International Jew’s Harp Society

BOARD MEMBERS

Luca Recupero

Alessandro Zolt

Luca Recupero

Alessandro Zolt

Born in Turin in 1993 from French father and Italian mother, I studied Anthropology at the Turin University, specializing myself in Ethnomusicology. My first encounter with the jew's harp happened in Alagna Valsesia (the place where my grandmother was from) while I was making my first interviews for my thesis: a jew's harp player I interviewed borrowed me one of his instruments (a tiny Schwarz jew's harp) to learn to play it and from there it was a downward spyral into the jew's harp madness. Under the guide of ethnomuscologists Febo Guizzi and Ilario Meandri I made my researches on alpine organology and I studied the history of the Valsesia “ribebba” publishing on that subject a thesis in 2017 and after that a book in 2019, written along with Alberto Lovatto, who was the first scholar to ever study this subject. In 2018, after I entered in contact with Philippe Dallais, I joined the IJHS. I am now currently doing archival, palaeographic and diplomatic studies at the School of the State Archives of Turin.

During my ethnomusicology studies I developed a growing passion for other folk music instruments and I started playing the hurdy gurdy, the bagpipe, the tin whistle and the accordion, all of which I performed in several folk jam sessions and festivals, alone or in some musical projects like Autre Chant, Kitchen Implosion, Tribeba.

E-mail contact: alex.zolt@hotmail.it