{:en}An edition of great tributes with a look at the contemporary, from Pier Paolo Pasolini's Italian Canzoniere to the noble father of liscio Secondo Casadei: from July 22 to 26, the fifteenth edition of the City of Loano National Prize for Italian Traditional Music returns to Loano, organized by the Compagnia dei Curiosi Association in collaboration with the Tourism and Culture Department of the City of Loano, with the contribution of the Fondazione A. De Mari, Nuovo Imaie (funds from Article 7 L. 93/92) and the patronage of the Liguria Region and ANCI.
The Loano Prize, the main event in Italy for traditional music, confirms for 2019 its vocation to narrate the contemporaneity of Italian folk, of all that universe of music that - starting from the revival of tradition, from folk instruments, from the expressive forms of oral cultures - knows how to speak to contemporaneity and tell the world of today. It is thus in a symbolic arc in search of the many meanings of “folk music” - “From Pasolini to Smooth,” as the title of this 15th edition reads - that the 2019 program, the second under the artistic direction of Jacopo Tomatis, is developed.
As is in the nature of a “permanent laboratory” of the Loano Prize, the usual evening concerts in the splendid locations of the Loano waterfront (Spazio Culturale Orto Maccagli) and the Cloister of St. Augustine will be joined by afternoon appointments with The Prize Meets..., conversations in music with musicians and cultural workers, from 6 p.m. at the Nassiriya Gardens. New features of this edition include Loano's evocative walk to the “Pian delle Bosse” Refuge, which will end with a concert by Italy's top bagpipe performer Fabio Rinaudo; and the “after-dinner” concert with La Banda della Ricetta, an original show in which they sing about good food, with food, with a fun and well-seasoned repertoire.
The main novelty of the 2019 edition is the original production-which will debut on July 25, the result of an artistic residency at Loano- LinguaMadre: Pasolini's Canzoniere, dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini's Italian Canzoniere, a pioneering project of collecting popular poetry first published in 1955. Starting from these materials rediscovered by Pasolini - often “silent,” without music - four young musicians will build a path of reinterpretation and rewriting, which will mix traditional and electronic instruments, archaic and contemporary voices. Following the thematic thread of the “mother” - as a central figure of much popular poetry, and as a language - the production will restore sound and voice to the poems collected by Pasolini, rereading them in the contemporary, without philologisms, in the light of more than fifty years of popular music. For this operation of “creative archaeology,” four of the most interesting talents of the new Italian folk scene have been chosen: the Piedmontese Duo Bottasso (winner of the Loano Giovani Prize), Friulian singer Elsa Martin, and Calabrian multi-instrumentalist Davide Ambrogio.
LinguaMadre, in addition to being the perfect embodiment of the spirit that animates the Loano Prize, also marks the beginning of the Prize's collaboration with Cagliari's Andrea Parodi Prize-already a guest in last year's edition-and the Mare e Miniere festival in Sardinia. The production, after its premiere at Loano, will be revived in the coming months.
Kicking off the festival on Monday, July 22, is the first appointment with “Premio Incontra...,” which hosts-along with journalist Ciro De Rosa-the Tre Martelli, 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. The Alexandria-based group that has managed to bring Piedmontese folk revival to stages around the world, having surpassed 40 years in their career, will talk about themselves ahead of the evening's concert at 9:30 pm. The Three Hammers will collect the Award in an expanded lineup, spanning traditional songs and dances.
On Tuesday, July 23, “Premio incontra...” hosts Finisterre, Erasmo Treglia's historic label, Premio alla Realtà Culturale 2019. It will be an opportunity to retrace (and listen to) the music of one of the most influential labels on the Italian folk-world scene, in the company of journalist Ciro De Rosa. Next, we will move to the Promenade at 8:30 p.m. for the “after-dinner” concert with La Banda della Ricetta: a concert-performance dedicated to traditional cuisine, that of the all-female quartet composed of Clara Graziano, Valentina Ferraiuolo, Teresa Spagnuolo and Carla Tutino. During the evening, Erasmo Treglia will collect the 2019 Cultural Reality Award for Finisterre. The evening will continue at 10 p.m. with a concert by Raffaello Simeoni, who was awarded by a jury of more than 50 specialized journalists and scholars for the best album 2018, presents his Orfeo incantastorie accompanied by a wide lineup of musicians.
On Wednesday, July 24, the “Premio Incontra” becomes itinerant with a walk to the “Pian delle Bosse” Refuge, in collaboration with the C.A.I. of Loano. Welcoming the audience is a concert by Fabio Rinaudo, dedicated to the discovery and exploration of one of the prince instruments of traditional Italian music. Followed by an apericena organized by the Refuge.
In the evening at 9:30 p.m., the Prize will move to the more intimate spaces of the Cloister of St. Augustine for Mauro Palmas' concert-show Palma de Sols, a fascinating journey between Sardinia and the Mediterranean led by the leader's mandola, with Alessandro Foresti's organ, Andrea Ruggeri's percussion, Silvano Lobina's bass, Marco Argiolas' clarinet and sax, and Simonetta Soro's voice.
Thursday, July 25, is instead the day dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini's Italian Canzoniere: it begins at 6 p.m. with the presentation of the original production LinguaMadre: the Canzoniere of Pasolini. In conversation with Jacopo Tomatis, in addition to the musicians involved, will be journalist Enrico de Angelis and Domenico Ferraro, publisher, scholar and cultural worker. Starting at 8 p.m., in collaboration with the CEIS Foundation - which in the former convent runs the reception center for asylum seekers - an ethnic apericena will be offered with tasting of typical dishes from the countries of origin of the hosted young people.
This will be followed by the LinguaMadre show featuring Duo Bottasso (accordion, violin, trumpet), Davide Ambrogio (guitar, lyre, percussion, vocals) and Elsa Martin (vocals). Opening the evening at 9:30 p.m. is Duo Bottasso with sound designer Simone Sims Longo, winners of the Loano Giovani Award for best album with Biserta e altre storie, a fascinating sonic tale of contemporary Tunisia. The three musicians will collect the Prize financed by Nuovo Imaie with funds from Article 7 L. 93/92. Here all information.
The Premio closes in style on Friday, July 26, with a day dedicated to liscio and its noble father, Secondo Casadei. In fact, animating the afternoon's “Il Premio incontra” will be Riccarda Casadei, Secondo's daughter and head of Casadei Sonora, the true heir to the great tradition of dance music from Romagna. Conversing with her will be Jacopo Tomatis and journalist Pierfrancesco Pacoda.
Starting at 8 p.m., however, the central Piazza Italia will host the final evening of the Prize, a true folk festival with dancing, activities for children and adults, circus, workshops of musical instruments, salvage and juggling. All this while waiting, at 10 p.m., for the grand final concert of Extraliscio, the “Buena Vista Social Club” of Romagnolo liscio, a super group of the most contemporary and “post-modern” liscio, which holds together musicians such as Moreno “il Biondo” Conficconi, formerly with Orchestra Casadei and Orchestra Grande Evento, Mauro Ferrara (Orchestra Grande Evento), and Mirco Mariani (Saluti da Saturno, Vinicio Capossela). Festival media partners: Blogfoolk, Giornale della musica, Radio Popolare.
All concerts and meetings are free admission.
Here the full program.{:}
