Mani Sicure

This is the first consumer release for the international market by the long-standing duo of Emidio Ausiello and Michele Maione, Neapolitan specialists of the frame drum. In 2008 the duo released a frame drum guide book and DVD with a historical introduction by Antonio Infantino, a major figure of southern Italian music.

Fourteen years later, Mani Sicure (Safe Hands) pays tribute to the ubiquitous frame drum with a regular quartet including percussionist and singer Enzo ‘Tammurriello’ and Andrea Esposito on electric violin, besides the leaders on a variety of percussion instruments. The basic group is enriched on the different tracks by piano, string quartet, electric guitar and bass, as well as zampogna, the traditional Italian bagpipe, as well as vocals. What is strangely missing, or rather buried under thick layers of sound, are the drums themselves, while the variety of atmospheres leaves the impression of an album lacking a clear focus or direction. When it is established, as in the tracks based on a percussion ensemble, ‘Tammurrianti’ and ‘Tammurriata p’ ‘o Stocco’, or in the percussion-strings dialogue of ‘La Perduta Danza’, the music takes flight.