THE STORYFACED MAN
THE STORY-FACED MAN
AN INTRODUCTION TO VINICIO CAPOSSELA
There might be eight million stories, but there is only one Vinicio Capossela, an artist inspired by love, history and a curiosity about the relationship between his native Italy and the rest of the world. His is the demimonde of the sideshows rather than the circus, a more intimate place, where surprising things happen, where minotaurs, cowboys and Medusa vie for attention, and where giants, maharajahs and magicians have their hearts broken. His story began in 1990, with All’una e trentacinque circa. “You know Round midnight?” he says. “This is Around 1.35am. I wanted a time when nothing important happens.” When critics anointed him “the Italian Tom Waits”, he replied with the album Modì, its title both tribute to his hero, Modigliani, and a play on the French word maudit (cursed). On his third album, Camera a sud, he explored the relationship between America and Italy. The bigger country built itself using the people and talent of the Old World, but sent back music it called “latin” and “jazz”. America continues to intrigue - witness La faccia della terra, from 2008’s Da solo, recorded in Arizona with Calexico – but Capossela’s story took a unique turn with Il ballo di San Vito in 1996, an album about the life he knew best. Rather than imitate the latest American or British thing, he decided to play for the people in front of him, to create a modern Italian musical lexicon.
“I used to go to weddings in the south, where my parents come from,” he explains. “I loved the small bands that played there and the strange instruments they used. So I wrote an entirely Italian album, a picture of the whole country from road level.” In a country isolated by language from the world’s pop music markets, it was an audacious move, but this was the beginning of his backwards journey into history. Waltzes, polkas and even rebetiko - the dances of the Old World – became second nature on Canzoni a manovella, the Italian album of the year in 2000. Here Capossela travelled the world in unconventional style, from central and eastern Europe to the Mexican border, never afraid to visit frontiers, blend cultures or ignore the signs that say “Do not cross”. Six years passed before the next album, Ovunque proteggi, took this a step further, immersing the writer in the myths and legends of the ancient world, refusing to compromise, throwing his audience to the lions of the Colosseum and celebrating the independent spirits whose rites ignore conformity and the corporate world. “Italy is a small country,” Capossela says, “but it has deep roots.” Dig down and there is much more to uncover about Vinicio Capossela – the short stories and poetry, the wrestling and Michelangelo… This, then, is only Chapter 1, the rest is written on his face.
David Hutcheon
(grazie to Michela Chimenti)
NON TRATTARE IL BALLO DI SAN VITO BRUCIA TROIA LA FACCIA DELLA TERRA LETTERE DI SOLDATI MOSKAVALZA BARDAMÙ POLKA DI WARSAVA (frammento) MARAJÀ CON UNA ROSA NON È L’AMORE CHE VA VIA SIGNORA LUNA SI È SPENTO IL SOLE CHE COSS’È L’AMOR L’UOMO VIVO SS. DEI NAUFRAGATI OVUNQUE PROTEGGI
NON TRATTARE Vinicio Capossela: guitar, vocals Zeno De Rossi: dead man’s head, donkey’s jaws Marc Ribot: guitar, banjo Mario Brunello: cello Anna Garano: dobro Gak Sato: rattles Elia Galante: Shofar Produced by Vinicio Capossela IL BALLO DI SAN VITO Vinicio Capossela: vocals Alfio Antico: tammorre and rattles Luciano Titi: accordion Marc Ribot: guitar Ares Tavolazzi: double bass Produced by Renzo Fantini Arrangements by Evan Lurie BRUCIA TROIA Vinicio Capossela: Tonara cowbells, horns, Gem keyboard, Minotaur Vincenzo Vasi: bass Zeno De Rossi: drum Marc Ribot: prehistoric guitar, dobro Gaben Dabirè: balaphone Gavino Murgia: basso “Canto a tenores” 3 Mamoiada’s tenores: “Canto a tenores” Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Mauro Pagani
LA FACCIA DELLA TERRA Vinicio Capossela: vocals, wood dobro National guitar Alessandro “Asso” Stefana: banjo Joey Burns*: double bass, classical guitar John Convertino*: drums Martin Wenk*: trumpet Jacob Valenzuela*: trumpet Produced by JD Foster, Vinicio Capossela and Alessandro Stefana *Calexico appear courtesy of Touch and Go Records / City Slang Records LETTERE DI SOLDATI Vinicio Capossela: vocals, grand piano Mario Brunello: cello Luciano Macchia: trombone Gak Sato: heartbeat Enrico Gabrielli: score for solo cello Produced by JD Foster, Vinicio Capossela and Alessandro Stefana MOSKAVALZA Vinicio Capossela: vocals, Gem keyboard Alessandro “Asso” Stefana: Dr Böhm rhythm machine, electric guitar Gak Sato: arrangement Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Gak Sato
BARDAMÙ Vinicio Capossela: vocals, piano, cannon Enrico Lazzarini: double bass Luciano Titi: player piano Mirco Mariani: big drums EdodeArchiensemble: string orchestra Tommaso Vittorini: strings scores and conduction Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Pasquale Minieri POLKA DI WARSAVA (frammento) Vinicio Capossela: vocals, piano Mirco Mariani: cymbals and big drum Luciano Titi: accordion Roy Paci, Gigi De Gasperi, Giulio Rosa: brass Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Pasquale Minieri MARAJÀ Vinicio Capossela: vocals, piano Mirco Mariani: drums Enrico Lazzarini: double bass Giancarlo Bianchetti: electric guitar Marc Ribot: lead guitar EdodeArchiensemble: strings Achille Succi: bass clarinet, clarion Marco Brioschi: trumpet Gigi De Gasperi: trombone Giulio Rosa: tuba Fabrice Martinez: cymbalon, solo violin Luciano Titi: glockenspiel
Tommaso Vittorini: string and brass orchestration Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Pasquale Minieri CON UNA ROSA Vinicio Capossela: vocals, piano Ares Tavolazzi: double bass Marc Ribot: guitar Mario Brioschi: trumpet Gigi De Gasperi: trombone Tommaso Vittorini: strings scores and conduction Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Pasquale Minieri NON È L’AMORE CHE VA VIA Vinicio Capossela: vocals, piano Lucio Caliendo: drums Enrico Lazzarini: drums Naco: percussions Giorgio Cavalli: guitar Antonello Salis: accordion Arrangements: Antonio Marangolo Produced by Renzo Fantini SIGNORA LUNA Vinicio Capossela: vocals, rhythm guitar Ares Tavolazzi: double bass Marc Ribot: guitar, banjo, electric guitar Giancarlo Bianchetti: electric guitar Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Pasquale Minieri
SI È SPENTO IL SOLE Vinicio Capossela: vocals Giancarlo Bianchetti: guitar Glauco Zuppiroli: bass Mirco Mariani: drums Produced by Vinicio Capossela CHE COSS’È L’AMOR Vinicio Capossela: vocals, piano Naco: percussions Lucio Caliendo: drums Enrico Lazzarini: double bass Giorgio Cavalli: guitar Giuseppe Fornaroli: guitar Marco Tamburini: trumpet Roberto Rossi: trombone Piero Odorici: saxophone Arrangements: Antonio Marangolo Produced by Renzo Fantini L’UOMO VIVO (Inno al Gioia) Vinicio Capossela: vocals (“A. Busacca” marching band from Scicli, Sicily) conducted by Giovanni Barone Carmelo Magro “te lo posso fare” and Massimo Piccione: maestros Gaetano Santoro: baritone saxophone Giorgio Giovannini: trombone Massimo Marcer: trumpet Zeno De Rossi: cymbals Roy Paci: big drum, arrangement and conduction Produced by Vinicio Capossela and Pasquale Minieri
SS. DEI NAUFRAGATI Vinicio Capossela: vocals Mario Brunello: cello, first vessel Vincenzo Vasi: theremin Angels of St. Maurice’s Chapel: choir Stefano Nanni: harmonium, choir score and conduction Produced by Vinicio Capossela OVUNQUE PROTEGGI Vinicio Capossela: grand piano, vocals, indian harmonium Glauco Zuppiroli: double bass Zeno De Rossi: drums Marc Ribot: rhythm guitar Alessandro “Asso” Stefana: dobro Jacob Hernandez: claves Gabriel Tenorio: slide guitar (appears courtesy of Basic Lab) Angels of St. Maurice’s Chapel: choir Produced by Vinicio Capossela
Music and lyrics by Vinicio Capossela except SIGNORA LUNA (Traditional music, lyrics V. Capossela) Publishing by L’Alternativa srl Warner Chappell Music Italiana / SIAE SI È SPENTO IL SOLE (L. Beretta, M. Del Prete, Adricel, E. Leoni) Publishing by Lombardi srl SS. DEI NAUFRAGATI (F. Barovero, R. Paci, V. Capossela) Publishing by Felmay, EtnaGigante, Produzioni Sonore IL BALLO DI SAN VITO BARDAMÙ POLKA DI WARSAVA (frammento) MARAJÀ CON UNA ROSA NON È L'AMORE CHE VA VIA CHE COSS'È L'AMOR Publishing by L’Alternativa srl Warner Chappell Music Italiana NON TRATTARE BRUCIA TROIA LA FACCIA DELLA TERRA LETTERE DI SOLDATI MOSKAVALZA L'UOMO VIVO OVUNQUE PROTEGGI Publishing by La Cupa srl
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Luca Bernini for La Cupa Srl PROJECT MANAGERS Alda Gandini for Warner Music Italy Matthew Rankin for Nonesuch Records www.nonesuch.com info@nonesuch.com EDITING & MASTERING Giovanni Versari Nautilus Studio Mastering, Milano PRODUCTION MANAGER Antonella Scarponi for Warner Music Italy CONCEPT, VISUAL AND TITLE based on the solo portraits novel e Story-Faced Man by Jacopo Leone (Etc. 2009) ARTWORK Etcetera.it MANAGEMENT, PUBLISHING, PRODUCTION, MERCHANDISING La Cupa srl (info@lacupa.it) PRESS OFFICE Maryon Pessina for MA9 promotion maryon@ma9promotion.com BOOKING AGENCY Concerti e Produzioni www.concertieproduzioni.it info@concertieproduzioni.it U.S. OFFICE Mark Gartenberg for MG Limited, NYC mark@mglimited.com LEGAL ADVISOR Patrizio Visco
ALSO AVAILABLE ON CD: ALL’UNA E TRENTACINQUE CIRCA (1990) MODI’ (1991) CAMERA A SUD (1994) IL BALLO DI SAN VITO (1996) LIVEINVOLVO (1998) – LIVE CANZONI A MANOVELLA (2000) L’INDISPENSABILE (2003) – STUDIO ANTHOLOGY OVUNQUE PROTEGGI (2006) NEL NIENTE SOTTO IL SOLE (2006) – DVD + CD DA SOLO (2008) SOLOSHOW ALIVE (2009) – DVD + CD
Official website www.viniciocapossela.it info@viniciocapossela.it