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Rating: “Sonos ‘e memoria”: not just twenty-five unmatched and unrepeatable original pre-World War II films (restored to a more suitable essence), unearthed from who knows which obscured, dusty archives of the Istituto Luce, but an unexpected, intriguing, musical/cinematographic work in progress, a creation from the collaboration of the brilliant minds of one of the best directors of the so-called “nouvelle vague” (probably the most “refined”) island cinema, Gianfranco Cabiddu, and the now internationally appreciated and loved versatile musician (involved in about twenty projects) Paolo Fresu.
A dozen musicians support and interact on stage with the exquisitely jazz d.o.c. counterpoints of the good Fresu: among them, it's worth highlighting the significant contributions of the excellent and never over-the-top double bassist Furio Di Castri, the exuberant Antonello Salis (in this context, exclusively on the accordion), the ethereal and at times powerful voice of Elena Ledda, and also the fundamental contributions of Maestro Luigi Lai (launeddas) and the polyphonic choir “Su Concordiu e su Rosariu”.
The evening (pre-film screening) begins with its first disconnected and then gradually more elegant/confident acoustic steps in the alternation of semi-solo performances of a distinctly ethnic/musical but broad scope, from the different vocal and instrumental components: listening to the fine weavings crafted, drop by drop (as if there is a reverential fear or an unwanted sense of going “beyond”), by the specificity of the “group” (terminological reduction: for purely synthetic purposes) is the absolute truth and mastery of the subject matter, that is (as the author himself contends) "far from those operations... between jazz and Sardinian music that have produced little except the violation of tradition to use it".
The sign/sense emerging from the open-air listening “in the square” (in the open air..) is precisely this: the “correct”, respectful, almost liturgical (not in an ecclesiastical sense..) use of the Sardinian musical tradition. The final part of the “concert”, specifically characterized by the film projection of the extraneous but fascinating images of an island that (truly) no longer exists, are absolutely chilling: the images begin to flow fluently (albeit in their “sped-up pace” of the time) and narratively, the lights dim on the musicians as if their contribution is only a complement (and it will not be so..) to the scared/amused figures that often linger in front of the infamous “eye” (the black hole) of the camera: a disorienting and totally gratifying musical and “imaginative” progression for both senses (hearing and sight).
Thunderous, insistent applause and abundant requests for (unlikely, but achieved..) encores close the concert: an evening truly to note and remember “Sonos ‘e Memoria” in the crowded and grateful Piazza Roma in Carbonia… certainly on August 31, the beautiful moment will be vilified by the infamous, dancing/mega-gross, “Farewell to Summer”… (de gustibus) ...and you can't have everything in life!
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