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Rating: Fino del Monte is a medieval-origin village, with a population of just over a thousand inhabitants, and is located in Val Seriana, not far from Clusone, in the province of Bergamo.
For nine years, it has hosted a very interesting festival that brings together the best "storytellers of our time" who gather each year to continue a dialogue of cultural events ranging from music to theater, cabaret, and meetings with authors in the most evocative spots of the village.
From these experiences, a CD was produced that recalls the editions from 2000 to 2008 with what the organizers (the Civic Library of Fino del Monte and concert organizer Paolo Mazzucchelli) deemed to be among the best expressed in these years.
When talking about contemporary storytellers in the Brescia and Bergamo areas, one must mention Charlie Cinelli, who puts music to a poem by Brescia's Leonardo Urbinati. With the accompaniment of Andrea Bettini's accordion, he presents "Le strìe", a folk piece referring to the witches that once populated these areas.
Osvaldo Ardenghi is not only an excellent rocker but also a natural-born comedian (with many collaborations with Enzo Jannacci to his credit). He demonstrates this here with a hilarious remake of "Sereno è", a hit by Drupi from the '70s.
Marino and Sandro Severini can also be defined as storytellers; on this occasion, they let us listen to a beautiful version of what they consider their most successful piece, "Bandito senza tempo".
Then a vocal ensemble, Quartettomanontroppo. Raffaella Benedetti (soprano), Beatrice Zuin (alto), Luigi Paganotto (tenor), Piet Paesuyse (bass), share a passion for singing and blend various musical styles, from Bach to the Beatles and blues, always using the "a cappella" technique. Here they deliver an amusing fusion between the ecclesiastical "Hallelujah" and "Marameo perché sei morto".
It's not only Italians in this compilation. Pat Orchard is an excellent English songwriter and acoustic guitarist with a very personal style, albeit with a hint of John Martyn, especially in guitar effects. Here he lets us listen to a beautiful "Indian Giver".
Then comes Alessandro Ducoli, proposing "Lettera", with the Bartolino's, a beautiful song about love-hate. Alessandro introduces the piece with an amusing speech focusing on panettone and the feminine touch in the home ("in questa casa ci vorrebbe un tocco femminile" is the phrase that when you hear it, you should shut it out and say "Vattene! Vai via!").
Nagaica is one of the best Italian female singers in recent years and gives a good demonstration with this beautiful song dedicated to women, "Il coro".
There isn't much to add about the Rusties; in my opinion, they are among the best Neil Young cover bands not only in Italy but even worldwide. Here they perform acoustically with the splendid voice of Marco Grompi and the guitars of Grompi himself, Osvaldo Ardenghi, and bluesman Robi Zonca, who regularly joins them for acoustic evenings. The piece presented is a heartfelt version of "For The Turnstiles".
The direction changes completely with "L'osèl en cèsa", which is nothing but the transliteration in Brescia dialect of a more or less popular nursery rhyme in almost all the dialects of the peninsula.
Before gaining fame with "Colorado Café", Rita Pelusio toured with a show called "Suonata", where she portrayed Teresa, a little girl, "a cricket in a skirt, a good conscience with a fervid and sometimes ruthless imagination". In front of the audience, she had a piano to play with and hum along to, as in this "wicked" nursery rhyme for children called "E se non dormi".
A demonstration of how, with a bit of determination and good organizational skills, it is still possible to organize something worthwhile even in small towns like Fino del Monte, in this Italy that seems increasingly resistant to that matter which I consider as precious as bread, that is, culture.
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