Spartenza
MAURA GUERRERA | Voce, Percussioni
MALIK ZIAD | Mandola, Guembri, Voce
“Spartenza” is the collaboration between the Messina-born singer Maura Guerrera, who currently resides in Marseille, and Malik Ziad, an Algerian multi-instrumentalist (mandola, guembri, karkabou, bendir, and vocals), who has also transplanted himself in Provence, having grown up with the musicality of Gnawa and Chaâbi. Maura Guerrera approaches Sicilian music with a dedication to the beauty of traditional repertoires, vocal nuances, and performance techniques. She has been educated through studies, readings, and listening. She also demonstrates the ability to craft her own stylistic interpretation of traditional oral materials, combining her singing with Ziad’s stringed instruments and percussion in a natural way. Together, they create a stripped-down sound that seeks simplicity, built on string arpeggios and percussive momentum that perfectly complements Maura’s clear voice. The album is a co-production between Radici music and the Cité de la Musique in Marseille.
Maura Guerrera, originally from Sicily, has been a resident of Marseille since 2013. She has become acquainted with the musical culture of traditional Sicily through her encounters with musicians who carry on the agro-pastoral musical tradition of the Peloritani region in the province of Messina. These musicians include Salvatore Vinci, a player of the ciaramedda, Don Nino Sergio, a shepherd and a player of the double flute and the reed flute (friscalettu), Pietro Morabito, a player and maker of the Sicilian tamburello, Felice Currò, a player and maker of the Sicilian tamburello and marranzano, Turiddu Corrao, a singer, and many others. Since then, she has conducted research on peasant songs from the oral Sicilian tradition, paying particular attention to the context of their performance and their functions. She has studied various techniques and rhythmic patterns of frame drums from southern Italy, especially the Sicilian technique, which she has deepened with bearers of this tradition in Sicily, including Pietro Morabito and Felice Currò. Maura has collaborated with various artists and groups in Italy and abroad, including Lino Cannavacciulo, Mimmo Maglionico and the ensemble Pietrarsa, Giancarlo Parisi and Katia Pesti on the Canti e Incanti di Sicilia project, Daniele Del Monaco, a composer and pianist, founder of Laboratorio Creativo Permanente, alongside Pietro Cernuto, and many others. Since 2016, Maura has been a part of the Les dames de la Joliette ensemble, a group of five Mediterranean singers gathered around the compositions of Gil Aniorte Paz.
Malik Ziad was born in Algiers in 1974. He is a self-taught musician with a passion for stringed instruments, particularly traditional instruments from his country, such as the guembri and mandola. In Algeria, he immersed himself in the vibrant rhythms of Gnawa and popular Chaâbi music. In Marseille, where he has lived for about a dozen years, his encounters led to diverse collaborations. Passionate about world music, he composes by merging genres, drawing inspiration from traditional repertoires, shaped by his artistic encounters.
