Edda
In orbita

Edda how I wish...Edda how I wish... sang Afterhours in Come vorrei from "Hai paura del buio?" (1997)
One exact year. A year ago in September, "Semper Biot" was released, which was, without mincing words, the Italian album that accompanied me the most during my constant daily music listening. Whether from the car stereo, the iPod earbuds, or the home stereo system, Edda's voice came out and filled the air, regularly transmitting positivity and a zest for life. If the initial bewilderment was substantial and paradoxically equivalent to the desire to re-listen to the singer of the Italian band that accompanied me more than others during the years leading me to adulthood, the realization of having a rare beauty before my eyes did not take long to emerge.
The first homemade videos appeared on YouTube, the sleuthing from those who know him in person who told me about an Edda "certified" to drive a van through the streets of Milan (thanks Zymbah), all swept away in a single stroke all those "voices" that hovered around the man Stefano Rampoldi. Since his departure from the group, everything and its opposite has been said, surrounding the figure of that charismatic singer with his awkward stage posture with a veil of legend belonging only to the great illustrious singers dwelt in the artists' paradise. Appearances, disappearances, sightings, denials, travels, and promised lands, with the truth never so close to us common mortals always attracted by salacious fantasies rather than facing the harsh reality. The tribute that this small disc formed by five songs wants to be towards its interpreter is to spur the artist Edda to continue on this path, him always so doubtful about the success of this artistic rebirth and his musical future. The tribute originated from a brief acoustic set in the company of friends Andrea Rabuffetti and Sebastiano De Gennaro, held in March for RadioCapodistria, within the show "In Orbita" hosted by Elisa and Ricky Russo.

A year spent in the comfort of old fans, who never stopped thinking about the day of his return, among appearances on national popular TV, with viewers who met him for the first time unaware of what Edda represented for Italian rock with Ritmo Tribale in the early nineties. Old friends like Manuel Agnelli who didn't hesitate to give back to the man Stefano Rampoldi the spotlight he deserves, inviting him to open some of the Afterhours' concerts and then more concerts on and on, big festivals, and small venues. A spotlight that Edda, engaged for years as a worker in a company that sets up scaffolding, would never have dreamed of having again. Always maintaining the low profile and modesty that distinguish him and that also emerges from these five performances, including the rendition of "Suprema" by Moltheni, an artist appreciated by Edda and among the few singer-songwriters of this generation who have impressed him, still anchored to the music of his early thirties, as he often likes to repeat. The other four songs ("Io e te", "L'innamorato", "Fango di Dio" and "Snigdelina") are taken from his solo debut and written with Walter Somà. Despite its brevity, the record manages to capture what Edda conveys during his acoustic sets, made of improvisations, cut and paste with songs from other artists, changes of phrases and words, sudden and rapid flashes, pauses that his voice, undoubtedly unique and original in Italy, manages to accompany and follow..
Rest assured, if on the day the mini-concert was recorded, Edda during the performance of "Fango di Dio" saw fit to insert some stanzas of Mogol/Battisti and during L'innamorato he paid homage to Ferretti and his CSI, in another concert he will surprise you with other quotes, letting his musical imagination go, following the only blueprint the great artists know how to follow, that of improvisation.
Now all that remains is to give Stefano the signal that we are still many who remember him, seeking out this little record, which, like the most beautiful things, will have to be won by going to his concerts or looking for it on his label's website.