Voto:
Well ... de gustibus as they say ... I also find Enriko likable when he writes these truly interesting reviews; I've said it before on other occasions, but his "style" is not to my taste, and I've also mentioned that, but it's not a big problem - I believe - for me or certainly for him. As for the review, I find myself in the words of Grasshopper, with whom I often agree. It seems out of place to bring in some rather meaningless comparisons. Then I don’t understand why the either/or and not the both/and. Listening to Tenco and De Andrè does not exclude listening to Piero Ciampi, quite the opposite. Canonized is a bad adjective for me. Moreover, there are interesting connections among the three. They all admired Ciampi. Faber defined his poetry as unequaled; for example, "On one thing Ciampi was wrong: dead poets are replaced with another, but once Ciampi is gone, there will never be anyone like him" (the quotes are arbitrary, but he said something like that). Tenco, on the other hand, met Ciampi in Milan, where both were guests of Reverberi. During that time, Tenco tried to help Ciampi overcome his alcoholism, but to no avail. Ciampi was lost, as he was for his entire life; he showed up to rehearsals drunk and had a "bad" angry buzz, but he was an artist; he had all the credentials to be one even in those matters. But their history doesn’t end there. The song "tu no," which closes this album - if I remember correctly - seems to have been addressed to a woman who had been Tenco's before having a relationship with Ciampi. Returning to the songs on the album, tracks like "il vino" have the ability to outline a "sweet" suffering with extreme depth in just a few words ("ma come è dolce il vino bianco bianco bianco bianco/ rosso è il mattino/ sento male a un fianco / vita vita vita / sera dopo sera / fuggi tra le dita/ spera mira spera"). Or "il giacartore" manages, through theatrical singing, to depict in a way that oscillates between bitterness and the grotesque the entire drama of someone enslaved by gambling; the listening experience induces anxiety but, at the same time, the continuous and crazy stakes evoke a grotesque reality that's incredible. "Sporca Estate," which you mention in the review, is one of the most bittersweet songs I've ever heard; that "ma non ci siete" finale is a knife to the heart, a stab that truly hurts. With "il merlo," one can even smile at a drama. Ciampi tells how he addresses a blackbird for inspiration to write a song because he no longer has a lira; the blackbird sings, Ciampi composes, and says satisfied, "Sono contento di non aver dato / alcun seguito a quel peccato / di volerti un giorno mangiare." A moment later, during the recording of the song, the dissipative spirit of the Livornese comes out: "Beviamo insieme un po' di champagne,/il mio cuore mi dice che va,/i problemi finiscono qua." By the way, the blackbird actually ended up getting strangled; it belonged to Moravia, who one angry day wrung its neck. Another wonderful song, also musically, is "Il natale è il 24," where a phrase that seems trivial, but is actually permeated with strong realism, is repeated: "la vita va così." But every song on this album is a precious (Livorno is a painting of a walk between reality and dreams like few others) and rare jewel. Rare also because record labels have not yet honored Ciampi's figure enough; I've been searching for his records for a long time, and there's very little around, a few compilations, the records from the early period Piero L'Italiano (those where you find "Lungo treno del sud") and little else. It's a real shame that one of the most beautiful songs, not only by Ciampi but in Italian music like "Adius," cannot be found (at least I haven’t found it even in Livorno where they told me "Ciampi who?"... nemo propheta in patria, well whatever!). Ugh, I’ve written too much already ... sorry for the errors, imperfections, and more, but I'm in a hurry. Anyway, I’m glad that a review of the belo
