migala - Davide Roberto – World Music Percussionist & Drum Circle Facilitator

Migala

World 'n' Folk Music

The Migala Project was born in 2008 from the meeting between Davide Roberto and Emilio Quaglieri, both musicians coming from university studies at Dams Musica. The name Migala is a tribute to Giuseppe Mighali, known as Pino Zimba, a symbol of the rebirth of Salento's popular musical culture. “Migala” is also the ancient name of the tarantula, a predominant symbol in Italian Popular Musical culture in recent years, in which a new folk revival has re-emerged.

Active in the live music scene in acclaimed Roman music clubs and national festivals, the group is characterized by a fusion and encounter of stylistic choices aimed at representing, in a World Music key, certain elements of the oral musical heritage of Central and Southern Italy. Original compositions or pieces taken from the traditional repertoire that range between Afro-Mediterranean, Balkan, Latin sounds, and traditional folk music.

The original and unreleased tracks signed by Migala have greatly benefited from the contribution of Pasqualino Ubaldini, a composer and arranger of fervent creativity, specializing in jazz, ethno jazz, and world sounds with guitar, bouzouki, oud, mandola, mandolin, and Portuguese guitar.

In 2014 the album “World ‘n’ Folk Music” is released: “Folk, Balkan tradition, pizzica, taranta and much more. Enthusiastic, engaging music that flows through your veins. A journey dealing with Mediterranean sounds, starting from the most popular Neapolitan music and gradually winding through the sun-drenched alleys of Salento and its people of tarantolati, reaching the African savannah and its ethnic background, up to climbing the Balkans to the rhythm of traditional folk. […] A blend of genres that tries to break down racial barriers and differences of language and dialect, and does so with instruments ranging from mandolin to tambourine, from violin to Celtic flute, all masterfully brought to life by the band. It is enthusiastic, engaging music that flows through your veins, your blood boils and you dance.” (Rockit Review 2014)

The album has also received significant recognition:

• 1st place "The Battle of the Bands" organized by the label World Music Network with the track “Rotta a Levante” published in the compilation “The rough guide to the best world music you've never heard”

• 3rd Place in the "Critics' Prize" ranking for the "Musica Nelle Aie 2015" Festival (Faenza)

• More than 700000 listens and more than 2,000 downloads on the music portal “Jamendo”

• First Place with the track "Pizzingara" in the "East European" category of the World Music Charts by Ethnocloud (February 2015)
• Second Place with the track "Bicicletta" in the "Gipsy" category of the World Music Charts by Ethnocloud (February 2021)

The current goal of the band is to continue along the musical path traced since the project's beginnings, always involving new established musicians who can contribute to the creation of a language that connects different popular and musical cultures, continuing to seek encounters between peoples through traditional music in an original and participatory expression.

They have collaborated and played with us: Emilio Quaglieri, Mario Peperoni, Emanuele Lituri, Francesca Palombo, Paolo Pavan, Fabio Guandalini, Stefano Todarello, Antonio Pappadà, Natalino Frijia, Gianluca Zammarelli, Massimiliano Felice, Elena Masullo, Matteo Giuliani and Andrea Marchesino.

ARTISTIC EXPERIENCES:
• Musica al Castello Festival 2009 (Castelsardo - Sardinia)
• Murata Street Sound Festival 2009 (Arce – Fr)
• 7th Place Central Italy Martelive 2010 (Rome)
• "Di Voci e Di Suoni" Festival 2010 (Caprarola)
• Popoli Festival in Salento 2010 and 2011 (Corsano – Specchia “white night”- Le)
• 1st Place Boville Etno Contest 2010 (Boville Ernica - Fr)
• Roma Tarantella Festival 2010 (Rome) (Artistic Direction Mimmo Epifani)
• Festival Arte Cultura Eventi Milo 2010 in Sicily (Artistic Direction Franco Battiato)
• Jazz Review Nartraradio Rome Teatro Fara Nume 2010 (Ostia)
• Teatro Arcobaleno 2010
• Teatro Valle 2011 (Rome)

• International House of Women (Rome) 2011 and 2012
• San Lorenzo Music Fest 2012 (Rome)
• Volturno Occupied Theater 2012 (Rome)
• Rome Resounds - Elsa Morante Cultural Center (Rome)
• Museums in Music Rome Capital 2012
• Toffia Festival "Let's Relive the Historic Center" (2014)
• 1st place "The Battle of the Bands" organized by the World Music Network Label - April 2014 - (United Kingdom)
• 3rd Place "Critics' Award" for the "Musica Nelle Aie 2015" Festival (Faenza)
• Mediterranean Festival of Encounter at the Santa Chiara Auditorium - December 2015 (Rome)
• Contaminations Festival at the Testaccio Popular Music School - 2016 Edition (Rome)
• Adriatic Mediterranean Festival 2016 (Ancona)
• Festa del Sud 2016 at Eataly (Rome)