Cisco
La Lunga Notte

Memories are something that anchor you to the past, they distress you, they crush you, but sometimes they give you strength.

It is from this strength that the first solo album by Cisco, the historical voice of Modena City Ramblers, is born. Often, goodbyes leave you puzzled. Often, those who embark on a solo career fail to offer something new, frequently ending up rearranging old sounds that add nothing new to the music.

Yet, with his magic wand, Cisco creates this CD, "La lunga notte", steeped in poetry. An album, increasingly rare nowadays, that oozes emotions, moves, makes you dream. It's hard for me to classify the genre, certainly much of the old experience remains in this work, but it stays in the background, well masked by the light notes. It seems like the work of a mature songwriter, capable of discussing a variety of themes, with the wisdom acquired through years of hard reflections.

Stefano doesn't just limit himself to observing reality. He transforms it, shapes it, abstracts it into melody, weighs the words with newfound inspiration, frees himself from the burden of the past. He made the right move. Leaving the Modena seemed to many a foolish gamble, a clean slate. Instead, he realized that the work there was finished, everything had already been said and done, and the rhythm shouting inside him needed new personal outlets.

The first song "come se il mondo" is simply wonderful. Delicate, moving, a ballad that stands at the level of the greatest in Italian music. The album glides on the notes of the long night, with more exotic rhythms following in the footsteps of radio rebelde, light notes, yet so heavy, and then onwards to the following tracks among which I love to mention "best", a tribute to a troubled sports champion whom I adore. I could go on describing the very unique sounds of the album, but I invite you to discover them for yourselves, without silly preconceptions, because the Modena are past, this is the future and it’s a very different future that even those who hated the Italian folk group might love.

You will find a Cisco who has abandoned explicit leftism, who has preferred insidious reflections on the world to revolution, who has chosen the ballad over combat folk, and who in this truly excellent first CD has not just made music, but written a great page of poetry.