Davide Campisi

He started his drum studies at the age of 16, taking part in several national courses. He’s studied southern Italian folk music styles and techniques on percussion instruments for 15 years, namely frame drums. Since his earliest approach to the instrument he has worked with a number of nationally famous musicians.

Today he moves forward with his research on ancestral rhythms of his island heart exploring new and contemporary music forms and expressive techniques through his frame drums, which found space in the shows of his ethnic music band from Enna “I petri Ca Addumunu” (meaning the flints, of which he’s one of the founding members) and in his personal soloist path as well as in other lineups of the different projects he works in as percussionist. Thus, during the last four years he has been working with several artists taking part in different music projects and in creating audiovisual products, as percussionist and as soundtracks composer and performer.

He has carried out some frame drum workshops for three years now as self-standing activity or integrated to other artistic forms and expressions, such as theatre or dance. In 2013 he run a percussion lab inside a European project called “Melodie del Silenzio” (meaning the Melodies of Silence, related to the Youth in Action programme) intended to a group of participants made up of deaf and hearing people; in the previous years he had run other projects in assisted therapeutic communities.

In 2015 he brought his new solo project titled “BADR” (Full Moon) in theatres and town squares; with this project he’s on the top-eight out of 1500 participants in Rome First of May Concert. In 2017 he was finalist to the Andrea Parodi Prize contest. In the same year he released his new album called “Democratica” with the CNI Unite record label. In the summer of 2018 he won the PYR INNOVATION LAB prize as solo percussionist at 1000Beats Festival, promoted by the European Drum & Percussion Academy; afterwards, he takes part to the Gongs&Skins International Percussion Festival held in Myanmar (former Burma), in November 2018. In 2019 he performs at Wuppertal Festival (Germany) with the show “Il Tamburo e la Voce” (The Drum and the Voice) organized by Ort association in memory of the master bassist Peter Kowald. In 2020 the record “Mircanti” (Merchants) released by Davide Campisi & Mimì Sterrantino achieved an excellent public response and has led the two musicians touring in more than 50 towns and cities all over Italy.