Mark Di Giuseppe - The Legendary Straniero is a one man band originally from Chicago (based in Italy) with over 30 years of international experience performing walking and stage shows! His instruments are all his own creations and modifications. For stage shows his double-neck license plate guitar is a showstopper with one normal electric guitar and one special for blues and slide tunings. For walking shows on the other hand Mark plays an electric 4-string banjo that he completely rebuilt and decorated with ornate mother of pearl and abalone inlays. The drums are a mechanical marvel centered around a bass drum made from a plastic washtub which allow him to play bass drum, snare drum, cymbal, cowbell, woodblock and harmonica while at the same time playing the string instrument. Besides playing all these instruments at the same time it’s his voice that really stands out. Thanks to high tech electronics Mark is able to sing not with only one voice but up to 3 voices in perfect harmony! The music ranges between blues, R&B, soul, 70’s classic rock, 50’s rock & roll, reggae, ska, calypso, jazz and country as well as classic Italian , Neapolitan and Gypsy as well as folk songs in 14 languages. In his rock/blues show called, Trashman Blues, unique arrangements to songs by Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, John Lee Hooker, Leadbelly, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and the Rolling Stones among many others make for a show that is universally appealing and can get the oldest and the youngest dancing together in the street! The Legendary Straniero's performances are always powerful and energetic yet sometimes beautifully sweet and moving with haunting vocals.
The Legendary Straniero, has had great success in Italy, Germany, Asia and the Middle East and has been featured on stages at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. Mark has Several older one man band shows featuring almost any other kind of music that you can think of including classical, calypso, ska, reggae, jazz and international folk with songs sung in 10 languages! He has been featured on countless television and radio shows, films, books, newspapers theatrical performances and festivals on 5 continents in the last 33 years. A uniquely flexible artist based in Italy, The Legendary Straniero shows are easily adapted for stage or street, large or small venues walking or fixed position shows, indoors or outdoors. He is technically autonomous with his own battery powered amplification and needs minimal space to perform. Mark is one of the few artists capable of custom tailoring his performances to almost any needs. He can always come up with something just right for your event!
Besides the classsic Legendary Straniero and Trashman Blues shows Mark offers many other musical shows as well (sometimes more than one show can be performed at the same event with no extra charge) including:
