Carolina Stefani grew up in Germany, but has always been drawn back to her Mediterranean roots, the loveable chaos of the vibrant metropolis that is Athens. Stefani lives between the worlds. Her concerts are playful, multilingual (time) travels, a mixture of elegant melodies and dramatic elegies from around the culturally diverse Mediterranean Sea, a blend of shimmering Arabian rhythms, and hot-blooded Latin American balads. Timeless chanson, spiced up with a hint of cabaret, merry Italian canzoni, Portugues fado and the earthy folk music of Greece, full of high lyricism and deep pathos.
Stefani pays tribute to her German roots in a lively homage to the 1920s in liberal, artsy and playful Berlin. Taking on different roles, from the uppity butch of a woman in the mould of Clair Waldoff, to the sugar-sweet show singer, she presents us a picture of an era of backyard life and glistening vaudeville palace that still fascinates 80 later.
Stefani’s education in classical singing and here studies of philology add to her richly-varieted interpretations of music. In 2005 she recorded her first cd "Melodie Mediterane" at the Copenhagen Sundance Studio (accompanying musicians: Hartmut Schmidt, Morten Ramsbøll, Carl Quist Møller), in 2008 followed the second album "Rose, Mauve, Blue", made at the picturesque Fattoria Musica of Osnabruck. (accompaniment: Hartmut Schmidt, Hugo Scholz). Both albums found Germany-wide radio audiences (e.g. Hessischer Runfunk, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Deutschlandradio).
Stefani received awards from the Dr Wolfang Zippel Foundation and has had appearances in many prestigious formats. Such as the Kassel Kulturzelt, the Internationales Theater Frankfurt, the Karlsruhe Museumsfestival, live on air at Deutschlandradio Kultur, at the Greek Song Festival at Görlitz/Zogolec, the Copenhagen Jazzcup, at the Goethe Institute of New York, and at the cultural palais "Gazodobutschyk" in Novy Urengoy, Russia.
Her quintet, where she is joined by Diego Jascalevich, Julia Reingarth, Pedro Soriano Contreras and Philip Wipfler, is not only a collection of five outstanding musicians, but also a meeting of three continents and six countries.
On November 20th we will be presenting again our show "Rose, Mauve, Bleu" at the Kassel Schlachthof:
A fine blend of elegant songs and dramatic elegies from "Melodie Mediterrane“.
The Music of Greece will be the center of our journey. It’s the music I was raised with. From “εντεχνο” (entechno), the classics from the greats like Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hadzikis or Manos Loizos, to “λαϊκο” (laiko), the rhythmic, bluesy folk song that makes you dance, laugh and weep, there is a sheer endless songbook known by heart by every Greek, be it the elderly gent with his komboloi or the teenaged hip hop fan.
The music is everywhere: it is rattling from car radios, flies by in public transport buses, comes out of opended balkony doors and of course from the endless number of cafés, bars and taverns, that are crowded all year round by easy-going tavli players – especially in the picturesque, historic center of Athens (I call it the center of the typhoon).
In the summer, when the greats of their fach appear on the marble stage of the Herodes Theater at the foot of the Akropolis, it takes only two or three measure before a wave of singing comes rolling from a sea of an enthusiastic crowd of 5000.
On the streets of the Plaka district, you smell the scent of tar, cinamon and salt as you enter Psiri, the artists‘ quarter in the old city center, where earthy bouzouki sounds come out of its many live music bars. I have spent wonderful times there: ouzo and mezé, people sitting at the tables smoking and calling for their favourite songs from the bands. In the late hours, when the wild rembetiko dancers have crushed their glasses on the floor, the virtuosos sometimes even can be convinced to play "exotic" foreign classics like "La Vie en Rose" or "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps"...
The Arabian-sounding melancholy of Greece’s songs of lament have their counterparts in Portugal’s fado. In the recordings of great fado singer Dulce Pontes I discovered it’s minor key drama, restless melodies, and beautiful quarter tone ramnifications and fell in love with it.
These songs are, besides the ironic dreamings of dolce vita easyness in the songs of Nino Rota and the songs of the grand old lady of French chanson, Edith Piaf, always part of “Melodie Mediterrane“.