Thurston Moore Group, Goran Bregovic Wedding and Funeral Band, New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, Zion Train, Leeroy Thornhill, Shame, Orkestar Svetlost, Dente, Nada, Niccolò Fabi, Calibro 35, Redi Hasa, Valerio Daniele, Amedeo Pace, Rodrigo D’Erasmo, Clap!Clap!, Ada Oda, Federico Dragogna, Fuera, Leatherette, Bluem, Okgiorgio, Tony Scorpioni, Insintesi, Leland Did It, Hey!Himalaya, In Arte Gianfreda are the guests of the seventeenth edition of Coolclub’s SEI Festival, which until August 16th (presales active on Dice and TicketOne) will offer its musical journey around Salento with the claim My Desire. 
The program will officially kick off on Friday, June 23rd (ticket 10 euros + dp with a glass of wine – presales active on DICE bit.ly/WelcomePartySEIF) with a Welcome Party hosted by Garofano Vigneti e Cantine at the Tenuta Li Monaci in Copertino. In fact, the tradition wants that on St. John’s Night (which separates June 23rd from June 24th) purifying rites are performed, wild herbs and flowers are gathered, fires are lit and wait for the morning dew. From 7:30 PM we start by walking in the vineyard , sipping a first glass of wine and listening to a selection of music on headphones. From 8 PM the actress Marzia Quartini will propose “On a Night like this…”, tales and stories about the most magical night of the year. From 9 PM in the atrium of the masseria, instead, at the start the DJ sets with Marco Erroi, composer, DJ, producer and sound engineer from Salento, and Godblesscomputers, beat maker, producer and DJ moved by an early passion for samplers and vinyls who offers a borderless journey between electronics, hip-hop and soul. Also on the program are Soundies screenings curated by Seeyousound International Music Film Festival, the first italian festival entirely dedicated to music-themed cinema. The twenty tracks/clips presented in the ninth edition of Seeyousound which enclose what is most original and incisive on offer in today’s immense global video clip scene, will be screened again. In fact, Soundies opens a reflection on the power of music to call to mind memories through images, emphasizing the natural relationship between image and sound.
On Saturday, June 24th (9:30 PM – free entrance) in the atrium of the Castello Volante of Corigliano d’Otranto, the winner of the SEI D’Autore contest will be known and will take part of the festival’s official lineup. After the performance of Melga, Sirada, Stain and Vitiana, the second evening (planned for June 10th and postponed due to rain) will see I.F.I.F., Matilde, Tario and Meschino confront each other. Following this, Lauryyn will present tracks from Intro, a debut EP being released by Sun Village Records with the support of Puglia Sounds Records of the Region of Puglia.
After the first two events, there will be many international guests at this edition of the SEI Festival, starting with Thurston Moore, a legend and icon of alternative rock, co-founder of Sonic Youth, who on Sunday, July 16th (10 PM – ticket 25 euros) in the Moat of the Castello Volante of Corigliano d’Otranto will land with his timeless creative energy, and Goran Bregovic who on Friday, August 11th, will return with the Wedding and Funeral Band to Melpignano, eleven years after his experience as Maestro Concertatore of the Notte della Taranta. An evening not to be missed also for the presence of the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble. In fact, the unmistakable sound of the U.S. band, formed in 1994 and led by upbeat music legend Fred “Rocksteady” Reiter, will open the performance of the Sarajevo musician. From July 27th to 29th, the Castello Volante of Corigliano d’Otranto will host a three-day festival of rock, art music and electronics with English band Shame and Leatherette from Bologna (Thursday, July 27th), Calibro 35, a cult super band formed by Tommaso Colliva, Fabio Rondanini, Massimo Martellotta and Enrico Gabrielli, and Federico Dragogna of the Ministri with his solo project (Friday, July 28th), Bluem, Okgiorgio, Tony Scorpioni and Clap! Clap! (Saturday, July 29th). At the Castello Volante also the evenings with Zion Train, Leeroy Thornhill and Insintesi (Wednesday, August 9th) and Ada Oda, Leland Did It, Hey!Himalaya (Thursday, August 10th). SEI Festival will also dedicate space to Italian author music with Niccolò Fabi’s solo tour (Tuesday, August 8th, in Corigliano d’Otranto), Nada’s rock but at the same time intimate and profound show (Sunday, August 13th, at the Chiostro dei Teatini in Lecce) and Dente’s unmistakable style, with opening act In Arte Gianfreda (Wednesday, August 16th, at Castro’s Castello Aragonese). The festival will also offer two appointments at KORA – Contemporary Arts Center in Castrignano de’ Greci: the final concert of the residency, curated by Apulian composer and musician Donato Epiro, with the Serbian experience of Orkestar Svetlost (Friday, July 8th) and the trio Fuera which mixes rap, techno and psychedelic sounds (Monday, August 7th). Don’t miss the sunrise concert on Sunday, August 6th, in Castro with “My Nirvana.” A project conceived and coordinated by violincellist Redi Hasa, who reinvents the songs that marked a turning point in the history of world rock and transforms them through the unique and recognizable sound of the cello into “monostrumental polyphonies,” in new hymns of sweetness and yearning. His performance will be embellished by the presence of guitarist Valerio Daniele and the participation of Rodrigo d’Erasmo, violinist, composer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, and Amedeo Pace, guitarist and singer, co-founder, leader and main composer of the indie rock band Blonde Redhead.
The artist poster for this edition, on the claim “My Desire,” was designed and created by Massimo Pastore. In 1947, French artist Henri Matisse, using the technique of papiers decoupès technique, created an Icarus who doesn’t fly toward the sun as in the Greek myth but floats in a starry sky and “sings” the joy of living. From this suggestion, the illustrator set out to design the poster for the 17th edition. This new Icarus, however, is transformed by recalling the mighty walls and ancient towers of castles and palaces that, every year, host concerts and festival events. SEI FESTIVAL Since 2006, SEI – Sud Est indipendente Festival, one of the most important festivals in the musical agenda of all southern Italy, has brought to Salento the most interesting sounds of Italian and international music, offering the public a wide and varied overview of music from punk to songwriting, from rock to ska, from folk to upbeat rhythms, from electronic to the new Italian scene. In the various Salento locations, which have hosted the festival in the first sixteen editions, have featured international artists such as Kings of Convenience, Lee Ranaldo, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Cat Power, Suzanne Vega, Peter Hook & The Light, Skatalites, Joan as Police Woman, Finn Andrews, Patrick Watson, J.P. Bimeni & The Black Belts, Giant Sand, Hollie Cook, Gogol Bordello, Mad Professor, Bombino, Russell Leetch (Editors), Arab Strap, Black Midi, Dengue Dengue Dengue, the Italians Baustelle, Calcutta, Franco126, Mannarino, Avion Travel, Negrita, Lo Stato Sociale, Calibro 35, Brunori Sas, Be Forest, Diaframma, Any Other, Lorenzo Kruger, Venerus, Ariete, Francesco Bianconi, Cristina Donà, Cristiano Godano, Paolo Benvegnù, Roberto Angelini, Bud Spencer Blues Explosion, Coma_Cose, Galeffi, Eugenio In Via di Gioia, Andrea Poggio, Siberia, Canova, Colombre, Giorgio Poi, Bugo, Daniele Silvestri, Cosmo, Verdena, Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti, Vallanzaska, Teatro degli Orrori, One Dimensional Man, La Municipàl and many others from Puglia, Italy and the rest of the world. Since 2009 it has been supported (through various measures) by the Region of Puglia and since 2017 it has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture’s Single Fund for Performing Arts among festivals worthy of support. In 2017 and 2018, the Festival is also funded by SIAE’s Sillumina call for proposals. Info 3331803375 – www.seifestival.it Facebook – Instagram @SeiFestival #seifestival #mydesire