Luna Llena channels Mediterranean melodies at Alliance Française Vancouver, January 17
Bruno Allary leads the Marseille, France–based Compagnie Rassegna as it plays songs from Sicily, Spain, Western Algeria, and Occitania
Compagnie Rassegna. Photo by Chloé Lelièvre
Alliance Française Vancouver presents Luna Llena by Compagnie Rassegna on January 17 at 7:30 pm
WHEN THE ARTISTS of Compagnie Rassegna take the stage at Alliance Française Vancouver, they’ll sit in a semicircle—the same formation preferred by Mediterranean musicians centuries ago.
It’s a way for the Marseille, France–based company to channel the sounds of the region for its concert called Luna Llena. The program is based on songs from Sicily, Spain, Western Algeria, and Occitania, with melodies that evoke the ebb and flow of daily life for those who live by the Mediterranean Sea.
Compagnie Rassegna was founded in 1999 by Bruno Allary, who plays flamenco, baroque, and electric guitars, as well as the mandolin-like saz, a staple of Ottoman classical music. Luna Llena is one of the company’s staple programs—Allary and his fellow musicians have been performing it for over two decades.
The concert in Vancouver on January 17 is part of Compagnie Rassegna’s tour of Canada’s Alliance Française network, with additional stops in Toronto, Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. Allary will be joined here by three Compagnie Rassegna musicians who have ties to the Mediterranean: vocalist-percussionist Sylvie Paz, who has Spanish and Oranese roots; vocalist-violinist and oud player Fouad Didi, who was born in Tlemcen, Algeria; and vocalist Carine Lotta, who is of Sicilian ancestry.
The music will start at 7:30 pm in Alliance Française Vancouver’s 165-seat theatre, a highlight of the organization’s landmark Cambie Street cultural facility that opened in July 2024. 
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