The soul of Lumanera it’s a fire, emblem of almost lost rites and ancestral festivals. The flame of origins that has never turned to ash and continues to burn. It’s family, sharing, dialect. A visceral reminder of the places of bones, of wolves and bandits, which expand to become a Mediterranean of poetry and hopes.
This Lumanerathe historic world-folk formation, turns twenty: a musical journey that began in 2004 that saw them born, grow, become more aware, experiment, constantly looking for hearts and inspiring glances.
Well 2024 is the year of celebrationwith an ambitious recording work that is exactly halfway through their study and continuous training journey: Massimo Vietri, Maria Irpino, Gioacchino Acierno, Massimo Testa, Valter Vivarelli, Diego Iannaccone and Fabio Soriano give shape to the group that for twelve intense months he worked on Mater .
A manifesto and a meeting between friends, twelve unreleased songs that the Lumanera has always included in the concert lineup, but which until now had not been recorded: «For us the time had come to take stock a bit – he tells us Massimo Vietri – between what has been and the creative impulses in the making. This is an important album above all because it makes us go back to playing with many musicians who have alternated within our lineup over the years. We re-arranged some songs and also worked on three new pieces, a path built together with Carmine Minichiello – Gamino – on the song Virgin; also collaborating with Antonio Iandolo, Gerardo Palumbo, Gianluca Mercurio, Luca Roseto, Angelo Olivieri”.
Mother Earth it’s one of the unreleased ones, secular and ecological prayer which appeals to love and care for the nature in which we are immersed: «Mater it means this, it has to do with the roots – certainly – and is linked to a period of epochal change. Mother, anywhere in the world, has a very strong evocative power, universal. And for me this work contains the deepest sense of the historical moment we live in; I care a lot because at the beginning we remember a dear friend from Mercogliano – Renato said ‘or Volone – who passed away a few years ago, who had the mountains very close to his heart, but at the same time tried to escape from that reality and this great love of his, which also grew in conflict, influenced us in the composition».
And it’s still there Free dedicated to the commitment of Mimmo Lucano in the small town of Riace, an invitation to welcome imagined through the journey of a couple who finally find themselves together at the landing point: «An important text that also contains a song in Mandinka language on respect for women and support for all the peoples of the earth. This is a record that, in its entirety, celebrates a long career, our sounds remain recognisable, like the principles to which we are anchored, but you will also be able to perceive the evolution we have had over time.”
Contemporary Traditional Music. We could define it as the album of maturity and experimental sounds, capable of multiplying musical languages: the sounds mix, the origin is always the popular one, roots, which fades into blues, reggae and potentially expands infinitely. Meanwhile the tour has started, there official presentation Of Mater there will be Friday – June 14th – in the outdoor spaces of Jigger Cocktail Barin Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Avellino.
- The album cover
We will play, we will chat, we will linger in memories and we will look to the future of one of the longest-lived groups in Irpinia: «We will play in our province and we will also have the opportunity to go outside the region for the entire summer. Without a manager and without a label we still managed to go beyond the geographical boundaries of our territory, a good sign for us of esteem and appreciation for what we do.”
Twenty years of commitment, of social and cultural messages in music, of streets and squares; always independent, once again self-produced: «The journey was long, demanding, as always happens when you have to move independently, but once again we used all the strength necessary to give the public an authentic production, in which they could recognize themselves. Somehow this record also becomes a way to affirm our artistic dignitybecause we have conquered it in the area, one stage at a time, from the smallest to the largest, one song after another, sharing with those who listen to us – and have listened to us – a great passion for identity. Mater for us it represents a point of arrival and at the same time a new beginning, the way to seal the project of Lumanera».
