Roberto Catalano, Ph.D.
Guitar, chitarra battente, mandolin, mandocello, bouzouki, jaw’s harp, benas, putipù, frame drum, percussion, vocals.
Roberto Catalano was born in Catania, Sicily, where he began his music career as a self-taught guitarist in 1973. He holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and his main interests include Mediterranean music cultures with special attention to the music of the Arab Near East and that of the oral tradition of southern Italy, as well as American musical culture and organology. He teaches music, music history, and musical culture in various colleges and universities within the Los Angeles area and he is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with over thirty years of experience during which he has performed in the Italian south and in Rome as well as in foreign cities such as London, Vancouver, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Among his most relevant experiences are his work with the Sicilian group Ammaruvaja, the Jamie Tatro/Roberto Catalano duo, trio and quartet, being the opening act for the renowned jazz duo of guitarist Jim Hall and pianist Michel Petrucciani, playing with jazz guitarist John Scofield, and forming MUSICàNTICA together with Enzo Fina, in Los Angeles. As an arranger Dr. Catalano has written music scores in various genres, the most notable among these being a vocal piece from a Sardinian traditional style of singing known as cantu a tenores, which he arranged for Grammy Award winner, Kronos Quartet. Dr. Catalano is also a maker of Sardinian folk reed clarinets and flutes and a gatherer of musical instruments. Presently his collection includes about one hundred eighty instruments from the world over.
Enzo Fina, M.F.A.
Frame drums, fina, guitar, mandolin, percussion, putipù, jaw’s harp, vocals.
Enzo Fina was born in Salice Salentino, Italy. He holds a Master degree from the State Institute of Art and Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Lecce where he concentrated his studies on the relation between sound and color. Since the beginning of his career as a musician his sensibility towards the acoustic nature of sounds and the interdisciplinary approach between music and visual arts, brought him to the creation of his own instruments as art pieces fusing painting, sculpture, ad music. As a multi-instrumentalist and instrument maker Enzo Fina has worked with various music groups as well as theater setting diverse goals for himself from research on the music of the oral tradition to film composition; from street theater to anthropological theater. His membership in groups such as the Canzoniere di Ricerca Popolare, Carmenzo, Ancient Grooves, and MUSICàNTICA, of which he is the co-founder together with Roberto Catalano; his involvement with theater groups such as Teatro Infantile di Lecce, Mediterranea, Teatro La Pupa De Sevilla, and Vox Dance Theater; his own performance/compositions for land art installations and other movie soundtracks such as that of Maangamizi the Ancient One, created in collaboration with Cyril Neville, made it possible for him to travel Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Morocco, Canada, and the United States, where he now lives. Aside from teaching music, visual art, construction and use of masks, and musical instruments making in both public and private schools, from elementary to universities, Enzo Fina has worked as music therapist in residence at the Children Hospital in Los Angeles, as well as in other institutions specialized in youth rehabilitation. The program Science of Sound is the name of one of the courses he has taught with great success for the Pasadena Pops Orchestra.