the art of success - Whatever Magazine

cover story
IN CONCERT: From left,
Dominic Mancuso, Davide
Direnzo, Louis Simao and
Michael Occhipinti
‘‘
Singing (a
Sicilian folk
song for the
first time)
tapped into
a side of
me that i
didn’t know
existed.
that one of his most popular innovations,
mancuso2 , may in time morph into an even
more unique upgrade.
mancuso2 (pronounced mancuso Squared) is a
stage performance that features himself and his
brother Vince, a talented artist, in a multimedia
duet of a novel kind. as Dominic’s distinctive
voice – described by critics as “impassioned”
and “energetic” – rings out with folkloric songs,
Vince’s digital brush paints furiously in sync on a
computer tablet, capturing the spirit of the song
through art that is projected on a huge screen to
an enraptured audience.
It is a sight-and-sound show quite unlike anything
else, something that has to be experienced to truly
grasp the energy generated by the performance. It
can be so intense that often the audience will quite
literally be on the edge of their seats as the “duet”
heads for a crescendo.
there is a possibility that in a year or two
’’
mancuso
16 whateVer magazIne | SUmmer 2011
2 may evolve into mancuso3 , with
actor/orator nick mancuso (no relation) joining
the show. “three different art forms, three
different individuals… it could be incredible.”
given how much Dominic mancuso has achieved
as a musician, it is astonishing that his career
came about by complete accident. Quite literally,
in fact. growing up, he was a self-confessed jock,
more interested in sports, until one day, life threw
him a curveball. he was riding his motorcycle
when a car ran through a stop sign and into him,
fracturing his vertebra and ending his teenage
dreams of a career in hockey.
the accident rendered him immobile and he had
to undergo rehabilitation for a whole year.
photo: venus.
“I was going crazy,” recalls mancuso, now 42.
“to keep my mind active, I thought I could learn
to play an instrument.”
his brother Vince, six years his senior, stepped
in to help, buying him a bass guitar off one of his
musician friends. It turned out that Dominic had a
natural gift for music that he wasn’t even aware
of. he was so good that after finishing grade
13, he began playing in rock bands, doing so for
several years.
his musical awakening took another direction in
1990 when his brother was getting married. Vince
asked Dominic if he would play a particular piece of
Sicilian folk music at his wedding, and of course he