The concerto Duo Degani-Rucli was a pleasure to attend last week. The Italian Embassy did a better job this time organizing the event than it did last time, back in November I believe, for the conerto Quartetto di Cremona. Practice does make perfect. I was particularly satisfied that a program of the concert was handed out to everyone, an obvious step forward to mend a past error.

I had the pleasure of meeting the ambassador and his wife, Dr.Emanuele Manzitti, Prof. Maria Laura Iasci and even a reader of my blog — all during the break! My Italian was not astounding, I must confess, but I still managed to hold reasonable conversation. I really enjoyed the concert and loved the music; it is so refreshing to listen to music so refined from time to time.

I’m uploading the pictures that were not totally shaken and ruined, for your eyes only:

Ciao a tutti! Ecco una nuova invitazione per un concerto organizzato dall’Ambasciata Italiana. Il concerto sarà il 31 Marzo 2007 alle 8:30 in Zara Expo Auditorium. Parlando della mia esperienza di concerti organizzati dall’Ambasciata, ci sarà vino rosso gratis.

Ciao everyone! This is a new invitation to a concert organized by the Italian Embassy in Amman. The concert will take place at the Zara Expo Auditorium on March 31st at 08.30 p.m. I hope you can make it because, if for nothing else, there’s always free red wine.

Ci vediamo! See you there!

The Italian Embassy in Amman organized two concerts for the Quartetto di Cremona, an Italian group of four founded in the year 2000 and composed of Cristiano Gualco (violin), Paolo Andreoli (violin), Simone Gramaglia (viola), and Giovanni Scaglione (cello). The first concert was on the 18th in Zara Expo while the second was held on the 19th in Mount Nebo.

While I only managed to be present at the first concert, on the 18th, I am positive that the setting at Mount Nebo was spectacular as well. The music performed by the Quartetto di Cremona on the 18th included pieces by Mozart, Verdi, Vacchi, Boccherini and Puccini. Now you may enjoy listening to classical music off records or CDs, but being in the presence of this intense of an emotional and artistic state is truly unmatched.

The performance of the Quartetto di Cremona left nobody in doubt of the group’s exquisite talent. I have personally been brought to tears and then elevated to a surreal realm of pleasure during the concert, and I enjoyed every second beyond description. I cannot but thank the Italian Embassy for organizing the two concerts and for inviting me, and I thank the Quartetto di Cremona for sharing their talent and their spell-binding music with a Jordanian audience.

I truly hope that the Italian Embassy would bring more Italian musicians to town, and I hope more and more functions are organized to promote the Italian language and culture. However, I am not entirely sure of the type of audience in the first concert. The people present seemed to be embassy officials, but one can never be too sure of that, now can one?

During the concert, I met an old friend of mine whose name you ought to remember quite well. Ilyas Dorzi is a gifted pianist and composer that will soon organize a concert of his own. I will be announcing the concert once the date is official, but this is one person that will have people fighting over his autograph in no time, watch out, Amman!

Now feast your eyes on images taken from the concerto on the 18th:

Una canzone da Franco Battiato che mi sempre arresta le emozioni; una canzone che stavo ascoltando oggi sulla strada per l’ufficio; una canzone che dedico a qualcuno che non la capisce; E ti vengo a cercare

E ti vengo a cercare
anche solo per vederti o parlare
perché ho bisogno della tua presenza
per capire meglio la mia essenza.
Questo sentimento popolare
nasce da meccaniche divine
un rapimento mistico e sensuale
mi imprigiona a te.
Dovrei cambiare l’oggetto dei miei desideri
non accontentarmi di piccole gioie quotidiane
fare come un eremita
che rinuncia a sé.
E ti vengo a cercare
con la scusa di doverti parlare
perché mi piace ciò che pensi e che dici
perché in te vedo le mie radici.
Questo secolo oramai alla fine
saturo di parassiti senza dignità
mi spinge solo ad essere migliore
con più volontà.
Emanciparmi dall’incubo delle passioni
cercare l’Uno al di sopra del Bene e del Male
essere un’immagine divina
di questa realtà.
E ti vengo a cercare
perché sto bene con te
perché ho bisogno della tua presenza.

Download E Ti Vengo a Cercare qui

I thought it would be a good idea to share a little of what happened during the first two days of the Italian language Week, currently underway in the University of Jordan. Well, I was present for the activities organized and I have to say that the level of organization this year surpassed that of previous years.

The lecture of Signora Romero was somewhat challenging to follow but there was interaction from the audience and that is really the point of such an event - to get students to ask questions and to use the language with native speakers. I arrived a little late thanks to heavy traffic but it was great seeing my professors and knowing that a new Angolo d’Italiano was inaugurated just before I got to campus. Here are a couple of pictures from day one:

I asked if they will be moving the loads of books they have in the Italian Studies hall to the Angolo d’Italiano and I was told that this is part of the “plan” for the corner. However, I have serious doubts they will be able to move all the books. It’s a great step nonetheless and it’s definitely good to know that the relationship between the Italian Embassy and the university is progressing at last! It seems the embassy people are paying more attention to the actual needs of language learners.

After I inspected the corner (which is located in the new Languages Centre right beside the American Corner), I heard this funny noise outside. It turned out a demonstration against the daily massacres in Palestine was just starting so I figured I could take some shots of the event and maybe even capture some video. More on that in upcoming entries though, stay focused on the Italian Language Week, citizens!

I also discovered that prof. Iasci is a regular reader of The Box and that was absolutely thrilling. She particularly liked the entry on Soug El Harameyyeh so I should be giving her directions to go there soon enough. I also suggested she start a blog on her life, as an Italian, in Amman. That should be very interesting to read and I sincerely hope she does it.

On day two, which was today, there was a workshop on the geography of food in Italy by prof. Graziella Galliano from the University of Genoa. This was much more enjoyable than the lecture on day one, more students interacted and asked questions or answered some. I myself had to interact thanks to prof. Lugli who said he saw me raise my hand to answer a question by an Italian priest, although I really did not raise my hand (I was happily silent). Evidently, I was framed.

There were some handouts distributed and such, and the funniest thing happened. Among the handouts there was this brochure on Il Salone Internazionale del Gusto, which I blogged about last week. I have the map of the salone now and for some reason I think this is pretty twisted. What are the odds, huh?

Not to distract you further with these trifles, here are some pictures of day two:

Tomorrow at 10:00 AM a screening of an Italian movie titled “Ricette d’amore” (2002) by Sandra Nettlebeck willl take place at Al Kindi auditarium. Make an effort to come, ci vediamo!