Tag Archive for: BN CD 040

Ardisc.it

1. At the school of poetry (Préface) (Ferré-Medail)
2. The anarchists (Les anarchistes) (Ferré-Medail)
3. The bad seed (La mauvaise graine) (Ferré-Torchia)
4. Oppression (L’oppression) (Ferré-Torchia)
5. Muss en sein? Es muss sein! (Ferré-Armellini)
6. Memory and the Sea (La mémoire et la mer) (Ferré-Torchia)
7. The Anarchists (theme) (Ferré)
8. Hope (L’espoir) (Ferré-Torchia)
9. Thank You Satan (Ferré-Torchia)
10. Solitude (La solitude) (Ferré-Medail)
11. La Marseillaise (La Marseillaise) (Ferré-Torchia)
12. No, thank you (Sans façon) (Ferré-Torchia)
13. There is nothing left (Il n’y a plus rien) (Ferré-Medail)

Producer:

– Matteo D’Alessandro – production
– Mathieu Ferré – executive production for La mémoire et la mer
– Daniele Fiaschi – production
– Matteo Frullano – production
– Filippo Grilli – reduction and performance of the original score for voice and piano (7)
– Adriano Modica – post-production; co-production (12)
– Carmine Torchia – production

Arranger:

– Léo Ferré – conducting sampled orchestra in the finale (13)

Musicians:

– Alessandro Bartalini – backing vocals (3)
– Matteo D’Alessandro – drums
– Luca De Carlo – trumpet (8)
-Mattia De Minicis – thunder (4); clarinet, bells and shaker (5)
– Daniele Fiaschi – electric guitars
– Matteo Frullano – organ, synthesiser and electric piano (10)
– Enrico Gabrielli – tenor sax, clarinet and strings (9)
– Filippo Grilli – piano (7);
– Adriano Modica – electric guitar, Farfisa organ, synthesizer, vibrafonette, percussion (12); Mellotron (5, 8); synthesizer (13)
– Carmine Torchia – vocals, bass, classical and acoustic guitars, some electric guitars, synthesizers, piano, electric piano, programming

Recordings:

– Lo studiolo – Barberino Tavarnelle – Florence  recordings (April 2023)

Sound engineer:

– Matteo Frullano – recordings

Photographs, graphics, image:

– Enrico de Angelis – preface (Senza bavaglio, senza museruola)
-Mathieu Ferré – preface (Paris-Sersale A/R)
-Linda Fierro – graphic design, graphics and layout
-Michela Franzoso – studio photographs
-Tommaso Le Pera – cover photograph
-Leonardo Sani – photograph on page 29 of the booklet
-Andrea Satta – preface (Ferré sul 38° parallelo)

Notes and Curiosities:

– Book-style packaging with 70-page stapled booklet.
– Tristan, Nicolas and Charlotte: voices in Il cattivo seme.

Where to find it: go to the Block Nota shop

Review:
The more they shouted, the more breath they had left… Ferré’s emblematic banner, which Torchia interprets with great passion in his new 13-track album released at the end of November.

An album that is both political and poetic. In addition to the songs, there is a booklet with lyrics and prefaces by Enrico De Angelis. It is like entering Ferrè’s world of recent years, that of Chianti, with bare hands, revealing all its expressive power through a refined reinterpretation, a penetrating and often recitative tone, and a sharp and full-bodied sound. An album conceived with Ferrè’s son, Mathieu, with meticulous selection of lyrics and arrangements. Seven songs that did not exist in Italian were translated by Carmine. An architect of words, a rock heart that looks to the sky and often speaks through his dog Rùanzu, a design that over the years has become a faithful companion to whom he entrusts his soul.
An eclectic personality who creates harmonisations of the highest quality, permeating all his works with elegance.
Rossana Ghigo (Vinile 38, April 2024)

Carmine Torchia was born in Catanzaro, grew up in Sersale and lives in Milan. He writes songs, produces records and shows, and sets poets to music. These few lines serve to frame a multifaceted artist and help us present his new work. In December 2023, he published the book-CD Non c’è più niente – Carmine Torchia per Leo Ferré, played and sung with Daniele Fiaschi and Matteo D’Alessandro (and featuring several guests). A “political” album, born from a collaboration with La mémoire et la mer, which produced it together with Nota, Valter Colle’s Friulian record label, and Edizioni Peermusic Italy. A work of translation and musical reworking supported by the family of the French singer-songwriter, who was also a composer, writer, artist committed to freedom, an anarchist with a capital A, who was inspired by the French “maudits” such as Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud, but was also fascinated by the Italians Pavese and Testori; authors whom he set to music and brought to the stage in his recitals over the years.
And it is precisely in the context of the recital, alternating with singing, that this tribute takes place, the result of careful and heartfelt study and immersion in the universe of one of the giants of French songwriting. The opening track is the preface Alla scuola della poesia (At the school of poetry). Torchia (pictured below) seems to channel Ferré’s soul, giving us a vivid and contemporary portrait through the words that shaped his works. The listening experience is intense and attentive; the meaning of the lyrics creates a variety of images and sensations that break down the walls that open the doors to introjection.
Thirteen songs have been selected by Mathieu Ferré, Léo’s son. They have been translated into Italian, some for the first time, such as Il cattivo seme, Thank you Satan, No grazie, La Marsigliese and La speranza. These songs are faithfully interpreted in Carmine Torchia’s original and personal style. Perhaps it is not an album that is easy to approach, especially for those who have never encountered Léo Ferré’s work, which, with its restlessness, has always recounted the strength and melancholy of a rebellious, visionary, outspoken poet who did not mince his words. But on a second listen, you begin to enter his world more fully, and to make things easier, the small book that accompanies the CD contains the translated lyrics (in addition to the original ones) plus three essays that aid understanding. The first is “Paris-Sersale A/R” written by Mathieu Ferré, who introduces, explains and “blesses” Carmine Torchia’s choice, comparing him to Charon, who ferries the listener to discover words, “Love and Freedom”. This is followed by Edoardo De Angelis in “Senza bavaglio, senza museruola” (Without a gag, without a muzzle), which allows us to connect more deeply with Léo’s world and thinking, recounting the nuances that characterised his lyrics. Finally, Andrea Satta, in “Ferré sul 38° parallelo” (Ferré on the 38th parallel), reveals how Torchia managed to interpret him through an unconventional poetic reading.
Some argue that “translating is a bit like betraying”, yet these lyrics manage to retain their original connotations in the linguistic exchange and are emphasised by a soundscape and elements that create an electrifying atmosphere. This is the case, for example, with the (recited) track La solitudine, accompanied by the sound of electric guitar, which gives it a rock soul. And Non c’è più niente, a surreal text, which in the original version lasts over 15 minutes. Torchia extends it to about 18 minutes, offering an evocative reinterpretation that flows on a loop created by a psychedelic harmonic progression, leading us to discover (or rediscover) words that seem to have been written today and that invite us to understand that in that “there is nothing left” there is actually everything. A concept that we find in the words of Léo Ferré (pictured above in a stock photo), which also appear on the back cover.

Annalisa Belluco (L’Isola che non c’era, 2024)

This marvel is undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year. Carmine’s approach is one of true love, careful and meticulous manipulation, and deep respect and attention for this dark, powerful, and desperate lava-like material that starves and feeds you, tears your skin and bottles of blood, gives you goosebumps, and forces you to rethink your models and beliefs, behaviors, and approaches. It’s something that very few people can achieve. To the translations by Enrico Medail and Guido Armellini, the Calabrian singer-songwriter, putting his whole self into it, adds his own hand, for the first time in Italian, under the careful supervision of Mathieu Ferré, Thank you Satan, La Memoire et la Mer, Sans Façon, L’Oppression, L’Espoir, La Marseillaise and, never recorded by Léo, La Mauvaise Graine. Carmine Torchia is authentic, genuine, he does not interpret but makes the songs, the words, the concepts his own; he sings with passion, pain, and involvement; he expands and compresses, adds targeted rocking shoulders to that impetuous and overwhelming river, softens and sharpens visions and landscapes, and gives us back a formidable author who is irremediably contemporary and current; he confirms our belief in how amazing the magical combination of music and poetry can be. Introductions and explanations by Mathieu, Enrico De Angelis, and the equally enamored Andrea Satta.
Alberto Marchetti (Ardisc, June 2024)