Introduction to Modal Music with Peppe Frana: Workshop & Concert
March 25 brought a six-hour workshop with lutenist Peppe Frana on Eastern modal systems, followed by an evening concert from the newly formed Trio Karimi Frana Montanari.
March 25 was built around Peppe Frana, a lutenist whose path runs from rock guitar in his teenage years to Turkish oud and Greek modal music under Ross Daly, through medieval European lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and into a busy career performing early, Eastern, and cross-traditional repertoire worldwide — festivals from the Wiener Konzerthaus to Ravenna Festival to AMUZ Antwerp, and artistic direction of Labyrinth Italia.
His workshop, six hours across the day, introduced the common ground shared by the Turkish-Ottoman makam, the Arabic maqam, the Persian dastgah, and the Hindustani raga — practical exercises aimed at building real familiarity with modal thinking and opening the door to improvising within it.
In the evening, Peppe Frana was joined by Masih Karimi (tanbur, daf) and Ciro Montanari (tabla, udu) for the debut concert of the Trio Karimi Frana Montanari — three musicians building a shared language from Iranian Kurdish, North Indian, Afghan, and Anatolian traditions. Twenty-seven people came for the concert alone, with over a hundred more following online.