Picciano, Stefano. Alirio Díaz through Folk and Classical Music

Description Stefano Picciano,  “Alirio Díaz through Folk and Classical Music”. English Text. Paperback (Soft Cover). 100 Pages. Published by Ut Orpheus. Description: Born in a small village surrounded by the desert in the Venezuelan inland,  Alirio Díaz has begun a unique and extraordinary itinerary.  The agricultural life of the origins,  the work in the fields,  the economic precariousness, the struggle against illness…  but in the end,  as he himself puts it in these pages:  such a great lust for celebrations.  A bit like celebrating life,  which is hard but that’s the way it is. This book illustrates Alirio Díaz’s trajectory,  this “farmer who used to play the cuatro”,  look after the animals and meanwhile was learning the Divine Comedy by heart and who has later become one of the most virtuous guitar players,  admired by Celibidache and Rodrigo and who has enriched his interpretations with a “substrate” that he has always remembered with gratefulness.  His example proves still today that learned and folk music are – can and must be – the same thing. With the accuracy of the learned man and the feelings full of admiration as a disciple,  the author,  often making use of unedited sources and documents,  gives account of the life of this man and provides an answer to this question which,  like a prospectic fire,  accompanies his research:  what is the relation between the spontaneous creativity of the folk music and the artistic “genius” which suggests again those assets in the mature language of art. Biographical Notes About The Author: After taking his diploma in guitar in 2005,  Stefano Picciano has done some researches in history of guitar after having met with his maestro Alirio Díaz,  with whom he refined his studies on guitar.  Afterwards he obtained his degree in Literature at the University of Bologna with a degree dissertation on the Venezuelan maestro.  Then he attended a masterclass in Musical Didactics at the Music School “G.B. Martini” in Bologna.  He is coauthor of the volume Romolo Ferrari e la chitarra in Italia nella prima metà del Novecento (Mucchi Editore,  Modena,  2009) and is a contributor of specialistic journals.  Besides teaching history of music in schools,  he is doing some musicologic research with particular reference to the presence of folk chanting in the literature of guitar.