The quest for a foundational sound, the collection of memory, and its re-expression through one’s personal sensibility has always been a key element of making music. It's about becoming a conduit, without sacrificing personal interpretive freedom, for sounds that arrive from a temporal, spatial, and sometimes cultural distance. This very process allows them to circulate and germinate within our contemporary reality.

The duo was formed at the foot of the Western Alps, a place steeped in ancestral soundscapes. Ferrero's roots are firmly in the milieu of the Occitan valleys and, more broadly, European folk music. Varvello, on the other hand, has frequently traveled between distant musical continents, valuing and incorporating their respective harmonic and rhythmic languages. This creates a duo with the feel of an authentic meeting point, where a tight and complementary dialogue develops between the two instruments, ensuring they support and stimulate the two essential elements for the existence of music: dance and listening.

 

In their choice of repertoire, La Roul offers two different types of performances:

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Bàl Folk

The duo La Roul is born from the deep soil of folk music, yet looks far beyond: the tradition of popular dance from the western Alpine arc becomes today a mental space, a borderless land still vibrating with celebration, invention, and collective movement.

Within the living breath of European bal folk, La Roul weaves together musical languages. Neo-trad elements meet Alpine roots — the violin, with its ancient voice redolent of the Alps and Occitania, entwines with the accordion, opening onto unexpected horizons, brushing against Black music harmonies and contemporary rhythmic pulses.

The result? A music that is not nostalgia, but living energy: roots that dance in the present, inviting everyone to step into the circle.

Among the dances featured are Scottish, Rigodon, Bourrée, Rondeaux, Mazurkas, Polkas, Châpelouise, Courentes, and Waltzes.

Duration: 60–120 minutes

 

Listening Concert

Almost entirely dedicated to the two musicians’ original compositions, this set explores archaic musical languages, renewing their scope and form. The soundscapes freely range between folk traditions and contemporary harmonies, creating a dynamic dialogue between past and present.

The performance revolves around the subject of the Oak tree, known as "La Roul" in the Piedmontese language. Each piece evokes one of the elements that form the tree or interact with it, such as roots, trunk, sap, branches, leaves, or wind. This musical journey, which unfolds from the sun to the stars, symbolizes the infinite cycle that governs life. Much like the tree, the two musicians have their feet planted in the culture of their origins while expressively reaching in many directions, interacting with other forms and finding new life through them.

Duration: 45 minutes