Back, and to the future. That’s one way to look at the music of Alla Boara, which performs at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor on Feb. 19 and The Alluvion in Traverse City on Feb. 21. But while that might hint at the process, it doesn’t really describe the music. It is a melding of Italian folk songs that may be a century or more old with additional instrumentation and harmonies, courtesy of drummer, songwriter and bandleader Anthony Taddeo.
Alla Boara’s roots go back to when he discovered field recordings made in the 1950s in rural Italy by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. While his father is originally from Italy, Taddeo wasn’t familiar with these songs from his father’s homeland. He didn’t even speak the language, but that didn’t stop him from falling in love with the music when he heard it.
