Mont joia) Corou de Berra realizes an important work which finds an echo indeed beyond their nissart country today. Their training ground: the Alps the South Italian or French hillsides where cross themselves piémontaises influences, Italian inhabitants of Nice, provencales, ligures. Their object of preference: vocal I' harmony of the vineyard in particular a song in three voices(votes) that a first voice(vote) tenor (prim al), a contrechant in tierce, very free in flourishes ( the scounda), a tessiture of baritone which follows the agreements on the tonic (low al). In the course of the years and recordings Corou de Berra became a set of six voices who won in power, in precision and enriched its expression with musicians, as on this disc where we find sizes Confederates such the trumpeter Michel Marre the pianist Giuseppe Giusta or the tambouriniste Carlo Rizzo." Franck TENAILLE - Monde de la Musique

"Corou de Berra is the most authentic and inventive of polyphonique siniging from southern alps." V.Certilatti – Genève 2002

Repertoires
A CAPELLA (6 singers)
The usual song recital of the Corou de Berra, the one who forged his reputation and always assures it its success.
A walk in the Alps of the South, between Piedmont, Provence and Country of Nice. In bare voices. The Southern Alps are the melting pot where come to merge strong, rooted, alive cultures. Lived for the ancient time, these mountains which come "to have a bath of foot in the sea" are a place of passage and permanent exchange, a land of high civilization. The polyphonique song is one of the wealth of this proud, current and authentic patrimony. Corou de Berra invites in a conducted tour of this region. Presentation of a directory in perpetual evolution, as wants it an alive tradition. Music never congealed, interpreted with all the required liveliness, by singers in full ownership of their culture and their art.

CALENA 6 singers
Profane Christmas and sacred music of the Country of Nice. Leaning on a very strong tradition, Corou selected an anthology of the most striking pages of this directory. Two additional subjects are approached : Christmas of Présepi Nissart and extracts of the sacred chants of Saint-Etienne of Tinée. Recorded for the first time, this forgotten music saw revised thanks to the work of Michel Bianco and his friends. It forms here the counterpoint on which the poetic melodies of Christmas in vernacular language prosper which the County of Nice created, adopted either tranformées on the roaming sources of close Piedmont, Ligurie, or Provence, itself sensitive to french influence. Pastre dei mountagno, I' anouciacioun, Tres rei campagno so result from Christmas of Our Lady of the Doms in Avignon, Christmas of the presepi of Nice, Jan Antounin and Nouvé de la Coulougneta appears in the anthology published by Delrieu, Nouvé dai ciripicieu, "recycling" of the paure farewell music Carneval, in the collection published in 1911 by Fanny Guyon

MIEDJOU (4 or 6 singers + 4 musicians)
Corou de Berra joined to instrumentalists jazz. Eric Sepé, guitars and Marc Peillon in the bass. Michel Bianco, alpine hurdy-gurdy, mandolin and Clovis Dehenin, percussions add a touch of colour to this orchestrina. "Corou de Berra proved that the song polyphonique, even if it draws its roots in centuries of history, reinvents nevertheless the tradition, confronts it with the world, modulates it, transforms it to give to the art a new opening, a new sense." "The step of the Corou de Berra, created fifteen years ago looks like that of Corsica of A Filetta: it maintains the local patrimony by decorating it with contemporary creations. Rich in its past, the song polyphonique try today to break labels and to give the full measure of its melodious possibilities." Corou de Berra, not moderate voices associated to an alpine hurdy-gurdy, a mandolin, a guitar, an accordion. Move. Sprinkle some percussions. So forms the Orchestra with Vocal cords. Which are also ropes of evasions, emotions.

TARTANE (6 singers)
Corou of Berra invite in a navigation at sight between different traditions of traditional polyphonies. Weave links, build bridges between people and cultures, cultivate the authenticity and the links, avoided the stumbling block of interbreedings empty of sense. Throw the ink of the bitter words.
TARTAN presents of the 16th century in our days, a very wide range of songs dedicated to the sea, resulting from Provence, from Ligurie, from Corsica and from Sardinia: song of procession of St Pierre, boss of the fishermen - epic song of the 19th century, telling the wreck of Sirio, with its immigrants' load - songs of holidays, dances of edge - songs and poetries of nowadays...

Discography