Ballate d’Appennino
Note al progetto – Clementina Santi
The horizon from which the texts of the new project originate has become broader, and although the geography is still that of the Tuscan- Emilian Apennines, the cultural suggestions come from further afield with a balanced and convincing result; on the musical level it is newer (or perhaps more ancient as revisitation almost always are) and fascinating, in that the musical operation on the texts goes in the direction of a more melodic genre, close to the ballad precisely, as indeed the title states and as the ancient word suggests: “ballad” as “song to dance,” harking back to popular (but also courtly) music, when “poetry and music together” called to dance.
Traditional texts are present in the collection, sometimes drawing directly and respectfully from dialect, to lose nothing of the original language (La m’è sempre inamurada, Il testamento dell’ avvelenato), sometimes taking the tale from popular memory (Maremma amara, La barbera).
Then the strand of stories could not be absent, present with two beautiful texts that are now classics of travel and pilgrimage literature of our Apennines: Viaggio in Toscana by Umberto Raffaelli, which is a small epos of transhumance, and Del 24 Luglio alla mattina by Domenico Notari (maggerino and storyteller), which recounts the pilgrimage to the hermitage of Maria Maddalena, on Ventasso, yet another literary variation of a legend of sin and forgiveness.
There are – once again – the poets we expect, present, however, with texts that are little known and therefore useful to Anima Montanara’s cultural recovery project: Umberto Monti (with Viottoli) and Ettore Monelli (with Riarbero), two simple poems, almost school-like, with short verses and rhymes that are not always perfect, but with a natural musicality that comes before the rules of meter. And next to them a poet who has been with us forever, Danilo Parmeggiani, with a very intense and very modern text: 12 free verses, which are the only ones in the collection that are not set to music: only read or recited, because poetry sometimes has to be able to make songs with only words.
Finally, there are two courageous texts: one (Stable Theater) is by Francesco Boni, who weaves new verses over ancient thoughts (and gestures) to reaffirm the continuity between past and present. The other (To God), is a poetic legacy of Silvio D’Arzo, a writer now considered among the biggest of the twentieth century.
Thus, these Ballate d’ Appennino confirm once again that our land is an inexhaustible reservoir of stories, voices and songs; and Anima Montanara consistently continues on its way, between “montanarità and montanaritudine,” which is like saying between pride and melancholy; and gives us, today, an album in which poetry becomes song and metrics become music.
Tracks
1 – Teatro di stalla
2 – Il testamento dell’avvelenato
3 – Viottoli
5 – Maremma amara
Band members
Paolo Romei, Irene Condò – voice
Francesco Boni – guitar and voice
Gianni Bolzoni – guitar
Dario Sabattini – acoustic bass
Roberto Mercati – piano
Mirko Ferrarini – accordion
Davide Castellari – clarinet, saxophone and flute
