A FILETTA

Nowadays, Corsican polyphonies are renowned worldwide… This is thanks to pioneers such as A Filetta.
Born in Balagne in 1978 out of a passion for singing and folklore, the band is deeply rooted in the land of its origin, like the local fern from which it gets its name.
Their repertory illustrates the artistic journey of the band : sacred and profane hymns inherited from tradition as well as original songs. These are all witnesses to a dynamic culture that refuses to stay crystallised in its past.
The band knows how to revive and share this difficult but magnificent art to which they hold the key. Their voices are mystifying and unique. Their gazes reveal a strong bond and a love for their island and for their public.
The power of their passion, of their generosity and of their great talent means that you don’t come out of their concerts unchanged.

AWARDS

Diapason d'Or 1993

Choc du Monde de la Musique 1993 and 1995

Prix de l'académie Charles Cros 1995

Cesar best film music and Golden CD 2000 (Himalaya)

A Filetta has a powerful vocal style. For almost thirty years, Jean-Claude Acquaviva’s leading Corsican Polyphonies band has been singing songs of praise to its land. Of these songs, no one knows the exact origin: the island’s tradition is so rich of diverse influences.

These timeless voices, which sow their seeds on a track of terzetti, madrigals, liturgical chanting, paghjelle, all heavy with emotion, radiate a burning poetry just like the earth in which A Filetta burrows its roots.

Their concert is the exact reflection of a journey into tradition and novelty. To ancient songs evoking spiritual or loving memories echo creative songs born out of happy or sad events. However, each encounter troubles as the first one did: A Filetta , like the fern it is named after, keeps this wild spirit that makes listening to their songs a unique experience.

ARTISTIC COLLABORATIONS
THEATER
In 1997, the singers of A Filetta also took part in a show, under the direction of Jean-Yves Lazennec, based on Seneca’s classical tragedy Medea.
The chorus, of which two songs form part of the Argonauts cycle, is interpreted in Latin and Corsican by A Filetta who composed the original accompaniment. It brings an outworldly scenic presence to this play.
JUNE 2006 : French release of the new album “MEDEA” (Naïve)

CINEMA
For most of us, the revelation came with the music for Jacques Weber’s Don Juan, composed astutely for the band by Bruno Coulais, a first step in this fruitful collaboration (10 soundtracks).
Since then, they have recorded the soundtrack for Eric Valli’s Himalaya, which received a César award in the Cannes Festival in 2000 in the best film music category and the Golden CD award, and have participated in Akhénaton’s album for the film Comme un aimant.
And more recently for the film Le Peuple Migrateur
The meeting with Bruno Coulais was a turning point, a decisive moment in the life of the group.
The singers freely talk of this composer as being an older brother whom they like working with because his music is bold, generous and inspires respect.
Bruno Coulais : “For me A Filetta is a group which is at the optimum distance between the customary and the contemporary, at the optimum distance between innovation and tradition, at the optimum distance between being true to one’s roots and being open to the world around us.”
OPERA
Il Gioco di Robin e Marion
Music : Bruno Coulais
Booklet & direction : Orlando Forioso
With A FILETTA, Marie Kobayashi (mezzo-soprano), Jean-François Ercolani (baryton), Nicolas Lemoine (soprano) and 3000 children of schools from Southern Alps and Corsica.
Sang in italian.
Marco Polo – Opera of the invisible journey
Music : Bruno Coulais
Direction : Orlando Forioso
With Guillaume Depardieu, A FILETTA, Laurent Korcia (violin), Marie Kobayashi (mezzo-soprano), Giorgio Di Costanzo, Gurgon Kyap.
Created in february 2006 in co-production with the Bastia Theater (Corsica) and the Venice Bienale (Italy)

FESTIVAL DE SAINT DENIS
Di Corsica riposu, « Requiem pour deux regards »
Creation on request of the Festival de Saint-Denis in june 2004 inside the Basilique de Saint-Denis.
Requiem in latin, for 6 voices, punctuated of texts told or sang in several languages - corsican, french, italian - issued from the modern litterature (Borgès, Primo Levi, …). In addition, some cello scores composed for this requiem fit into this journey that the 6 voices do from the earth to the sky …

DANCE

"In Memorian"
Chorégraphy : Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Music : A FILETTA
Dancers : LES BALLETS DE MONTE-CARLO
Costumes : HEDI SLIMANE / Dior Homme
Created in december 2004 (Nijinsky Awards) at Grimaldi Forum, Monte Carlo

« When someone’s not there anymore, he becomes memory… The flashback to past souvenirs helps us to better aprehend the reality of the present. That’s an evidence our ancesters, our parents, our childhood define what we are today and wh