Marco Calliari
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Marco Calliari is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose music is a personal exploration of the Italian diaspora and its folklore. Calliari, a founding member of the highly successful Francophone thrash metal band Anonymus, uses the stage savvy from his previous artistic incarnation and skillfully combines it with traditional Italian rhythms such as tarantella with elements of flamenco, klezmer, reggae, ska and rock. His songs can be called ‘caricatures’ in the real Italian sense of the word ‘caricare’ -- ‘loaded’ portraits that reflect an expatriate’s affection and irony towards Italy’s iconic popular music.
Born in Montreal in the mid-seventies to Italian immigrants, Calliari adopted the French language of his peers which was considered unusual in an Italo-Canadian community that tended to identify with English speakers. His career with Anonymus began when Calliari was just 14 years old. He spent the next 15 years playing hundreds of concerts and TV shows throughout Quebec.
Calliari unexpectedly reclaimed his musical roots on a visit to Italy where he spontaneously sang classic Italian songs at his sister’s wedding. The emotion of the performance inspired him to record “Che La Vita” in 2003. Calliari wrote all 14 tracks for the album in Italian and went on to sell 25,000 on his own independent label, Casa Nostra. A second album in 2006, “Mia Dolce Vita”, sold another 35,000 copies. The project consisted of covers of songs culled from a wide variety of sources from Italian songwriters like Nino Rota, Renato Carosone and Toto Cutugno to some of Italy's great modern poets such as Fabrizio De André and Lucio Dalla to the current generation exemplified by Blonde Redhead, who were born in Italy but also raised in Montreal.
A local favorite, Calliari is a staple of Montreal cultural events and television and radio broadcasts. His powerful performances of classic Italian songs have also made him quite popular on the touring circuit in Europe. As a festival producer and concert promoter, Calliari actively promotes Italian music in Quebec. His song “L’Americano” is featured on the new the Putumayo Italia compilation.
Artist Website
Born in Montreal in the mid-seventies to Italian immigrants, Calliari adopted the French language of his peers which was considered unusual in an Italo-Canadian community that tended to identify with English speakers. His career with Anonymus began when Calliari was just 14 years old. He spent the next 15 years playing hundreds of concerts and TV shows throughout Quebec.
Calliari unexpectedly reclaimed his musical roots on a visit to Italy where he spontaneously sang classic Italian songs at his sister’s wedding. The emotion of the performance inspired him to record “Che La Vita” in 2003. Calliari wrote all 14 tracks for the album in Italian and went on to sell 25,000 on his own independent label, Casa Nostra. A second album in 2006, “Mia Dolce Vita”, sold another 35,000 copies. The project consisted of covers of songs culled from a wide variety of sources from Italian songwriters like Nino Rota, Renato Carosone and Toto Cutugno to some of Italy's great modern poets such as Fabrizio De André and Lucio Dalla to the current generation exemplified by Blonde Redhead, who were born in Italy but also raised in Montreal.
A local favorite, Calliari is a staple of Montreal cultural events and television and radio broadcasts. His powerful performances of classic Italian songs have also made him quite popular on the touring circuit in Europe. As a festival producer and concert promoter, Calliari actively promotes Italian music in Quebec. His song “L’Americano” is featured on the new the Putumayo Italia compilation.