Alessandro Giusti | Musician

About Me

Hi, and welcome to my personal web page!

I was born in Ivrea, in the north – western corner of Italy, in 1977.

I started to get an interest in music when I was around twelve, playing the keyboard at home. I first received some classical training, and I took the Diploma in Musical Theory in Turin. I then left the classical path and after varied musical experience, playing mostly the guitar in some bands around my area, I fell in love with Irish music during a short stay in Dublin, in 2004.

What struck me was the exceptional vitality of the music, which can transmit the joy and energy of life in dance tunes, and, at the same time, deep feelings and sorrow in slow airs and laments. I also admire the width of the repertoire, the endless wealth of tunes, which keep being composed today, and the never ending opportunity to enjoy playing with others, meet wonderful musicians, and share the passion.

When in Dublin, I played the banjo for a while and then in Italy, in 2005, I took up the fiddle. Less than two years later I came back, took some lessons with the Dublin based fiddler Michelle O'Brien, and started to play regularly at sessions. After playing some gigs in some pubs and cafes with the band Kombrogos (www.myspace.com/kombrogos), I studied with Cormac McDiarmada at Clasac (Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann), and in May 2010 I passed the Scrúdu Ceol Tíre on repertoire, theory and history of Irish traditional music. I like to go to festivals and weekly schools around Ireland, where so far I've had the opportunity to learn from Breda Keville, Ciaran Tourish, Ciaran Ó Maonaigh, James Kelly and Liam O'Connor .

I also enjoy folk and acoustic music in general, old-time, blues and Americana.

I keep playing regularly at sessions in Dublin.


Listen

I recorded these tracks at home, with fiddle, guitar and keyboard.
It was fun for me, hope you enjoy!


  1. 1.  Two jigs from County Clare. The first one is a composition by Junior Crehan, and the second is also known as "The Clare", or "The West Clare".
  2. 2.  A set of three reels.
  3. 3.  A slow air.
  4. 4.  An American Old Time tune.
  5. 5.  A nice waltz that I learned at the Friday night session at the Hughes's pub in Smithfield.
  6. 6.  I wrote this guitar tune many years ago.

You can also listen to some live recordings made in 2009 with the band Kombrogos here.

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