Story by Flavio and Cristina,
Translation by Davide Andreis
When we left it was still dark …
It’s raining … It’s raining so much, it actually pours … but after the first stop at a service area and a chocolate croissant, life begins to smile and thanks to the coffee (before having it we were just grunting meaninglessly) we became lucid in order to set up the GPS navigator.
It’s time to play Samsara in the cd player 🙂 there you are!!! Off we go, for real now!!!!
8.50 am
We stop at a gas station near Città di Castello in order to refuel, and here we start to collect the first figure of the day: the C1 tank does not open up. I have never been able to open it (and so far, nothing new), and also poor Flavio tries in vain:
Luckily the pump attendant has mercy on us and in less than a second he sorts things out 🙂
The sky is always grayer and grayer, but it cannot discolor our emotions. We try to imagine which song will open the concert. We both think it’ll be “Morire d’Amore”… I already feel my heart in my mouth …
12.20 pm
It’s time for a good coffee with chocolate aftertaste at Marina’s. Of course, with my heart at
1000 beats, all this coffee is not a good idea!
Now even the sun came out … I see it outside, I feel it on my skin, I feel it inside me. We are moving towards Correggio, happy and in a suspended state of vibrant waiting …
3.45 pm
We are in front of the theater, Flavio, Marina and me … In a nearby bar we are enjoying a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Every now and then we cock an ear hoping to hear fragments of the rehearsals… But then I think that even if I could, I would go away in order not to hear anything: I don’t want to spoil a single moment of this expectation. A simple thought comes to my mind: it’s wonderful to wait … wait for something that you know for sure will make you feel good …
Some Iphone shots in an almost deserted city … It seems that on Thursday it’s all dark and closed … The square excepted, which is so beautiful …
Strange street names … and the laughter with friends begins … It seems time has never gone by!
We’re two hours away from the show … And I realize that I begin to cut myself off from
the outside world… I hear talks like indistinct sounds. I’m now in the atmosphere of the
concert … “The wait is colored with ancient impressions”
8:55 pm
We’re in the theater… In a few minutes the lights will go out, dissolving objects’ outlines and enveloping us in the fable… And, finally, darkness falls in the stalls, the buzz turns into silence, the waiting turns into Music…
The notes from “Morire d’Amore” warm up our hearts with that warmth known for years, which always renews itself, unchanged.
Then the guitar introduces “Tempo Senza Tempo”: Carla’s deep and hot voice was lulled by the rhythm of drums played with delicacy, which makes a good interpretation of Time passing by…
Dressed in black Carla moves gracefully on the stage, lit by a few lights that pierce the
darkness..
“Nata Ieri” brings us back to the present, to Samsara, in a version that sounds like the one
recorded..
“We always live with the thought of something or somebody, and we don’t realize what, and above all, who stands nearby, and how much, this persons has changed…”
Thus “Orientamento” was born… Punctuated in the incipit by an insistent beat that makes me think of a metronome, of time, which passes by and changes and changes us too, inevitably …
“Eri Con Me” is the next song, and it’s hugely appreciated by the public that crowds the small and charming Correggio’s theater.
“Autunno Già”, beautiful song, follows. It is as light weighted as the yellow leaves carried by the November warm wind, as delicate as a lullaby it caresses me. I close my eyes for a few moments, memories of old caresses come to my mind… The contact with our inner side is inevitable while listening to Carla .
“L’Era del Mito”, in the version already tested during the “Lungo la Strada” tour, comes before a very nice “Chanson Egocentrique”, with its fast-paced rhythm, breaks a little the atmosphere created by the earlier songs.
“Sui Giardini del Mondo”, a song I really love, brings over the drums a little bit more, perhaps sacrificed both for their location –they’re in fact located to extreme right looking at the stage, behind the guitarist Osvaldo di Dio, who almost always hides his colleague with chopsticks-both for the way in which they’re used.
Next song, “Come il Mare”, in my opinion suffers a bit from the use of the recorded bases and voice of Di Martino; honestly, I didn’t like it very much. Personally, I would prefer it sung live by one of the musicians.
“A Cchiù bella” is offered to us in the delicate version that Carla wanted us to know, a way to remember the moment when Giuni Russo faintly sang the melody that she had composed for the beautiful poetry of Totò…
The delicacy continues with “Anin a Gris”, in a bit more substantial version, due to the use of two guitars.
Then it ‘s time of “La Recessione”, timeless song, performed very well.
“Nomadi” leaves me speechless, for the beauty of the arrangements, for Carla’s vocals, for the shivers that it brings…
“Il Contatto”, inevitable song, wonderfully played, despite some technical difficulties due to a headset sound echo, that annoys Carla during the first seconds.
“Un vento a trenta gradi sotto zero…” so begins the beautiful “Prospettiva Nevski”, very well interpreted, the drums beat the softly rhythm, the guitar and the bass bind it all, Alice’s voice rises in his tone, touching the strings of our souls …
And then … Then came the first notes of “Il Sole nella Pioggia”: I find the sounds of the past, I find myself over the years, watching Alice ‘dance’ while singing this song. It’s a soul spell, a spell that comes back, hypnotizes me, always: I remain truly enchanted, observing her behind the lens of my Nikon.
“Il Cielo”, extremely delicate interpretation, evocative, sometimes poignant, ends up the
concert.
But Carla is called by continuous applause. And here she is, back on stage with her
musicians.
Somebody asks for “Un Sigillo” and, smiling, she start singing “Ponimi come un sigillo sul tuo cuore…”, then she stops and says: “instead you’ll have to put up with this one!”… “Dammi la Mano Amore”, as beautiful as ever…. Memories resurface…
“Il Vento Caldo dell’Estate”… The electric guitar introduces the drums and the bass, the
musicians here feel more comfortable, I feel them. The song is wonderful, the voice of Alice is bright, clean, powerful in the refrain, unique.
The finale of this song is wordless. Pure emotion.
Alice greets and again disappears behind the scenes, but the public is not yet satisfied … A loud recall, she comes back once again and greets us with a wonderful “Per Elisa”. I can only say: hurrah to the bass and the electric guitar, and to the acoustic, and to the drums!
Thank you Carla!
Tempo senza Tempo 