PRESS RELEASE (11/05/2016)
Continued at Loano the ninth edition of the review “Flying Disks...Close Encounters with Records, Books, Words and Sounds”, promoted by the’Department of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the City of Loano and organized by the’Society of the Curious Association.
Saturday, May 14, to the 9 p.m. at Council Chamber in Doria Palace, the book will be presented “On this side of the sea” (2016, Giulio Einaudi Publishers) by. Gianmaria Testa, published in ten years since the release of the album of the same name, which received the Targa Tenco award for album of the year in 2007. The album will be presented in its new vinyl format alongside the book.
The guest of the evening will be the actor Joseph Cederna, friend and companion in many theatrical adventures of the singer-songwriter who died prematurely. The meeting will be attended by music journalist Guido Festinese and of Paola Farinetti.
“The book, with a preface by Erri De Luca,’ reads the presentation, "is an account of the thoughts, stories, and situations that contributed to the creation of each of the songs on the album, and it is also, inevitably, the story of Gianmaria himself and his roots. The language is poetic and sharp, both gruff and emotional. Beautiful.
A poignant journey, through stories and songs, on human migration. A small but intense book that is more powerful than a thousand words.
Babasunde, who lost her name. Rrock Jakaj, violinist from Shkodër. And then that frozen girl walking towards the station. And Tinochika, who clings with all his might to a woman's gaze. Gianmaria Testa returns—this time not as a singer-songwriter but as a writer—to the theme of contemporary migration. And he does so without rhetoric and with a sensible gaze: telling stories of men with a poetic and sharp language, both gruff and emotional.
The vinyl of “On this side of the sea” adds value to Testa's work, a sound and visual object of rare beauty that encapsulates all the magic of music to listen to and watch. A new format that allows you to get to the heart of the warm, enveloping sound that finds its maximum expression in the grooves of the vinyl.
Released in 2006, “Da questa parte del mare” (On this side of the sea) is a concept album entirely dedicated to a single topic, as if the whole album were a novel and the songs were chapters that together tell a story. The theme is modern migration, a topic that is as relevant today as it was yesterday, a poetic, open and non-demagogic reflection on the enormous movements of peoples that are taking place in our times. It explores the harsh reasons for leaving, the painful decision to cross deserts and seas, the meaning of words such as “land” or “homeland,” and the sense of uprooting and loss that moving always brings with it. At any latitude. Ten years on, the issue of migrants remains a global emergency.
Produced by Paola Farinetti for Fuorivia Productions, the record boasts the artistic direction of Greg Cohen. Of note is the presence of Bill Frisell alongside that of the musicians who have always collaborated with Gianmaria: Gabriele Mirabassi, Paolo Fresu, Enzo Pietropaoli, Philippe Garcia, Luciano Biondini, Claudio Dadone, Piero Ponzo.
