Na Rosa e un Tulipanu

Sicily - the beautiful island central in the mediterranean sea - has always been a melting pot of people from different cultures. So it's not strange that, on this fertile ground, a Dutch double bass player met a young Sicilian singer. She introduced him to Sicilian songs. Soon the idea was born to connect this traditional treasury to singer-songwriters and musical styles from all over the world.

Both Laura and Marko bring their own musical backgrounds into this duo:
Laura has been singing from her early childhood on. As a girl she was already inspired by the - not so polished - sound of the great Billy Holiday. But in her jazz concerts Laura has always inserted pop or rock songs in her own way.
Marko (a real European: Dutch father, Finnish mother, many concerts in Sicily) is a versatile bass player with professional experience in jazz and improvised music, classical and baroque, music for films and theatre, tango and klezmer...

Performing in a duo with "just" voice and double bass is a challenge, of course. One has to be creative in exploring the vocal and instrumental possibilities and the presentation of the songs. The contrasts between this young temperamentful Sicilian female singer and a tall blue-eyed Dutch double bass-player make for an almost theatrical musical experience for players and audience alike!

"La Rosa e il Tulipano" has played in Italiy, France and the Netherlands. In clubs, theaters, street performances on the popular markets of Palermo (see our video), concerts for terminally ill and alzheimer patients, private parties. With a strong idea of the importance of bringing music to all kinds of places and people... Hopefully you are next!