Franco Giordani – Ressenàl (Nota, 2023)
by Salvatore Esposito – blogfoolk.com
Multi-instrumentalist and composer from Claut (Pn), Franco Giordani has a long artistic career behind him, during which he played in various local bands such as Klautans, Top Secret, Lollipop and Bottle of Smokee, before beginning a fruitful collaboration with Luigi Maieron in 2004, as well as trying his hand at different artistic fields, including literature with his collection of short stories ‘Il profumo della brina’ (The scent of frost), published in 2019 for the series ‘I quaderni del Menocchio’ (The Menocchio notebooks), and theatre, working on various shows such as ‘I Turcs tal Friùl’ by Pier Paolo Pasolini and ‘Tre uomini di parola’ (Three men of their word) with Mauro Corona and Toni Capuozzo. In 2015, he released his debut solo album, “Incuintretimp”, which reached the finals of the Targhe Tenco awards, followed in 2017 by the remarkable “Truòisparis”, dedicated to Valcellina and sung in five different variants of the Friulian language. Five years on from the latter, Franco Giordani returns with “Ressenàl”, the third album of his career, in which he has collected fourteen songs sung in Italian and Friulian, including original compositions and lyrics by Federico Tavan, Barbara Floreancig, Giuseppe Malattia, Aldo Polesel and Rosanna Paroni Bertoja set to music for the occasion. As the title suggests, which in the Claut variant of Friulian literally means arsenal but also disorder or confusion, this album is a snapshot of the musical and poetic universe of the singer-songwriter from Claut, in which his passions for poetry, art and sport are intertwined, but also the importance of memory, the urgency of social song and civil protest. The whole thing is embellished by the substantial booklet, a must in the valuable publications of the BlockNota series by Nota Editore, in which Maurizio Mattiuzza’s poetic introduction serves as a prelude to all the lyrics on the album, followed by contributions from journalist Toni Capuozzo and Udine painter Giordano Floreancig, author of the evocative cover and the works that punctuate the pages, and a story by Giorgio Olmoti. We are, therefore, faced with a work in which different art forms converge and which moves across different expressive registers and atmospheres, ranging from the most pungent irony to poetry, from profound reflections on life to historical memories, often forgotten. A collection of suggestions that is only apparently chaotic but which reveals the coherence of a creative “arsenal” that is always in ferment, animated by lively inspiration and a vision of art open to all its forms. All this is also reflected in the arrangements, with echoes of American folk, bluegrass and roots rock, but with forays into pop and rap, and a nod to the musical tradition of Friuli with the villotte. ‘Ressenàl’ came to life between December 2017 and October 2021, with the last few years marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, but during which Franco Giordani (acoustic guitar, vocals and backing vocals) never stopped making music and composing new songs. The album features a large group of instrumentalists who take turns alongside him: Massimo Gatti (mandolin, mandola), Alessandro Turchet (double bass and bass), Elvis Fior (drums), Leo Virgili (trombone, keyboards, synth and electric guitar), Chiara Trentin (cello), Francesco Mosna (acoustic guitar and dobro), Jimmi Bressa (electric guitar), Paola Selva (acoustic guitar) and Alvise Nodale (acoustic guitar), joined by the voices of Leonardo Giordani and Gabriele Della Valentina. As you listen to the tracks, you get the impression of leafing through the pages of a notebook or a musical diary, with the Friulian singer-songwriter delivering the intensity of poetry, the fun of the more ironic episodes and the evocative power of memory in an often intimate and direct way. The album opens with the acoustic folk-rock of the title track, in which the dialogue between the Claut singer-songwriter’s guitar and Gatti’s mandolin envelops meditations on the passing of time and the future. It continues with the touching and nostalgic “Spietame”, based on a poem by Federico Tavan dedicated to his late mother, in which Leo Virgili’s trombone stands out, cutting through the melodic line woven by the acoustic guitar and mandolin. While “Soldato del carbone” (Coal Soldier) is poignant, with lyrics by poet Barbara Floreancig, collecting the memories of a miner, “Via Lontano” (Far Away) is an elegant and delicate love song accompanied by guitar. Then comes the lighter segment of the album with “Campagna elettorale” (Election Campaign), which combines rap and singer-songwriter style, mocking politicians seeking votes for the elections and portraying a bizarre tennis player to the enthralling bluegrass of “La Ballata di Ivan” (The Ballad of Ivan). Quan’s need for peace from his hectic everyday life and the scorching, ironic rock blues of ‘Sindaci autovelox’ introduce us to the delightful ‘Villotta green pass parte I’ and the rock invective of ‘Il falò più grande del mondo’, in which Giordani sings of the constant destructive tension in society, culminating in ‘Villotta green pass parte II’. Towards the end, we see a look at our nation and its chiaroscuro with ‘Oh l’Italia’ and the thoughts of a man who is ‘figlio di un altro mondo’ (son of another world) in “Jeir”, leading to the confessional ‘E iò?’ in which the Friulian singer-songwriter reflects on the meaning of existence and seals what is more than just an album, but rather an articulated conceptual work to be listened to, read and watched, in order to fully understand its richness, beauty and poetry.
