Tuesday, November 13. 2:00 – 3:30 PM. University Of New Mexico, Fine Arts & Design Library – Main Foyer. 2401 Central Ave Ne (across from the Frontier), Albuquerque, New Mexico. In summertime, the medieval village squares, magical landscapes and dazzling beaches of Sardinia come alive with music festivals that give voice to great American genres like Jazz, Rock ‘n Roll, Soul, and the granddaddy of them all - The Blues.

For Sardinian Ethnomusicologist Diego Pani, Blues music holds a special fascination, especially in its early 1900’s Hill Country origins, reflective of the human condition and vernacular culture of the time, and often described as “restless” or “raw.” Diego’s interest and research focuses on how that early, essential Blues form has been adapted and redefined by contemporary Sardinian musicians to express their own cultural environment and traditions.

Of particular interest to Diego is the do-it-yourself principle, or DIY ethos, employed by those early Hill Country Blues artists – the use of hand-made instruments, the practice of self-producing “low-fi” recordings – all the homemade stuff that gave early Blues music its iconic “raw” vibe. Diego notes that the DIY ethos is alive and well among Sardinian bluesmen today, reviving the spirit of original Blues in a folkloric expression of modern-day Sardinia.

As part of the UNM Musicology Colloquium Series, Diego Pani will bring Sardinian Blues to Albuquerque in a special lecture. The free lecture, entitled Different Rivers, is open to the public and is sure to draw an interested coalition of local Blues buffs and musicians, as well as a strong contingent from the New Mexico Italian community.

From the other end of the Sardinian musical spectrum, Diego is also bringing a traditional Sardinian multi-part singing group to Albuquerque. He is traveling from his Sardinian homeland with his compatriots of the Cuncordu Sas Bator Colonnas, a four-man ensemble that carries on the ancient, traditional, poly-phonic singing of their village and their island in the Sardinian language. Diego will accompany the Cuncordu for all their lecture and performance engagements as their official translator and moderator. It will be a brief - but packed and exciting visit to the Land of Enchantment.

Diego is just finishing his Ph.D. degree in Ethnomusicology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, and works as an ethnomusicologist in Sardinia in the mountain city of Nuoro. He sings in the Sardinian Rock ‘n Roll band, King Howl, and manages the Sardinian record label, Talk About Records.

Come to hear and welcome this accomplished young man on November 13 at UNM – and don’t forget the Outpost Performance Space Cuncordu concert on Friday, November 16 (https://outpostspace.org/schedule/event/320951/ )