/  Ilaria Graziano e Francesco Forni

Ilaria Graziano e Francesco Forni

A male guitar and a female ukulele. Ilaria Graziano & Francesco Forni propose a show made of folk, blues and dolce vita. An amazing duo singing in English, French, Spanish and surely, their own native language, Italian. Their performance is a fascinating travel, across Mexico and Texas, mixing easily blues, folk, Argentinian Tango and Neapolitan songs. A show hard to forget, a continuous exchange between the warm and enveloping sounds of guitar and Francesco's and amazing Ilaria's vocals. It seems not real, coming from another time and space “From Bedlam to Lenane” is their debut album released in 2012. While the listener might occasionally be reminded of other male/female duos like Snakefarm, The White Stripes, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings or Isobel Campbell & MarkLanegan, Graziano & Forni have crafted an original recipe from the very basic ingredients of two voices and two acoustic guitars.

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Forni’s background as a theatre and film music composer manifests in the dramatic quality of these songs, which cinematically traverse the Tex-Mex borderlands “mixing folk and blues with accents of tango tunes and Neapolitan songs. Both artists have worked of theatre and film productions and there is something of the movie soundtrack in the way “Come 2 Me”, their second album, skips around the genres fluidly but perhaps a bit too safely. Graziano's vocals have rich, saltry timbre, but she can also let loose an impassionate howl (in several langauges) and her register swings from falsetto down to contralto, Kate Bush-style. Forni delivers moody voice-overs and his superb player of guitar and banjo. Come 2 Me is a sparkling sophisticated second album. "Twinkle Twinkle" is their third album, three years after the previous one, written and conceived while they were on tour as in the last two years they have been all around the world, from Budapest to Prague, from London to Montreal, from Geneva to Brussels, with more than 70 dates in France and a tour with the show "Angelically Anarchists" – By and with Michele Riondino. These new songs and arrangements are always essential and minimal, but with a range of sounds and scenarios more varied. They took inspiration directly from their travels, reflecting the correspondence between time and emotional universe driving their choices and talking about living emotions.The title refers to a simple but eternal melody and represents that particular spark, different for each one, a star that shines in the night and indicates a direction in any conditions of obfuscation, of confusion, of darkness.Even the image of this album reflects this movement, not a pose, but a suspension, something that recalls darkness and light, their emotional journey and state of mind, opening a crack from which you can look inside to discover little moments of intimacy… Main concerts: Mundial Montréal, Le Ballatou, Folk Alliance, TD Sunfest, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Mariposa Folk Music Festival, Harisson Festival, Hugh's Room, Festival de la Chanson du Tadoussac (Canada), Sziget Festival, Müpa Theatre, Utcazene Festival (Hungary), Sunset, La Bellevilloise, Le Divan du Monde, Folk Mediatone Le chien à Plume (France), Sponz Fest, Musicastrada Festival, Villa Ada Roma Incontra il Mondo, Angelo Mai, San Severino Blues Festival, Festival delle Colline, Musicultura 2018 (Italy) Isola Music Fest (Slovenia) Concert Marche (Czech Repubblick), Slaughtered Lamb, Campfire Fest (UK), L’Epicentre, Senes du Chapiteau (Switzerland), Weltnacht Festival, International Fireworks Competition (Germany) Soundtracks – “L’arte della felicità” Alessandro Rak (2013) Best Italian Movie @ 70ª Mostra internazionale d’arte cinematografica di Venezia, London Raindance Film Festival, best anime @ European Film Awards. – “Un fidanzato per mia moglie” Davide Marengo (2014) – “Maldamore” Angelo Longoni (2014) – “Arance e martello” Diego Bianchi (Zoro) (2014), best movie @ Globo D’oro – “Revelstoke” Nicola Moruzzi (2015) – “Gatta Cenerentola” Alessandro Rak (2017), prizes @ Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia, best anime David di Donatello – David Rocco’s Dolce Vita (Canadian Tv National Geographics) – Amore Criminale (Tv) Line Up: Ilaria Graziano vocals guitar ukulele keyboard percussions | Francesco Forni vocals guitars percussions