“Tonight we improvise”, this is the maestro’s incipit Giancarlo Giannini, guest in Termoli for an amazing pairing: a sort of jam session which saw the iconic actor – among the greatest of Italian cinema – recite poetry and, indeed, improvise with Marco Zurzolo – superlative saxophonist, among other things brother of Rino Zurzolo, historic double bass player of Pino Daniele – and his band. An evening that Termoli will not forget and which thrilled one crowded Folklore Staircase, with the public not being dissuaded by the strong wind.
Penziere and music, the title of the event and the original artistic project that is a journey into poetry who sang love in its imperishable form (with jazz musical accompaniment) with, needless to say, spine-chilling interpretations. From Dante to Cecco Angiolieri, from Leopardi to Shakespeare, from Pablo Neruda to the visionary William Blake, up to those closest to our times Pier Paolo Pasolini and Alda Merini. But also by unknown authors…
“What a little thing, a life!
Mine, like all others, is a drop.
I want you to get lost in a sea of love,
because it’s the only way, otherwise
it’s a wasted drop: too small
to be happy alone, and too big
to be satisfied with nothing.”
A giant of cinema recited their verses: “I’m 81 years old, I still like being an actor and a clown. The past and awards no longer interest me, I am interested in the present like the one tonight. It’s easy to be an actor (laughs, ed.) because there are great poets behind me.” Giannini received his star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame of which, before the show into the microphones, he said: “It’s better than an Oscar (remember the nomination he received for Pasqualino Settebellezze, with which however he didn’t win, ed.), because the Oscar is for a film, the Star is forever . There are only two of us (of Italians, ed.) who have received it: me and Rodolfo Valentino long before me.” The verve is unchanged even if there are nostalgic notes: “Today the value of imagination has been lost”.
Giancarlo Giannini with the Marco Zurzolo band in Termoli
The interludes (even involuntary, generated by some technical errors) created between the actor – who has acted with some of the greatest directors including Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada but above all Lina Wertumüller,”she’s the one who invented me”, and the Americans Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott – and the musician. “I call him the trumpeter, and he gets pissed!”. Interspersing – and in some cases accompanying – the recitative moments was the enthralling ensemble (with drums, bass and guitar as well as sax) which ranged from Neapolitan classics to pearls of cinema, from traditional Spanish music which served as an introduction to the poems of Garcia Lorca at the inevitable I like the blues with the bystanders singing in chorus And I’m now.
A crackling evening that ended with the delivery, by Stefano Leone, of the Identitas award to the two guests. “The real faber of the evening – so the publisher and photographer from Termoli – was Joe Mileti”. In this way he, the candidate for mayor, wanted to send a message to the citizens. “Termoli needs this, culture”.
