Nigro
Orientato a Sud

I'm reviewing yet another album from the Calabrian label MKRecords. A few days ago, I received a big package full of records from the label, and I've been completely fascinated by some of their productions. I've decided to review a few of them, and I'm doing it gradually, without haste, but with that wholesome pleasure you feel when recommending an artist that has moved you to a friend.

I have in my hands an album with a large head with a crank embedded in the skull. Nothing splatter, quite the opposite, really. A crank that needs to be turned to set the direction towards SOUTH, a sort of rudder "Oriented Southward." The album is by the accordionist Pasquale Nigro, aka NIGRO, a name with a strong exotic appeal, just as exotic, in a broad sense, is his album, now dated 2008. An album that has seen considerable success, as I read from the sheet, including a Nomination for The Orpheus Award 2009, as the best album.

Oriented Southward is an album that whizzes by in the blink of an eye, original and classical at the same time. Nigro takes us on a journey through his world astride his accordion which is neither folk nor popular in a pejorative sense. Nobilitation of an instrument, this is "Oriented Southward."

After an introduction with a vague taste of "charleston" and old west (Giocolieri), we arrive in South America, a South America contaminated and rich with quotations (El Barrio) and veiled tributes to legends of the vertical keys like Piazzolla (Milonga des Amantes) or like Django Reinhardt, with whom I too fell in love years ago when a friend, to whom I will be forever grateful, played me the recordings at the Club St. Germain of 1951 and the Paris Sessions. A significant reference for his ability to fuse Manouche poetry with more modern sounds. With Django, Nigro erects a watershed, a sort of metaphysical customs that leads him to move further and pay homage to the culture straddling the Maghreb and the Middle East with Lammabede (a traditional Egyptian song, which I knew thanks to the Ensemble of Abdel Karim and the "Italian" version by the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio). From here on, it is the territory most suitable for the Calabrian musician. If it weren't for the sheet, I would have no doubt about his Balkan ethnic origin, but Nigro is a true Calabrian and views the Balkans from the sea and through Puglia. Following are JUG, Heyser Bulgar, and concluding with the title track "Oriented Southward." In this track, in addition to Nigro's flair and virtuosity, the estranging voice of Cinzia Cerenzia stands out, the cheerful and decisive breath of Gianfranco De Franco, the rocky rhythm of Mandara Gennaro de Rosa, and the masterful pen of Mirko Menna : "Oriented southward, a swallow feels the return, at noon the hour that orients southward shines.", a northerner who made the South his flag. Nigro, at the helm of this southern alliance, after having literally delighted me, leaves me with an incredible desire for a second journey in his company.