Calogero
(Charly) Chiarelli was born in Sicily and grew up in the industrial north end of
Hamilton, Ontario (where, in the 1950s there were 10,000 fellow Sicilians in one
neighbourhood, all from the exact same town of Racalmuto). He skipped school to
act as a family translator - dealing with major purchases and many
confusing new-world bureaucrats.
As well as having mastered the lost art of being a "pin-boy" for downtown bowling alleys, Charly has a Master's degree in Social Work (also degrees in Psychology and Linguistics) but Charly does not let these credentials get in the way of his true loves of writing stories and songs, harmonica playing and performance art. Though he has directed his talent to everything from children's stories to a Hollywood movie, he refers to the performance of Cu'Fu as his primary mission.
Cu'Fu is a multifaceted work with a hook for every hat. Charly's virtuoso harmonica playing ripples through the elegantly interwoven scenes. He accompanies himself with a musical mosaic of original, Anglo/Sicilian blues and haunting tunes from the old-country.
This amazing solo work has been performed in over one hundred different venues. The city of Toronto presented Cu'Fu as one of the highlights of its 1998, Canada Day celebration. In contrast to this venue, Cu'Fu was also performed for the Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Association of Psychotherapists.
Examples of other performance venues are:
- Artword Theatre - Toronto (A sixteen week sell-out run)
- Yukon International Storytelling Festival
- Ottawa's Winterlude festival
- Vancouver Storytelling Festival
- Limelight Theatre (Toronto)
- Edmonton May-Day Festival
- Main Stage Showcase - Ontario Contact Conference
- Festival Interculturel du Conte de Montreal
- Ontario Workers Arts and Heritage Centre - Hamilton
- The Grand Theatre - Kingston
- Blue Skies Music festival - Sharbot Lake
- Toronto Festival Of Storytelling
- Ottawa Storytelling Festival
- Canadian National Exhibition
- CBC Radio
"The personal note that can make storytelling resonate infuses
Cu'Fu."
(Now Magazine - Toronto)
