bio By-spiel Project - Andreas Fulgosi

Nicola O rioli
clar ine ts , a lto s ax aphone, co mposer, tea cher
1 959 (It al y)
By-Spiel Project
Nicola's plays the clarinet with powerful, seductive virtuosity. His past as a classical
musician has given him a deep understanding of music's traditional idioms. He draws
from the well of European musical culture to craft improvisations with a palette of
colours that suprise and then subside to give way to flights of soaring lyrical beauty
that propel his music ever higher. His mastery of the art of continual breath enables
him to instil a mood that invites the ear to discover his instruments' hidden sounds.
At the age of 12, he began playing the clarinet in his village band, which he later went
on to lead for ten years. Together with the band, he won first prize at two
international competitions (Arezzo 1984 and Florence 1992). Aged 16, he began to
study the saxophone at the Parma Jazz School. He later studied clarinet at the
Pescara Music College where he graduated with distinction in 1985. His career as
clarinettist saw him join a number of symphony orchestras as well as the Catania
Opera Theatre Orchestra (Italy).
In 1992 he left Italy for Switzerlnd where he worked as a musician/composer for
several theatre companies with whom he toured Europe, Western Africa and the
United States. Since 1998 he has been working principally in theatre but also teaches
the clarinet and the saxophone at the Lausanne School of Jazz (Switzerland).
He leads the projects Virtual Sax and MAF quartet. He is also sideman in the Maf-Yo
quartet, Edition Spéciale, Luca Pagano Quintet, Jazz Cookies, Les Chaussettes
Synthétiques, Alain Della Maestra's Big Band and the By-Spiel Project.
O l o m b e l o R i c k y
percussio n, vo ice, t eache r, composer-per fo r mer
1 964 (M adagas car)
This artist gives himself completely, he projects himself into his work, body and soul.
That's why Olombelo Ricky draws no dividing line between his spiritual, creative and
analytical sides. And that's why his is such an outstanding artist; he has crafted his
self in nature's image: brimming with diversity but resonating in harmony.
Straight to the Source
Traditional music and art in Madagascar is not seen as being separate from spirtuality,
values and customs. Olombelo Ricky's wisdom and musical depth have their roots in
the soil of this fertile culture. He was born into a world of music and nurtured by his
grandmother, herself one of Madagascar's living legends. Here, in an environment
where the stuff of tales and legend was daily fare, Olombelo Ricky built the very core
of his creative drive.
He continued his studies at Antananarivo and joined his uncle's group, the Salomon
Band and Ramz Franck Melody Jazz as a singer-percussionist and perfected his art
under the guidance of a talented Madagascan musician - Tovo Andrianandrainy.
From 1979 to 1983 he played with the group Mahera at their folk concerts and
subsequently embarked on a solo career in 1989. For almost 13 years Ricky has been
researching his roots in the culture of the Vazimba, Madagascar's indigenous people,
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