CARMELO MAFALI, a short biography.
Carmelo (Melo) Mafali is certainly a very eclectic pianist/composer. Starting from the eighties, his
range of compositions, recordings, live performances and collaborations is vast and impressive.
He started studying classical piano at the age of nine, at the Corelli conservatory in his hometown
Messina.
When he was eighteen he was already playing as a solo jazz pianist in important meetings, being on
stage with tremendous names, like Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Ian Carr's Nucleus, Airto Moreira,
Dexter Gordon, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Massimo Urbani.
Carmelo also started composing music for theater plays and performances, together with ethnic
multi-instrumentalist G. Parisi, performing the pieces on stage.
In 1981 he moved to Germany, where he studied composition and classical piano, three years in
Wuppertal, then moving to Cologne, maybe the most prolific and creative city in Germany, from
1985 to the mid nineties.
Here he found a fertile ground for learning classical and jazz skills, electronic wizardries, studio and
live gigs and thousands of links to figurative arts, theater and literature.
He also performed in Russia, USA, France, England, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Canada,
Belgium and many other countries, and he has on his account more than 120 TV shows.
His number of recordings and concerts from 1984 to year 2002 is astounding, as well as his
uncountable collaborations with artists of pop, soul, and blues, such as Rufus Thomas, Gloria
Gaynor, Ohio Express, Nena , Bobby Kimball of Toto, Anne Haigis, De Angelo, Renè Pretschner,
Marla Glen, Off, Interface, Mousse T., Can, Delegation, Wolf Hoffmann of Accept, and many
others.
He made music for movies in Germany, Austria and Italy, advertisements for tv and movie theaters,
for Opel, Warsteiner, Ramazzotti and other big firms, music for the dancer and choreographer Aida,
including two big shows for her multi-ethnic ensemble, and one CD release in Berlin.
His interest for classical composition and piano improvisation has been raising since 1999, when he
first released two pieces for piano and orchestra on the Greenhouse label double album Nocturna.
Since then, his number of orchestral and smaller ensemble compositions has been growing
dramatically, as well as his interest for instruments like church organ and classical guitar, for which
he also wrote several pieces.
After the premature departure in 2012 of his brother Pippo Mafali double-bassist and composer,
with whom he shared hundreds of musical experiences and recordings, Melo Mafali is now
following the path of composing and the fine art of piano improvisation, in the very different styles
and manners which are all familiar to him. The Concerto Sinfonico in Omaggio di Pippo Mafali was
recently performed at the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele in Messina. Melo Mafali wrote a symphonic
arrangement for Pippo's Sguardi del Passato, a meditative piano piece, performing it with the
Theatre Orchestra on the 22. 12 .2012. Actually is he’s working at his opera/ballett La Manna,
which is premiering at the Palacultura Auditorium, Messina, on February 26th, an allegory on the
figure of Giovanni Falcone, a victim of a criminal organization back in 1990 in Italy. He is also
working at his first Symphony, The Babylons Acumen Symphony, based on themes of his first
record.
A Selected Discography
Babylons Acumen, Aton, Germany, 1992
El Libro De La Luna, Jamc, Germany, 1993
The Book Of The Moon, Prestige, England, 1994
Aida’s Mythos, Danzone, Germany, 1995
Zucchero, a Circus Of Venice, Aton, Germany, 2003
Obscure Environments, Four Rooms by Melo Mafali, Aton, (I-Tunes, Amazon, etc), digital release
Teatro, The Art Of Piano Improvisation, digital release, Aton 2015
with Renè Pretschner, The PianoDuo
El Latino, Greenhousemusic, Germany-Austria, 1997
Nocturna (2 CD), Greenhousemusic, Germany-Austria, 1999
The PianoDuo Live In Concert (with Jennifer Lim, piano), Greenhousemusic,Germany-
Switzerland-Austria, 2003
with The Spell Trio, Pippo Mafali, Maria Fausta Rizzo
An Album Of Progressive And Jazz, Aton, Italy, 2006
For more detailed information, present activities,galleries, concerts, etc., visit Mafali’s web
site:
http://www.melomafali.com/
e-mail:
mmafali@yahoo.de