Enzo Moscato
Hotel de l'Univers

THE REVIEW

“Hotel De L’Univers” is the soundtrack of a show by Enzo Moscato, a skilled playwright, leader of the new Neapolitan school, who has written (and performed) extensively for Italian experimental theater. But, besides being a scholar, philosopher, and excellent actor, he is also a highly capable performer and singer, with a delicate voice that resonates with the heart and soul. And “Hotel De L’Univers” is the result of a unique show that is still touring Italian theaters.

Echoing his theatrical language, even the songs are sung in Neapolitan, Italian, Roman, English, Spanish, and French. The CD opens with the beautiful “Tiempo”, with a simple jazz rhythm, marked lyrics (Time, running barefoot through the alleys, you seek alms...) and a necessary, piercing trumpet that wishes to tell its story. The theatrical-musical journey continues with “Dos Gardenias”, a compelling ballroom tango, sly, passionate, erotic, which Moscato’s timbre manages to sustain magnificently. When reaching the third song “Steve nu rrè/Maistà”, the song form changes, Moscato performs a heartfelt, nostalgic piece that tells of a king who, after losing power and all his possessions, also loses love. And the beauty of this song lies precisely in the attempt to recover the Neapolitan tradition, blending it with the modern elements present in this album-show. There are many interesting episodes on this album (from “Cinema Aduà” to “Mensa bambini proletari”) where the music is not just music but also images, colors, it merges with words until it engulfs them, cradling them to then create new words and new light for the next track. I particularly liked the Neapolitan-English version of “Smile” by Chaplin, well performed by “L’Hotel de L’univers ensemble”, which recalled and revived that dreamy atmosphere, that fellinian (and why not, chaplinesque...) circus, enchanted and sad, where fiction is merely a constraint, a mask to hide the harsh reality.

Ultimately, it is a bold CD, sometimes Moscato is over the top (The film is Mondo Cane, now I put my foot in it), but he knows how to show with sweetness, delicacy, and nostalgia the '60s/'70s as seen in youth, also (and especially) through films (“Mondo Cane”, “Le notti di Cabiria”, “L’eclisse”) and important figures (Totò and Peppino, Antonioni, Fellini, Chaplin, Anna Magnani, Mina). It is a CD (but also a show) that feels very autobiographical, of smoky nights, of milonga, of Borges, and of a youth now lost that can only be echoed through memories and songs.