It is “Canzoni (for prepared accordion & electronics)” by organist Alessandro D'Alessandro, published by Squilibri, the winning album of the National City of Loano Prize for Italian Traditional Music, the most prestigious award for traditional music in Italy, given annually to the best musical production in the folk sphere by a jury of more than fifty specialized journalists and scholars. The Young People's Prize, reserved for the best record by musicians under 35, goes instead to “Sita (Ipe Ipe)” the solo debut of Salento singer and songwriter Alessia Tondo (former voice of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino).
It is therefore an edition, the one scheduled for July 28-30, 2022 at Loano, that tells of the vibrancy of the new Italian scene, and of the emergence of a new generation of performers who, having made the legacy of folk revival and world music their own, take their work on traditional instruments and minority languages in new and original directions. “The Loano Prize,‘ says artistic director Jacopo Tomatis, ’wants to be above all an observatory on contemporaneity. This vocation of ours does not contradict the emphasis on ‘tradition’: on the contrary, it invites us from year to year to observe how this heritage made of languages, sounds, instruments, repertoires, practices, and rituals is reconfigured and reshaped in today's world, remaining central to our lives and culture. Of all this, this year's two winning records are an emblematic case in point, telling us about a future of ”traditional musics' all to be invented, starting here.".
“The National Award City of Loano,‘ say Loano Mayor Luca Lettieri and Cultural Councilor Enrica Rocca, ’has made our municipality one of the ”Italian capitals' of folk music. Every year this very important and appreciated event brings to Loano all the latest best productions and the most important representatives of this genre, which has its roots in local history and tradition. To listen to folk music, then, is to go in search of our origins, not only musical, but cultural and human. A genre, folk, which, thanks in part to the Prize, has experienced a real resurgence in recent years. After the interruption due to the pandemic and last year's edition, which had to live with the virus, this year the Prize returns in its most usual and beloved formula. We want to thank the organizers and city offices involved in planning this event.".
Alessandro D'Alessandro, born in 1985, from Coreno Ausonio (Frosinone), already active with Orchestra Bottoni and winner of a Targa Tenco for best album in dialect (paired with Canio Loguercio) is one of the most original contemporary interpreters of the diatonic accordion, a traditional instrument that more than any other has been at the center of experimentation and innovation in recent years. Canzoni (for prepared accordion & electronics) represents a culmination of this journey: the album sews an original “dress” - with the accordion suitably treated with electronic effects - to a handful of famous songs, from Paolo Conte's Azzurro to Lucio Battisti's I giardini di marzo to Can't Help Falling in Love. Guests include Elio, Sergio Cammariere, Neri Marcorè, David Riondino, Musica Nuda, Joan Manuel Serrat, Peppe Voltarelli, Daniele Sepe, Roberto Angelini and Daniele Di Bonaventura.
In second place among the top-rated albums by the Prize jury, however, is “A Sud di Bella Ciao,” an all-star project by Riccardo Tesi with Elena Ledda, Lucilla Galeazzi, Alessio Lega, Nando Citarella, Maurizio Geri, Gigi Biolcati and Claudio Carboni. The album-presented at last year's Loano Prize-takes up some classics of the Italian folk revival repertoire in new original readings. In third place, however, was Alessia Tondo with “Sita,” also winning - as per regulations - the Youth Prize.
Since childhood immersed in Salento music-first with Mera Mehnir, along with her grandmother, and then with Sud Sound System and as soon as she was 13 years old as the voice of the Notte della Taranta Orchestra-Alexia Tondo (class of 1991) has since confirmed her talent around the world with Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. Sita is her debut album as a soloist, an acoustic and delicate record, in the sign of a songwriting well balanced between recovery of ancestral and personal paths related to Salento music, and a certain British folk-rock.
The City of Loano Prize for Italian Traditional Music was established eighteen years ago as a permanent workshop on folk music, and promotes and enhances contemporary production of traditional music with Italian roots through the involvement of artists, record labels, journalists and cultural workers. It is organized by the Compagnia dei Curiosi Association in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Culture of the City of Loano, and with contributions from the Fondazione A. De Mari and La Marina of Loano. Artistic direction is by Jacopo Tomatis, with the collaboration of Ciro De Rosa, Enrico de Angelis and Annalisa Scarsellini. Partners of the Loano Prize: Andrea Parodi Prize, Folkest.
The ranking of the Best Album Award 2021
1st place
Songs (Squilibri) - Alessandro D'Alessandro
2nd place
South of Bella Ciao (Visage) - AA.VV.
3rd place
Sita (Ipe Ipe Music)- Alessia Tondo
4th place
Meridiana (Ponderosa) - Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
5th place
Evocations and Invocations (Catalea) - David Ambrose
6th place
Stella ariènte (Visage) - Maria Moramarco
7th place
Meigama (Meigama/Altrove Creative Agency/Artist First) - Francesco Medda (Arrogalla) and Mauro Palmas
8th place
Mediterranean Ostinato (Finisterre) - Stefano Saletti & Banda Ikona
9th place
Canzuni (Felmay) - Massimo Ferrante
10th place
(In)Fest-action (Note)- The Savena Valley Sounders and the May Company
Bread and stone (Siberia Records) - The Golden Serpent
The Award Jury
Maurizio Agamennone, Claudio Agostoni, Sergio Albertoni, Giovanni Alcaini, Ricky Barone, Marco Boccitto, Raffaello Carabini, Pietro Carfì, Giordano Casiraghi, Daniele Cestellini, Gianni Ciaccio, Valerio Corzani, Giandomenico Curi, Enrico de Angelis, Flaviano De Luca, Ciro De Rosa, Paolo Del Ry, Enrico Deregibus, Salvatore Esposito, Antonio Fanelli, Gerardo Ferrara, Massimo Ferro, Guido Festinese, Jonathan Giustini, Ezio Guaitamacchi, Federico Guglielmi, Marco La Viola, Felice Liperi, Marco Lutzu, Ignazio Macchiarella, Giorgio Maimone, Maurizio Marino, Tiziano Menduto, Giorgio Meneghetti, Gaetano Menna, Marco Miconi, Gianni Montano, Anna Nacci, Giancarlo Nostrini, Rosario Pantaleo, Riccardo Piaggio, Massimo Pirotta, Massimo Poggini, Piercarlo Poggio, Ezio Riberi, Vincenzo Santoro, Annalisa Scarsellini, Stefano Starace, Jacopo Tomatis, Federico Vacalebre, Gianluca Veltri, John Vignola, Antonio Vivaldi, Enrico Zagnagnoli, Paolo Zara, Giorgio Zito.
