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Rating: I had read the name Roberta Carrieri on a poster hanging at Casa 139 a few months ago. Then, through circuitous routes, I arrived at her website, but more for photographic reasons than musical ones. I also tried to listen to the two tracks on the site, but due to some strange twist of technological fate, my Mac refuses to open those files. However, this didn't deter my curiosity, and at the first opportunity, I told myself I have to go to a Roberta Carrieri concert. Also because reading her biography increases my curiosity.
She participated with the Funanbolici Vargas at the Tenco award and then with Quarta Parete at Arezzo Wave and then at the Recanati Award, and finally won the Grinzane Cavour for best original text. And now she has taken the solo route, albeit always accompanied by a more or less stable group. But she is not only a writer or singer, she is also an actress. All this is more than enough to make me want to go hear her. And the opportunity presented itself on Friday, March 17, an unlucky day for those who believe in the cabal of numbers or lucky in my case.
I arrive at Circolo Arci Matatu on Via De Castillia, 20 in Milan a bit early, just in time to chat with Lucia, a photographer friend I meet there, who is the author of the photo that had led me to Roberta's site. I glimpse and greet other familiar faces. The atmosphere in the venue is quite good. The concert begins. Roberta takes the very characteristic stage of the Matatu, takes up the guitar, and starts. I immediately discover an incredible voice. It starts light and climbs up to chilling high tones with a magnificent mastery of the instrument that is her voice. She continues like this for a trio of very captivating pieces. Her stage familiarity, the mischievous smile, the sparkle of her eyes make the audience captivated, and even if prodded by her, you almost don't breathe and listen to the songs in reverent silence, waiting for the last single note before applauding.
After the first three pieces, some of the familiar faces I mentioned before come on stage, namely Paolino "Leslie" on drums, Ale "Starsky della Barona" on bass, and Francesco on guitar. And immediately the sound changes. It becomes slightly rougher, the ballads always sung with at times shrill, at times perhaps restrained voice, shift towards psychedelia, a light quasi-grunge, a very American sound that reminds me of 10,000 Maniacs of Natalie Merchant or the early Suzanne Vega, or our own more militant Paola Turci, an artist never understood by the general public; just to make the usual comparisons that will never agree anyone. Roberta adds her own touch with lyrics that poetically address the most diverse themes, a voice and theatricality in her gestures when she removes the guitar from her neck and sings a song dedicated to a certain Marta who hides something in her jeans and never cleans the mirror, a piece with an ironic and captivating text just enough. The gestural interpretation clearly shows that behind all this there is passion but also study. She continues alternating ballads with more properly rock, psychedelic, vaguely seventies late Hippies songs, eventually even staging an atypical yodeler that unleashes all her vocal range. This piece then shifts to well-crafted reggae sounds and rhythms during which she introduces, seemingly improvising, the entire band.
It would have ended but then they delight us with another couple of really pleasant encores. Honestly, if they had played for another half hour, I don't think any of us would have complained, except for the tenants on the second floor, who as Roberta says dedicating a song to them, wrote her an email asking not to make too much noise and if possible to start playing early. And here we could open an endless parenthesis on the lack of culture and musical concept in our country, but we will do so another time.
Great concert, great music played by people who enjoy doing it and want to entertain. A group of lively people, friends, as well as skilled musicians who collaborate with each other and with other artists from the Milan area, and this for me is a really positive aspect. The only regret is that Roberta has not yet released a CD, so since I can't listen to the songs again, I have to rely on memory which, given my venerable age, has become fragile. Saying goodbye, I notice a Siouxie pin on the lapel of her coat. Somewhere on the shelves of my blurred brain, I find the file of the concert I saw many years ago in London, and some similarity, especially in gestures rather than in musical sounds, we could also note, but Roberta Carrieri's personality and vocal ability is undeniable, and if my instinct does not deceive me, we will hear about her again. One to watch. for information: www. robertacarrieri.it
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