Dodi Battaglia
Dov'è andata la musica

They have known each other for about twenty years, one from Bologna with a Mediterranean vibe, the other an Australian living in America, but only now (taking advantage of the two-year break the former's group took to celebrate the significant milestone of their fiftieth anniversary) have they realized the long-awaited album together. We are talking about Dodi Battaglia and Tommy Emmanuel, one of the greatest electric guitarists around and one of the greatest acoustic fingerstyle guitarists. Thus is born "Dov'è andata la musica", the third solo work of the guitarist from Bologna, 30 years after "Più in alto che c'è", an album of only songs, and 12 years after "D'assolo", an entirely instrumental album. Dodi explained that the album was born between Italy, specifically the studio in Acquapendente in the Province of Viterbo, and Nashville, on the other side of the world where Tommy lives, and it represents a way of expressing through the union of a European musician and an Oceanian one, "where the music has gone". The album doesn't aim to explain it nor is it a critical inquiry, but it arises from a collaboration between two already well-established artists who worked while having fun, knowing they had nothing to prove, in fact, nothing. There are twelve tracks, eight proper songs and four instrumental pieces, two with an electric slant (namely the opening track "Mediterranean Girl" and the closing "Vale", dedicated to Valerio Negrini, the historic founder of Pooh in 1966 who passed away in early 2013) and two with a decidedly acoustic flavor, "The Journey" and "Louis and Clarke", the latter already previously composed by Emmanuel. In all the tracks, there is a great harmony between Dodi's electric guitar and Tommy's acoustic one: the two instruments converse, exchange lines, "speak" the sublime language of music, with flawless virtuosity. Everything has been perfectly curated, every sound, every microphone, so that the result is perfect and at the same time enjoyable. In fact, unlike "D'assolo", Dodi's third solo album is not aimed at a specialized audience but wants to blend strictly technical taste with a pop flavor, that pop which Dodi has well represented for over four decades with his travel companions Roby, Red, Stefano (and, in the early '70s, even Riccardo...). The most representative non-instrumental songs are definitely the title track, but above all the lead single "Grazie", a celebratory song where Dodi among many thanks says "thank you to life, that has gone this way". Sweetness and emotion merge with a more rock approach in this song, while in other tracks there is a flamenco atmosphere ("Mediterranean Girl") and American country vibes ("Louis and Clarke"). So many genres in this work, arranged by Dodi and keyboardist Danilo Ballo, whose lyrics are curated for the first time by Dodi himself, who, orphaned by Valerio, decided and understood that he could be the only one to also translate the meaning of music into verses. And the result is lyrics that are not at all trivial, like "Streghetta" dedicated to tattooed and pierced girls, who should not be afraid of prejudice, and "Io non so amare a metà", a reversal of the historic "Tanta voglia di lei", where this time it's the woman who has two men and must "go away, because her place is there". My rating for this album is 4 stars, maybe not full, but they fit, for an album of great content both in terms of guitar skills and lyrics. Compared to "Ma che vita la mia" by Roby Facchinetti and "L'istinto e le stelle" by Red Canzian, this "Dove è andata la musica" proves to be overall better. Awaiting the completion of half a century of a piece of music history of all time.