Hayley J. Egan
DORA AND ANGELO, LEADING THE REVIVAL OF ITALIAN FOLK MUSIC IN MELBOURNE On stage they are mesmerising. She is perfectly coiffed. Her hairstyle defies gravity. The genuine, warm smile never leaves her face. He sits on the seat beside her with his accordion balanced on his lap, looking over to her regularly. She is the one with the incredible memory, and together it seems their repertoire is infinite as she picks out the melodies on her mandolin.
Dora and Angelo Marchese, well into their eighties, are again making their mark on Melbourne’s Italian music scene. Their songs are touching the hearts of audiences throughout the city, and so is their story. The pair met when they were just ten years old, at music school. The only thing was, ‘music school’, in the town of Viggiano where both Dora and Angelo are from, happened to be the home of a local bricklayer named Marco who knew how to play a bit of mandolin, and dabbled in the accordion. Dora was drawn to the mandolin from a young age. She was interviewed by Salvatore Rossano for the National Library Folklore Archives, and during this conversation she remembers how she loved to listen
Photo Salvatore Rossano
Dora and Angelo Marchese
to visiting music ensembles. Usually, a man would migrate to Australia, find em-
‘I would always sit closest to the mandolin’ she laughs.
Melbourne as they approached retirement, and after.
for a wife from his own village. Sometimes they would
They are no strangers to the Melbourne music scene,
be married ‘by proxy’ in Italy, with someone standing
but recently have given different audiences the op-
in for the absent groom. An estimated 12,000 Italian
portunity to listen to their beautiful, vast repertoire, in
women migrated to Australia this way. Of the men
a variety of different ways.
who did so, there is no statistic recorded. I know only of Angelo. She showed a lot of talent at a young age, and it
The couple began playing together throughout
ployment and a suitable place to live, before sending
The last time I watched the couple play, Dora
At the first edition of the Taranta Festival, an initiative designed to engage new migrants, Dora and Angelo, with their friend and colleague Raffaele Basso
wasn’t long before she’d outgrown her teacher, who
came over to sit next to me after the performance.
played as a support act, for the headlining act Can-
acknowledged that if she wanted to learn more, it
She always asks about my children, remembering the
zoniere Grecanico Salentino, along with local group
would need to be at the conservatorium of music.
way my son terrified her by leaping from one of her
Vardos Trio. As experienced as Dora and Angelo are,
couches to another when he visited her home with his
they were a new act to many audience members that
father.
night, who could not help but be charmed by their
Attitudes towards women and education at the time meant that this wasn’t to be, but Dora, in her own way, was quite an unconventional woman. When
‘I stopped playing when mine were that age,’ she
warm stage presence, musical virtuosity and immense repertoire of very old, very beautiful traditional songs.
Angelo was sent to military service, Dora decided to
tells me. ‘And then, when they were grown up, my
migrate to Australia on her own. After settling there,
mandolin was high up on a shelf and Angelo said to
she sent for her childhood sweetheart, taking advan-
me “Will you get that mandolin down?” and I said,
amongst the audiences and on stage at Italian folk
tage of the legislation of the time that allowed ‘chain
“I won’t remember anything,” but actually, I remem-
events in Melbourne, a relatively new scene that has
migration’.
bered better than before!’
been built up during the past five years through the
More frequently I am beginning to see their faces
efforts of groups such as the Rustica Project, Sanacori Ensemble and Santa Taranta, all led by young migrants passionate about diffusing Italian folk music in Melbourne. Perhaps the scene was missing, however, a vital link to the established Italian migrant community in Melbourne. This is why the opportunity to meet and collaborate with such warm and generous musicians as Dora and Angelo Marchese has been met with enthusiasm. While we seek to renew the traditions, and give new life to old songs, we are fortunate to have access to living memory, people who play traditional music as they remember it. Dora and Angelo are revered in this community, known as the warm-hearted couple of many songs and many precious musical memories.
Photo Luigi Spanó
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Dora and Angelo performing at the Taranta Festival in Melbourne last March
