Dodi Battaglia
Inno alla musica

On the day of his 70th birthday, Dodi Battaglia, the most emotional of Italian guitarists, I savor, for the first time, the new "Inno alla musica." Ten tracks that are rightly called songs plus three instrumentals, highlighting the guitar skills of Our Artist, known for decades, in addition to the bonus track finale "Fire," sung by his niece Alexandra Greene. The album comes 6 years after "Dove è andata la musica," composed in part with Tommy Emmanuel. This "Inno alla musica" is both a continuation of the previous one and a compendium of Dodian art. I won't do a track by track, I'll just say that the style of the songs is decidedly homogeneous, not only within the album but also when compared with "Dove è andata la musica." The best for me are "Il coraggio di vincere," which recalls a little "Grazie," "Resistere," "Una storia al presente," dedicated to the late Stefano D'Orazio, and indeed the title track. The lyrics all speak of life, between love, difficulties and "battaglia." On a first listen, I was most struck by "Un film da festival" and "Lisbona," as well as "Festa," although I find this one a bit trivial. After the 10 tracks, there are three instrumentals of very good quality: the first is "One Sky," played with Al Di Meola, the first single released; "Sincerity," already contained in "Perle 2," where besides the guitar the sax takes the lead; and a re-sorting of "Primavera e New York," from 18 years earlier, from the album "D'assolo."

Personally, on a first but attentive listening, which perhaps does not render in precision but certainly in instinct, the album as value and pleasure ranks a bit below the previous "Dove è andata la musica," where I appreciated pieces like "Mediterranean girl," "Grazie," "Io non so amare a metà" and "Il treno della vita," in addition to the title track. Here there is a feeling of starting well with the first three, namely "Il coraggio di vincere," "Resistere" and "Un film da festival," then going down in the central part, except for "Una storia al presente," to songs that are neither here nor there, honestly constructed and sung but far from being masterpieces; and then rise again with the final instrumentals.

I have a lot of esteem for Dodi, I've been a fan for 23 years, and I even sent him birthday wishes with a private message via Instagram (he didn't respond, but he did respond to a private message in January!!!), but for this album there are two solutions: either it just came out and still needs to gain momentum, or it's not an amazing album as maybe was announced, with the premises, first of all "One Sky" with Al Di Meola. For now, I leave three stars of affection. Happy birthday, great Dodi!