Neapolitan Folklore Finds its Way to Yorkshire!
Stories don’t have to be spoken; this year Barbarella’s Bang Bang will be bringing a colour-filled carnival of musical storytelling to the Yorkshire Dales. The 5-piece group promise a performance filled with larger than life characters, heady beats and folklore messages. The Bang Bang’s eclectic approach to storytelling produces an exotic sound fusing vintage folk with modern pop and theatrical performance, certain to get the audience on their feet.
Still not sure what they’re all about? We spoke to lead singer Barbara about the upcoming performance and she told us the clue lies in her influences: Nina Simone and Liza Minnelli…where do we sign up?
Q. Have you performed at Settle Stories Festival before?
No we haven’t. This is our first time and we’re quite excited about it!
Q. Quick introductions! Run us through the members of Barbarella’s Bang Bang and their roles.
We have:
Barbara Pugliese – vocals and toy percussions
Armands Ozolins – acoustic guitar
Aurimas Goris – accordion
Aaron Molloy Robinson – the cajón
Nina Harries – double bass
Q. Can you give us a little hint of what you’ve got planned for your performance at this year’s festival?
It’s gonna be a journey… a roller coaster of emotions… the audience will remember us!
Q. How important is the role of storytelling in your music?
It’s very relevant in our music. Most of our songs have plots with constructive and also non-constructive messages to convey to the listeners. When I write lyrics, the visuals of the song I’m about to create are the first elements that my mind manifests: I have to visualise characters and magnify their features and actions in order to start writing lyrics about them….the visual storytelling that happens in my head is crucial for me to songwrite.
Q. Colour, carnival and the visual are really powerful in your performances, is this intentional or do you find that these elements occur naturally in the work you create?
It is natural and intentional. Colors are daily elements that happen to surround us a lot and most of us love wearing them … without excluding black, because it’s also a very sexy and elegant color which brings the right balance within the band’s aesthetics! So, I think it’s a natural expression that occurs in and outside the band but we also like to boost it up on stage!
Q. Are there any stories or storytellers that strongly influence your music?
One of my favourite female singers and interpreters of Roman and Neapolitan folk music is Gabriella Ferri. She sings about raw, mundane and social related stories with a lot of passion, theatricality and poetry. Also, we are covering an Italian song from a famous Italian singer and songwriter Adriano Celentano: It’s called Storia d’Amore and it’s a love story full of passion, revenge, anger, tears and pride.
Nina Simone is another legend that I feel is influencing us. The Tiger Lillies are one of Aaron’s favourite bands…their stories are great and I’m sure you’ll be able to see something of them that has inspired us.
GoGol Bordello of course…
Aaaand… Liza Minnelli is one of my idols.
Check out their music here
See Barbarella’s Bang Bang for yourself at the Settle Stories Festival at 21:30 on Saturday 2nd April. Info & tickets for Barbarella’s Bang, Bang here.
