Reggio Emilia The urgencies and eternal themes of man once again in dialogue, put into scenes “with the keys we have”. He’s a Vinicio Capossela who wants to talk about news, politics as well as the unshakeable art of Ariosto, the one who yesterday presented the last stages of the theater tour which started in 2023 to present his latest album, “Thirteen urgent songs”. Flanked by his well-established band, Capossela will also return home, to the Valli theater, where will perform on Tuesday 7 May at 9pm. The show in Reggio Emilia, a few kilometers from Scandiano where he grew up, will be preceded by a very intriguing moment, a conversation between Capossela and the writer Ermanno Cavazzoni focused on Ludovico Ariosto and Orlando Furioso. That Ariosto who is a constant presence in Reggio and who inspired several pieces of the 2023 album. «And compared to when the album came out, things have only gotten worse», he points out bitterly. To stay in Italy, it is difficult not to think of “excommunication”. Antonio Scurati and his text on the Resistance from Rai.
«The management was so clumsy and clumsy that fortunately it gave even more importance», he comments. A story that has as its backdrop the most divided anniversary, April 25th and the Liberation from fascism, a theme dear to Capossela. «Fascism is not a museum and historical issue, it is fine to remember history so as not to give in to revisionism. But it must be remembered that fascism is a way of understanding the world that often involves violence. And I quote Mussoliniwho remembered that he had not invented fascism but had extracted it from the unconscious of Italians, of human beings. Resistance is what opposes this thoughtthe first resistance is at the level of consciousness,” he reflects.
Words far from Capossela’s classic allegories. «I have always avoided the current dictatorship. Current events devour everything, and it is a theme that concerns politics even more than songs: politics should be a practice for the future. Was the record about urgent songs? Urgent as terms, yes, but they concern issues that are not strictly topical and refer to a broader dimension. Talking about the children’s crusade using Brecht’s words is talking about human issues, about the forces that operate in social life”, he explains. In this, «songs help, in my case they are all I have. What is culture? Entertainment, desire to involve, the songs are born from this attempt, and talking about the “keys we have” is a metaphor of trying to make limits a possibility. To establish the value to give to things, not just accept what is given”, continues the reflection.
Every now and then, it makes sense to go into the dirt. The example is Scandian, and leads to “Bicycle Relays”, the song to the partisan women inspired by the Fellegara commemorative stone: «We must give names to things. The names of those people are an allegory of an Italy that has chosen a side.”
From Scandiano we move on to Reggio and the beloved Ariosto, who will be honored on stage and the day before in dialogue with Ermanno Cavazzoni.
«I am very happy with the opportunity, it is a gift that I tried to give myself, I love Cavazzoni, plus he’s from Reggio Emilia, as well as a very profound connoisseur of chivalric poems, and he did a beautiful work on madness, on San Lazzaro. And the meeting is also free”, he smiles.
«I met Cavazzoni in Castelnovo Garfagnana, when I was invited to remember a not so well-known page, the installation of Ariosto as governor of Garfagnana. Think about it, an author who has ranged in the fantastic, in flight, finds himself in the most stringent conditions, as governor, in the remote and wild province. Reading his letters we read the attempt of a man who tries to do his best to manage things with a little justice, even if in the end the poor guy always ends up in trouble and the great criminal always enjoys protection. There is a sense of discouragement at not being able to impact reality.”
Tags: Fascism museum historical issue Gazzetta Reggio
