Funambola

Biography

Patrizia Laquidara is a Sicilian-born and Veneto-adopting singer-songwriter, also practicing theatre and dance-theatre (in the shows: Storia di Milonga, l'Orco, Buio Bianco, and Cristiani di Allah). During a trip to South America she fell in love with Brazilian music. This passion flourished in a series of Brazilian-related projects: from a tribute album to Caetano Veloso to many collaboration with Brazilian and Sicilian artists. In her last CD, Il canto dell'anguana (texts by the poet Enio...

Patrizia Laquidara is a Sicilian-born and Veneto-adopting singer-songwriter, also practicing theatre and dance-theatre (in the shows: Storia di Milonga, l'Orco, Buio Bianco, and Cristiani di Allah).

During a trip to South America she fell in love with Brazilian music. This passion flourished in a series of Brazilian-related projects: from a tribute album to Caetano Veloso to many collaboration with Brazilian and Sicilian artists.

In her last CD, Il canto dell'anguana (texts by the poet Enio Sartori, 2010) she interprets the (somehow close to sirens) anguana folk legend of the Vicenza province, as a symbol of desire.

Extended biography
Born in Sicily (Italy’s most southern island) and brought up in Veneto (deep north) she’s definitely an uncommon vocal and song-writing talent.
She won a bursary for composers and singers for folk music of Venice and Lombardy at Mogol’s school CET and following that experience, she left for a trip to South America in search of inspiration and she suddenly finds herself singing one of her early tracks Essenzialmente ("Essentially") on Brazilian radio.

Back in Europe this untiring traveller is off one more time to Spain with her band Hotel Rif going north to south playing her music in streets, squares and underground stations. She then starts her first concerts in traditional music festivals in Spain but also back to Italy.

With a strong passion for Brazilian music, Patrizia pays her personal tribute to Caetano Veloso by recording a collection of his tracks which become her first album Para voce querido cae (2001) , collaborating with, amongst others, artists such as Paolo Birro, Sasaki Marumo and Marco Trezza’s string orchestra.

In this, she renovates a cooperative Rio-Rome longstanding tradition: from the friendship between the young Mina and Chico Buarque in the early '60s; then: Fiorella Mannoia, the early Marisa Monte (studying at the Venice Conservatorio) and the jazz singer Chiara Civello, among others.

In 2002 she receives three awards (critics, best performance and best music) at the Premio città di Recanati (the best know festival for new quality music in Italy) for the song Agisce (“It acts”), composed with songwriter Bungaro.

In 2003, competing in the “newcomers” section of the Sanremo Festival, with the song Lividi e Fiori (“Bruises and flowers”), she gains more awards from the critics for “best song” and “best performance”.
In the same year she releases her second album Indirizzo Portoghese (“Portuguese address”). Since then media start calling her “quarta tribalista” ("fourth tribalista"). The songs of the record, produced by Pasquale Minieri (with special guests such as Javier Girotto from Aires Tango, Fausto Mesolella from Avion Travel and Rita Marcotulli) have a taste of sun and sound relaxing and melancholy at the same time. Highlights from the album (written in collaboration with her trusted guitar player Tony Canto) are the duet with famous singer/songwriter Mario Venuti Per causa d’amore (“For cause of love”), and the intense interpretation of Tomas Mendez’s “Cu cu rru cu cu’ Paloma”, as additional proof of her unconditional love for the sounds of the southern hemisphere.

In 2005 she composed and recorded, together with awarded film music composer Paolo Buonvino, the song Noite e Luar (“Moonlight”) which was the main track of the blockbuster film Manuale d’amore (Love Manual) directed by Giovanni Veronesi. The track was nominated for the David di Donatello (the Italian Oscar) as “best song”.

In 2006, after the film was released in Spain, she re-recorded a new version of the song in a duet with the highly acclaimed Spanish singer Carlos Nunez.
She then participates at the “Premio Tenco” in Sanremo with a standing ovation from the audience for her performance of a Bruno Lauzi song (to whom the festival was dedicated last year).

After this Patrizia puts a stand by on her live activity as she leaves for the U.S.A in order to record her third album. It includes songs especially written for her by some of the most interesting new talents of the Italian music scene: Pacifico, Giulio Casale, Kaballà and Joe Barbieri. The album has been produced artistically by Arto Lindsay and Patrick Dillett and executively by Titti Santini of Ponderosa Music & Art. Funambola (“Tight-rope walker”), this is the title, has been released in Italy on April 13th, 2007. The "Premio Tenco" selects it as one of the best five CDs of the year.

In 2009, back to the US in a tour touching the two coasts: NYC; SF, LA and Seattle (Roxi Theatre, Triple door, Nublu, Herbst Theatre, Highline ballroom, Zebulon).

In her forth CD, Il canto dell'anguana (texts by Enio Sartori, cooperation with the musician Alfonso Santimone; 2010) she interprets the ANGUANA (pretty close to a siren-mermaid or a melusine) folk legend, rooted in the northern Vicenza province (the pedemontana arc from Chiampo to Bassano del Grappa), as a symbol of desire.
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