Mar. 11 – The South By Southwest Festival (SBSW) of Austin is one of the main musical events in the United States, and this year, in the “Year of Italian Culture” framework, it will host two Italian artists of international stature and talent. The 2013 edition of SBSW will welcome Lorenzo “Jovanotti” Cherubini, one of the most representative Italian artists, now famous in many countries. During a twenty-five year career and with more than five million albums sold, Jovanotti has collaborated with artists such as Michael Franti, Ben Harper, The Beastie Boys and Bono. Jovanotti will be presented on Thursday, May 14 at the NPR Music showcase alongside Latin superstars Bajofondo, Molotov and Cafe Tacuba. This show will be the only one for Jovanotti in the United States, as he will soon after head to Mexico City for the Vive Latino Festival, to be followed by a summer tour of the 15 stadiums in Italy. Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino is the other Italian group performing at SBSW. It is one of the main Italian groups performing World Music, and in 2013, they announced their new American tour. Originally from Puglia, the group is composed of seven musicians and a dancer who reinvented the traditional rhythms of the Pizzica Taranta and adapted it modern tastes. In 2011, the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino presented for the first time its energy to the American public, and its critically acclaimed debut resulted in two high-profile invitations to the 2012 edition of globalFEST and WOMEX, the two main US events for the international music market. The inaugural performance of the tour was held on February 1 at the Schimmel Center at Pace University in New York, where the group presented a selection of songs from their new album “Pizzica indiavolata” that, in December 2012, came in second place in the World Music Charts of Europe. The American tour continued in clubs and art centers in 11 cities across the U.S. and Canada, ending at Navy Pier in Chicago. In mid-March, the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino will return to North America, where they will perform for the SBSW public.
