Franca Masu
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Franca Masu

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"City Lives with Franca Masu"

CITY LIVES ALGHERO

Franca Masu is a singer, and one of only two musicians to perform in Algherese. She talks about music and island life

"I live with a constant soundtrack in my head, and have sung ever since I was a little girl. I used to sing simply for my own pleasure and for my friends, and eventually I found the courage to sing in public.

I know a number of very talented jazz musicians who taught me a bit of jazz. But, I realised that I would find myself in a queue behind other jazz singers.

It was my husband who said, ‘Franca, why don’t you draw your inspiration from the most beautiful elements of your own identity and surroundings and transform it into music?’.

It was a complex path I took to add the Algherese influence, because I didn’t speak it, so I had to learn it first. I realised that the greatest richness was in the language itself.

The language is very musical, not only to sing, but also to speak. This is what struck me the most: its musicality, its sweetness, its malleability. But the percentage of people who speak the language is very low. Internationally, there are only two people who perform in Algherese: me and Claudio Sanna.

The younger generation are in real trouble since we don’t know how to transfer this part of their heritage to them. I believe that music is the ideal vehicle for stimulating the younger generation to think about this.

I have a slightly metaphysical vision of Alghero and the surrounding territory – the beauty, serenity and the human dimension make living here very comfortable. You can really breathe in the history that has come to pass in this small corner of the Mediterranean. And even if Alghero is based on a town having been conquered – by the Genoese and the Catalans – it is beautiful to see the strong walls of the city as you approach by boat, and the bell tower, which is the highest in Sardinia.

Alghero outwardly manifests itself as a strong town. This has all inspired my music. I live where Alghero finishes – this is the last house of Alghero – and I feel that by looking out to sea and breathing in the sea air I am looking out towards Alghero’s future.”

CATCH FRANCA LIVE IN ROME ON 23 MAY AT AUDITORIUM PARCO DELLA MUSICA (WWW.AUDITORIUM.COM). FRANCA’S NEXT ALBUM, AZULEJO, WILL BE RELEASED TOWARDS THE END OF 2009. VISIT WWW.FRANCAMASU.COM - Ryanair Magazine


Discography

El Meu Viatge (Saint Rock 2001)
Alguí­mia (Felmay/Dunya 2003)
Aquamare (Felmay/Galileo 2005)
Hoy Como Ayer (Aramúsica/Felmay 2008)

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Bio

Born to an artistic family, Franca Masu is the most international representative of the ancestral Catalan language and culture which still endures in the seaside village of l'Alguer, an area with only forty-thousand inhabitants on the striking island of Sardinia which still preserves the medieval splendour of the heritage left by the Crown of Aragon.
Formerly an Italian literature professor, Masu found herself as a singer upon meeting a group of Sardinian jazz musicians in 1996, with whom she began to perform. In 1998, she discovered the beauty of the Catalan language in music, the same language which, having remained isolated for centuries, has survived in her Barceloneta of Sardinia, l'Alguer. Beyond her jazz background and eminent Mediterranean sound, among her musical interests one also finds Portuguese fado--which she perfectly interprets, making her one of the top singers of this genre in all of Italy--as well as an eloquent approach to the Argentine tango. With the help of renowned producer Mark Harris, she published her first album "El Meu Viatge" in the year 2000.
The album, presented at the Mercat de la Música Viva in Vic, maintained a special mention from the SGAE and Barcelona's Ràdio 4 as the best debut album of the year. The music magazine Enderrock also qualified Masu as one of the best new artists, while Catalan critics recognise her as the "true revelation in Catalan singing and song writing".
In 2003 she publishes "Alguímia" with the collaboration of mandolin player Mauro Palmas and double bassist Salvatore Maltana. Franca Masu consolidates the use of the Catalan language as a language of artistic expression on this album and achieves a considerable success with not only audiences, but also with critics, participating in numerous festivals and international events. For this album, she also received the "Maria Carta" award in 2004, reassuring a career which, although still young, is on the verge of bursting onto the international scene.
"Aquamare" (2006) is her third and latest album with which she presents herself to the public, this time, as the author of nearly each song. Masu reveals immense versatility, bringing together an array of musical pieces which vary in style, genre, and even language. "Aquamare" is a unique interpretation, defined by a musical selection which gives in to the tempting sounds of various influences... compositions that explore new territories in sounds, preserving the pressing sense of tradition all the while. Her passionate temperament naturally led her to the Argentine tango.
In 2003 she met Fausto Beccalossi, one of the most dynamic accordion players on the Italian scene; encouraging her to join Oscar del Barba's Trio Nuevo Tango as a performer, with whom she sang on various prestigious occasions. In 2007, they recorded an album entirely dedicated to Argentine tango entitled "Hoy Como Ayer", along with the grand violinist Carlo Cantini of the Arké String Quartet. Recently, her interests have also lingered on retrieving antique images of old Alghero which capture and eternalise the work of the fishermen and the devotion of the people of this Catalan micro cosmos and seaport on Sardinia.
In fact, she has made a video documentary with these images entitled "Pregàries" which includes a concert. The journey alongside Franca Masu's voice is intimate and powerfully reveals the consciousness of the artist in delivering a clear interpretation of her own identity as a Sardinian, Catalan and undoubtedly Italian woman; the pure vital energy of a true "Mediterranean mother" with a seductive voice capable of charming listeners with the light and colours of the cultural Pandora's box of the Mare Nostrum.