The sounds of Mali in Rome

Last night I went to a concert at Parco della Musica with two Italian coworkers. The artist was Malian singer Oumou Sangaré. What a voice! She can really sing, and her physical presence is also powerful. She's quite tall and striking. Her band, too, was fantastic: a kora (African stringed instrument for which the body is a gourd), flute, drum (Western-style drum kit), djembe (African drum), bass, and two female backup singers/dancers. The dancers brought such joyful energy to the stage! It made me think of my African dance class in Ghana.

Photos were not allowed at the concert, otherwise I'd post one of the eye-catching group.

Sangaré sings about the rights of women and laments their lack of freedom, especially in her country. One of her songs deplores the practice of marrying off little girls, which apparently is not so uncommon in Mali.

In addition to being a talented singer, Sangaré is a spokesperson for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which is headquartered here in Rome. In the space between songs, she talked about the fight against hunger and poverty. She spoke in French, which I think most of the audience could not understand, unfortunately. I had to translate for my Italian colleagues.

Sangaré and the band brought the audience to their feet with the catchy tune "Wele Wele Wintou" and even had us singing during the call-and-response refrain.

This was my 5th Malian music concert (after Baaba Maal at the late Kilimanjaro club in DC, Amadou et Mariam in Dakar, Habib Koité in Accra, and this past spring, Habib Koité and Dobet Gnahoré in DC). Malian music rocks! Its rhythms and melodies are uplifting -- they make you smile and dance.

Alas, Dan could not accompany us to the concert. He had to work. He was at the same music complex, but at a different concert, commemorating the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. He had to accompany the delegation of a certain high profile visitor from the US. I guess that was probably almost as fun as the Sangaré concert.

Villa d'Este

In the heat of a Roman summer, a visit to Villa d'Este is a cooling treat. (It's in the town of Tivoli, not too far away.)



This 16th century estate was the home of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este. Nice place for someone who took a vow of poverty!



The gardens of the estate are filled and surrounded by water -- pools and fountains everywhere. Gorgeous views, too.



The model of the city of Rome, called Rometta, is a fountain, too.



The walkway lined with animal-faced spouts is called Viale delle Cento Fontane (avenue of the 100 fountains).



At the end is an open mouth swallowing all that water.



This view looks down on the water-organ, an organ that supposedly makes music from the force of water pumping air through pipes.



We didn't get a photo of the strolling vocal group singing madrigals. They were good!

Hadrian's Villa

The emperor Hadrian had a summer estate in Tivoli, not far from Rome. Today it is an open-air museum.

This area is known as the Maritime Theater. It features a small island in a turtle-filled pond. The island is thought to have been Hadrian's painting and architecture studio.



Hadrian had many replicas of classic ancient structures built. The Canopus is a replica of a sanctuary to the god Serapis near Alexandria, Egypt.



There are many buildings visitors can walk through. Some contain floor mosaics. Here is some detail from one of them.



There are other decorative touches still visible.



Looking out from a rooftop, the view is pastoral.

Piazza del Popolo and Monte Mario

There is a big square not too far from where we live called Piazza del Popolo. One doesn't know where to look first. At the sphinxes?



At the angry fish?



Or perhaps at the obelisk?



Across the Tevere river is a park called Monte Mario, from which one sees views like this



and this



(That's the dome of St. Peter's.)

A walk in June

Back in June, we went for a stroll and snapped some photos. Here are a few.

In the first picture, you can see the sculpture atop the Vittorio Emanuele II monument in between two church towers. (Vittorio Emanuele II was the king of Italy. We heard that he destroyed a medieval neighborhood to create this monument to himself.)



You may have seen other photos similar to the one below, because it's a famous place in Rome. It's the Trinità dei Monti church at the very top of the Spanish Steps. (We stood on some of the mid-level steps to take the picture. There are a few more flights of steps below the spot where we're standing.)



Then we turned around, descended a bit, and took a photo of Piazza Spagna at the bottom of the steps. This is a wildly popular gathering spot, frequently crowded with tourists.



Here's another view you might've seen before: the Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini. I see this fountain just about every day. Bernini was commissioned to sculpt it in 1642. I read that the fish-looking creatures at the base are supposedly dolphins. I've never seen dolphins that look like that, but I give Bernini credit for a fine fountain.

Orvieto

Orvieto is a beautiful town perched atop a hill in Umbria. We visited there on the day of the Cronoscalata della Castellana (see previous blog post).

The central piazza has a design in the cobblestones.

If you climb up many stairs to the top of the Moor's Tower, you see a pretty view of the town...

... as well as the bell tower.

It's a long walk down the stairs.

The duomo, or cathedral, is quite colorful compared to the others we've seen around Rome these past couple of months.

Cronoscalata della Castellana

Italy's got Dan's kinda people. We can tell because they have such events as the Cronoscalata della Castellana, an uphill race of vintage cars in Umbria.

The cars warmed up by zooming up a stretch of road one after the other. There were various makes and models from different countries, but Fiat was well represented.

When the drivers took a break, we could get an up-close look at their rides.

The actual race was against the clock, each car being timed separately rather than driving side by side.

They were loud and fast!