Italian jazz singer Maria Pia De Vito and pianist Huw Warren will perform in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City next month.

The concert is held under the framework of Y Viet (Italian year in Vietnam) and on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

An embassy press release says “Dialektos”, designed to give Vietnamese audience an insight into  Italian jazz culture, "is a richly fruitful collaboration between the two musicians, playing as it does to their mutual love of folk roots, energetic rhythms and strong melodies."

Duo Maria Pia De Vito and Huw Warren will present several songs, including And the Kitchen sink, Allirallena, Strummolo a Tiriteppolo, G continuo by R. Marcotulli (instrumental, wordless), and O Pata Pata.

“Its cultural fulcrum is the southern Italian city of Naples, whose popular songs the virtuosic but earthy De Vito has celebrated in previous recordings,” the release says.

"Despite the Neapolitan emphasis, much of the performance is sung by De Vito in a mix of scat, vocalize and human beat box, a style which allows her talent for exuberant rhythmic improvisation to flourish unmediated by the need to deliver a lyric," the release says.

Rather than language, the voice-based jazz concert communicates through rhythm and melody.

Italian jazz and classical singer composer and arranger, Maria Pia De Vito is one of the most original figures on the Italian jazz scene.

She has worked with visual artists, choreographers, and musicians including John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Miroslav Vitous, Joshua Redman, and Italian Enrico Rava e Paolo Fresu.

In 2008 and 2009 she won the Critics Top Jazz Award as best singer, and in 2009 she has also won the critics award for her record ‘Mind in Gap’, as best international production. In 2010, the magazine ‘Jazz It’ elected her as best Italian singer.

Pianist and composer Huw Warren "never ceases to amaze as an intriguing and thrilling musician and composer. "

The winner of the highly coveted BBC Jazz Award for innovation this year; Huw has established an international presence in recent years, as a musical director/pianist for contemporary folk diva June Tabor for well over a decade, and for his ongoing work with ex-Austrian Musician of the Year bassist Peter Herbert and NY violin virtuoso improviser Mark Feldman.

Tickets in Hanoi, priced from VND 200,000 to 500,000 (USD9.56-23.92) are available at following locations:

Tickets can be booked on www.ticketvn.com or by email: ticketvn@fpt.vn; For free delivery, call: 091348 9858, 098306 7996, 35651806.

Labour Theater (42 Trang Tien, Hanoi) from Dec 6.

In HCMC: invitation tickets are available at HCMC Conservatory of Music, 112 Nguyen Du, Dist. 1.