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Moni Ovadia

Moni Ovadia

Acting

Known For

Oylem Goylem
8.0

Klezmer derives from the Hebrew words "Kley Zemer", which refer to the musical instruments (generally, the violin and stringed instruments in general and the clarinet) used to play the traditional music of Eastern European Jews from the XVIth century on. Moni's StageOrchestra is inspired by that music, by its constant change of tones and by the spirit which pervades it, from the sorrowful, monochord which revives the spirit of a synagogue prayer to the explosive joy of songs and dance music created for happier occasions. It is not a faithful reprise of klezmer music or a philological revisitation we propose here, but rather a free use, which maintains the climate and the imprint of several centuries of musical practice, born and developed in close proximity with the Polish, Czech and Byelorussian civilizations and enriched by a fertile exchange with the musical culture of that other diasporic population of Europe, the Gypsy people.

Oylem Goylem

2004Movie
The Right to Happiness
7.0

The Right to Happiness centers on a small used book store in a small plaza in a small town with big vistas, somewhere in Italy. It sounds like a book lover's fantasy, and maybe it is. The bookseller, Libero, knows most of his rather eccentric customers and can barely bring himself to take their money (although fascists pay double). When a young boy, Essien (Didie Lorenz Tchumbu), an émigré from Burkina Faso, happens on the shop, Libero begins lending him books of increasing difficulty. From Pinocchio to Moby Dick, Essien can read as fast as Libero can lend, and the two form a bond over reading and meaning. "Books should be read twice," Libero says. "Once to understand them, and once to think." Life should probably be lived like that too, but the bookseller's name means "free," and freedom is what Libero bequeaths to Essien.

The Right to Happiness

2023Movie
The Singer Stories. Journey among the Cantastorie of Puglia
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"Le storie cantante. Journey among the Cantastorie of Puglia" is a documentary that forms part of a broader research project developed by the authors, tracing the roots of Apulian musical tradition—both written and oral. The journey begins with the imagined arrival of Aeneas on the shores of Porto Badisco. The path is shaped by the testimonies of singers of Southern identity, from Uccio Aloisi to Tonino Zurlo, from Enzo Del Re to the choral ensemble Cantori di Carpino, concluding with Matteo Salvatore. Alongside these performer-authors—cantastorie who can be seen as forerunners of modern singer-songwriters (as in the case of Salvatore)—stand contributions from ethnomusicologist and musician Antonio Infantino, director, actor and writer Moni Ovadia, Neapolitan jazz musician Daniele Sepe, and director and actor Michele Placido.

The Singer Stories. Journey among the Cantastorie of Puglia

2006Movie