The Charivari Trio sings and plays music from Rumania to Venezuela on violin, accordion, and double-bass. Capricious arrangements of authentic South American and Eastern European folk music take turns with the trio's own compositions. Cuban funeral dances intermingle with new Dutch gipsy music and Rumanian drinking-songs.
On stage, the three players challenge each other to virtuoso ensemble playing and breathtaking improvisations. They settle with the boundaries between exotic cultures and convince the audience that the Charivari trio is an irresistible mixture of a classical string trio, a jazz orchestra, and a folk music group.
The Music
South American and Eastern European music on Dutch soil seems an unlikely combination, but the musical interests of the players, together with the unique composition of the trio, led to this particular mixture. Geographical distances between different parts of the world play no role, and gaps are easily bridged musically: for Latino's and Gipsies alike, playing music and dancing are interwoven with daily life. Not just weddings and seasonal festivities, but funerals, poverty, and the pangs of love, too, are abundantly sung of and celebrated. Danceability and melancholy, and the alternation of lust for life and being moved are binding factors.
Having come of age in the Netherlands, the Charivari Trio has been receiving these musical treasures freely for years. In turn, the trio now plays her part in the age-old tradition of blending styles.
Biography
The Charivari Trio was established in 1986 and initially played a broad repertory of folk music. Gradually, the trio developed a special preference for gipsy and Latin American music. Between 1989 and 1995, the trio formed the heart of tango orchestra Nachtschade and klezmer group Kalarash. Since 1992, various composers such as Joop van Erven, Dolf de Kinkelder, Michiel Braam, and Joep Everts, were commissioned to write new repertory. The trio organizes the yearly Charivarifestival with concerts and workshops for amateur musicians.
After ten years of Charivari, a selection of their repertory appeared on the CD Romance de Barrio. Subsequently, Hora Sentimental was delivered, a collage of traditional and new Eastern European music. The CD ¡ABRE! consists of a mixture of Latin American and gipsy music.
The Charivari Trio took part in several theater productions, such as Ethisch Reveil, after a text by Dirkje Kuik, with theater group InDependance (1986) , Liefdesportretten, with music by Andries van Rossem and with De Plaats (1998), and GILGAMESH, with actor Frank Groothof and with Stichting Vrije Val (2002-2003).