Lucio Dalla concert

LUCIO DALLA CONCERT

Palais Saint-Vincent, 30 March 2010

Narrating history, sometimes, rather simply requires the ability to tell stories. Through his songs Lucio Dalla does not aim at telling the history of Italy, nor his own personal history; he simply narrates stories, sometimes extravagant and rendered mysterious by their own symbolism, at other times realistic, drawing from the quotidian and the domestic, but always true to life. These are stories that would simply not exist outside of the realm of music.

In Dalla’s songwriting each word is the expression of a sound. This does not mean that certain words of his songs have no meaning, or voice the inconsequential, but rather that the message is conveyed by both gesture and voice. The sound precedes both the music and the words that accompany it. If you try to imagine Dalla’s songs read, played or performed by anyone else it simply doesn’t work.
So, why inviting Dalla to a festival that celebrates the importance of words? Simply because words are not only to be read - their meaning is not all - but also enunciated, acted out, performed.

In order to do that you need someone who can wear the mask of the Commedia dell’Arte without flinching, someone who is willing to narrate himself and the world around him as through the eyes of a child; or like a thief, showing us the stolen goods of his readings and his dreams. Dalla’s music, words ad voice are a fragment of our imagery. It teaches us a kind of wisdom through the simplicity of the melody, that plays with the opera, the easy listening genre, improvisation, with our popular and traditional heritage. Dalla’s sound and voice are unmistikable, like a particular smell or a glimpse of a distant, familiar landscape.

Babel, the festival of the word, focuses on the encounter of languages, cultures and identities. Lucio Dalla introduces us to his uncharted voyage, made with the sole instruments of music, words and voice. The performance is dedicated to the theme of this year’s edition of the Festival, which is also the first: exile. The word does not only refer to a kind of (in)human and (un)civil, but also to a kind of cultural and musical exile.

Riccardo Piaggio

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 – 9 p.m.