Article

la stampa 2008

He has just celebrated 10 years of honored career, the right moment then to trace a sort of balance of his activity and re-launch with enthusiasm in view of the future. The ITC San Lazzaro with over 200 thousand spectators, mostly young and very young, 15 thousand students aged 3 to 80, and plenty of space for parish choirs, school children, ASL groups and voluntary associations, has earned on the field the affection of the citizens of S. Lazzaro and Bologna, but also a certain recognition outside the local borders.
In this month two new containers will debut in the theater: "Ritagli di tempo", two evenings on '68 told by the passionate gaze of Stefano Tassinari and "Und So Writer", new authors new songs, review that opens a window on the broad, but little known, panorama of singer-songwriter music, from the Italian tradition to the relations with international cultures and musical genres, up to its most innovative forms.
"Und So Writer", born under the artistic direction of Marco Coppi and Daniele Faraotti, represents a rare and unique opportunity to put artists and the public in contact in an inorganic way, in an alternative context to the proposals of the traditional industrial market of music, helping to sustain and enliven a form of artistic expression that has always represented an important chapter in the field of cultural prosecutions. Bologna is already home to the International Center for Songwriters, led by Davide Rondoni and Lucio Dalla, who recently took life from the Center of Contemporary Poetry of the Bologna University, and the city does not cease to follow closely everything that moves around the song writing.
For two years now, the Songwriter's Center has been organizing "Lyrics" in the summer, an event that through shows, exhibitions and many other initiatives, tells the story of who writes author songs, the commitment and difficulties of production, the means used, languages, as well as giving visibility to emerging groups. This fall, in the same vein, is the turn of S. Lazzaro with his theater that will offer the public a first selection of what is the contemporary panorama of the song form in its most diverse stylistic and expressive characteristics, in a field of creativity that it goes from the Italian tradition to the wide relations with international cultures and musical genres, up to its most innovative forms and open to original paths. Twelve soloist and group formations will perform on the ITC Theater stage, for a total of fifty musicians from all over Italy. During six evenings there will also be contributions from guests who will propose original pieces and tributes to the history of the song. In the rooms of the Mediateca there will be two meetings-debate on themes concerning the song in its historical and contemporary aspects. The review that avails itself of the support of the Department of Culture of S. Lazzaro, starts on October 14 (all the concerts begin at 9.15 pm), with the surreal ballads of the Mariposa (butterfly in Spanish) a "septet" that combines song of Italian author, folk, Rock and psychedelic, in a surreal setting with typical theatrical hues that will perform before the Testa dei Porcu, a minimalist formation, composed exclusively of bass and drums of the contemporary hard-core genre. Guest of the evening and the Neapolitan singer-songwriter Nicodemo, an artist who pays particular attention to the drafting of texts in the best songwriting tradition. The next day it will be the turn of the Prophexy followed by Ka Bizzarro. The first is a Bolognese band active since '99 that knows how to produce a convincing music capable of mixing sounds and typical 20's moments, in progressive style without giving up experimentation. Ka Bizzarro, on the other hand, is an Apulian singer-songwriter, but Bolognese by adoption - you can meet him and often listen to him at the Wolf bar - who has made himself known and appreciated thanks to ironic and amusing lyrics, for which he is inspired by the genius of Rino Gaetano.
After a few days off, the festival resumed on the 17th with the band of Daniele Faraotti, a group that ventures daring experiments to show that in the world - song there is still so much to discover. Esterina will follow, a group certainly out of the ordinary that has never compromised with its art (read excessively "commercial" laws) in order to become famous. Immediately afterwards it will be the turn of "songs not sung" by Tiziano Zanotti. On the 19th and 20th the exhibition moves to the Mediateca di S. Lazzaro to make room for reflection on "The song, a possibility", several specialists will debate on the subject. On 21 October Ilenia Forte will be on the ITC stage with all its explosive charge to move easily between ballad gaits and sudden alternative explosions accompanied by the excellent band Radioscascio. The helm of the evening will then pass to the Onirica, a Neapolitan group with an inexhaustible rock charge, while the "songs not sung" will be edited by Walter Zanetti.
The Cinema Volta, a Brescia-based pop group, will open the evening of the 22nd with their sounds somewhere between the electric and the rough guitar rhythms followed by Lucio Morelli, an extraordinary singer-songwriter in his originality who boasts prestigious collaboration with famous and talented artists all to listen to. On October 24th the musical marathon will be closed by Trabant Mobil, an Emilian band with New Age and trash-funk suggestions, prog and jazz-rock, noise and blues that mix a high profile band with a surprising irony and with Amore.
The final curtain will instead be entrusted to Fabio "Dandy Beast", the skilled guitarist, historic composer of the Skiantos. So far musicians alternating on the scene, but there are as many guests, writers, journalists, authors, producers, invited to bring their experience to the ITC public to see how much space there is for a song form that does not line up to strict market logic. An arduous and ambitious task, the one that "Und So Writer" sets itself: to bring to light significant and poorly aligned artists, snatching them from the anonymity to favor a rebirth of the genre. This time under the sign of strong personalities who really have something new and true to say and listen to. Valeria Tancredi