MODENA. With Irene Grandi opens at 8.30pm tomorrow, Tuesday 14 May, theAltro Suono Festival to the Municipal Theatre Of Modena.
The artist is in Modena for a stage of “Me in Blues” tour in the context of the program “Sounds from the South” and will be accompanied by training with Max Frignani on the guitar, Piero Spitilli on the bass, Fabrizio Morganti to the battery e Gianluca Tagliavini to the hammond organ.
During a career that made her famous throughout the world, she sold around five million award-winning records. She has participated six times in the Sanremo Festivalreaching second place in 2000 with the song “Your girlfriend always”.
It came out in 2023 “Me in Blues”in the reissue of a double album on vinyl, limited and numbered edition.
Irene Grandi in Modena is a return.
«Yes, it’s a great return for me after the one in 2022 for the Pierangelo Bertoli Award. In any case, I come to Modena quite often because some of my closest collaborators are from Modena: Tommy Togniwith whom we have collaborated numerous times in the past and now we are working on a new project, e Mauro Diazzi, to whom I owe part of the success of this tour. When, at the end of the pandemic, I told Mauro about this Blues project, he was enthusiastic about it and it was he who gave me a great push by finding the places where I could propose it. Then it must be said that I adore this city: perhaps it’s because half Emilian blood flows in my veins, given that my father is originally from Marano sul Panarobut above all I can say that I spent wonderful and very fun years of my youth in Modena.”
Tell us…
«Despite being of FlorenceI spent entire months here in Modena, especially during the recording of my albums, because the recording studio was in Castelfranco Emilia. Thus I made countless friends who I then usually returned to visit. How many times did I leave Florence at eight in the evening to come and have an evening in Modena. Meeting point was there Small booth in Viale Amendolathen we moved on to dinner at Old Pirri and we ended the evening either in some park listening to music from the car radios or in some local venue. I really had a lot of fun in those years.”
Is there a place in our city that you particularly like?
«Without a doubt the historic center. With most of the streets pedestrianised, it is a real gem. I came there not too long ago with friends and it was wonderful to walk there in the afternoon with all the shops open and then in the evening with lots of people around. I had the feeling of a living, pulsating city, so much so that I felt like I was in a holiday resort.”
Do you have any favorite Modena foods?
«Well, sore point, the only real torture I feel when I come to the city is not being able to eat meat because now I have made the choice to be a vegetarian. But how hard it is to resist local foods! (laughs heartily). For me, Emilian specialties have always had the scent and taste of home. I remember when we were children that our father took us to our grandparents in Marano. There for a few days we drowned ourselves in borlenghi, tigelle with lard and tortellini in broth that grandmother made with her own hands. I can still taste it. After all, I also remember that the first wine I tasted in my life was Lambrusco. In short, I don’t deny that I adore Emilia.”
Talking about the concert. What can the public expect?
«A concert that first of all pays homage to some of the most charismatic artists who made blues and its many derivatives great: from soul, to rap, to jazz, to rock, to funk. An exciting concert, made up of international and Italian songs ranging from the 60s to the 90s with songs by Etta James, Otis Redding, Pino Daniele, Luico Battisti, Mina and many more alongside my original hits such as “Burn the city”, “Bum Bum”, “Your girlfriend always” and much more that with the band we propose in new arrangements”.
Why the Blues?
«Because for me it was like a return to my origins and to my musical and vocal training. Io in Blues is a sort of storytelling of my life, which, through the blues (a genre I fell in love with the day I saw the film at the age of 12 “The Blues Brothers”) tells the story of the artist I have become.”
