As part of the Rush Summer Fest events program, organized by Gs23Eventi and Rush Eventi, tomorrow at 9 pm in Piazza Duomo in Trani (Bat), the Premiata Forneria Marconi concert will be held with a date of the “Pfm canta De André Anniversary” tour, during which the most famous songs from Fabrizio de André’s repertoire will be played. On stage there will be Franz Di Cioccio on vocals and drums, Patrick Djivas on bass, Marco Sfogli on electric guitar, Alessandro Scaglione on keyboards, Eugenio Mori on drums, Michele Ascolese on acoustic guitar and Luca Zabbini on vocals and keyboards.
The concert you are proposing recalls the 1978 tour: what remains of that experience?
Di Cioccio: «Recall is a beautiful word, but our intent is not to recall. When music is beautiful, it sticks to you. The thing I always remember is that the audience had a wonderful feeling every time we played our music, our stories, our lyrics and so meeting up every now and then to have this pleasure is something that applies to everyone, both to the audience that listens to us and to us who want to find our audience again».
Can you tell us some anecdotes about Fabrizio de André?
Djivas: «There are many anecdotes but two have always left me with a beautiful memory. One is the fact that very often, when we had dinner together, he would want to tell us one of his lyrics, that is, to explain why he had written a certain thing, why he had written that word, that line, that comma. And this was wonderful. Each of his songs had historical, cultural, social references and for him everything had a reason to be. Another anecdote that has remained in my memory is the fact that he was a great admirer of Georges Brassens, a famous French singer-songwriter. I am French and if you are not a native speaker it is very difficult to understand the meaning of his lyrics. Fabrizio often spoke to me about Brassens’ songs».
What did de André leave to you and to Italian music?
Di Cioccio: «He left many stories to Italian music to read in depth, because this was Fabrizio’s ability. His natural gift was poetry, so often and willingly in his songs there are traces, moments, that make you think and reflect».
How has Italian music changed from De André to today?
Djivas: «You can never say if music is getting better or worse: music has a very specific role, which is to support the young generation, because the kids are the biggest, they always have been since the time of Elvis Presley and they still are today. Music has always been perfectly suited to the type of youth that existed in a given era: in our time, for example, music was appreciated more for the sound than for the words because the young people needed to find themselves and find themselves together, as happened at Woodstock. The kids had to get together but not through words because the English didn’t understand the Italians, who in turn didn’t understand the Russians, who didn’t understand the Greeks, but everyone understood the music, which at the time was very instrumental as well as being of the highest quality. Today it’s completely the opposite: the kids need lots of words because they don’t have any. They don’t care about music: they’ve heard a lot of it, too much, but they don’t have the words».
What should the public expect from your performance in Trani?
Di Cioccio: «We must expect a flourishing PFM, as always. I look at the audience and I think about how to play with them because playing is “to play”, it means exchanging things with each other because we want to tell our stories, our travels, our meetings, and we share this with the audience. There is no one who does not know PFM for the value it has always given to music with its lyrics, with its narratives and with the skills of its instrumentalists».
If you had to dedicate a song of yours or one of De André’s to Puglia, which one would you choose?
Djivas: «It’s not easy to answer. I would say “Celebration”, that is “It’s a party”, one of our most famous pieces, because for us coming there to you, gathering and being together is a party. And we really hope that that evening there will be a beautiful party».
