by Mike Telin
While earning his bachelor’s degree in music performance from the School of Jazz at The New School in New York City, percussionist Anthony Taddeo was tasked with writing a paper, and his search for a topic led him to the New York Public Library. There he stumbled across a little-known archive of field recordings made by the folklorist Alan Lomax during a sojourn in Italy.
“My dad being from Italy, I thought that writing about Italian folk music would be a cool way to kind of dig into my roots,” the Cleveland native said during a recent conversation. “I was absolutely dumbfounded by how beautiful and diverse the music was. I was so impacted by that — it was the first time I felt like my heritage and my profession collided. So I made a mental note to figure out some way to bring recognition to this beautiful art form.”
After completing a master’s in composition at Youngstown State University, touring North America and Europe, and being featured on over 30 albums, Taddeo decided to turn to the Italian folk music he had fallen in love with as an undergraduate.