“Thank you, thank you so much! I dedicate this victory to Ernesto Assante my music history teacher at the Conservatory and I want to donate part of the prize to pro-Palestine associations; celebrating is beautiful but we must not forget what happens in the world” she said excitedly Anna Castiglia Overall winner of the XXXV Edition of Musicultura Festival, directed by Ezio Nannipieri.
Anna Castigliaaccompanied on keyboards by Simone Matteuzzi among the winners of Musicultura 2023, with the song “Ghali”, won the 20 thousand euros from the Banca Macerata Prize thanks to the votes of the Sferisterio audience of the two evenings and Il Award for best text of 2,000 euros from the Universities of Macerata and Camerino.
“The song is a hymn to guilt, it speaks, in an ironic key, of victims and victimhood, of the need to always find a scapegoat on which to place the blame for our failures, so as not to take responsibility and Ghali is the typical victim of us songwriters, – explained the absolute winner of Musicultura.
Anna Castiglia, 25 years old from Catania, a student of classical guitar, attends the Giuseppe Verdi conservatory in Milan and is co-founder of the Canta Fino a Dieci project, a feminist singer-songwriter collective that combats the gender gap in the musical world. Her first album will be released in September.
The Sicilian singer-songwriter prevailed over the other seven finalist winning artists of the Festival: Nico Arezzo of Modica with the song Nicareddu, De.Stradis of Bologna with Author’s paintings, Nyco Ferrari of Milan with Just the way I am, Bianca Frau of Sassari with Everything is fine, Helle of Bologna with Lisou, Eugenio Sournia of Livorno with The sky, The Snookers of Morbegno with Trouble.
Eugenio Sournia with the song “The sky” was awarded The Critics’ Plaque of 3,000 euros named after Piero Cesanelli, the creator of Musicultura and artistic director from the first edition until 2019, delivered by the journalist Paolo Giordano and The PMI Award for best recording project worth 2,000 euros.
The final two evenings of Musicultura, brilliantly hosted by the unusual couple Paola Turcimaking her debut as co-host and Carolina di Domenicosaw the performance of many guests on the majestic stage of the Sferisterio in Macerata.
Paola Turci, among the members of the prestigious Guarantee Committee of the Festival, he also gave the public some musical pearls, including “L’avvelenata” by Guccini and together with the eight finalist winners he sang “La casa in riva al mare”, the song by Lucio Dalla who gave the title to a special recognition of 2,000 euros went to Helle. An award decreed by a jury of inmates of the Barcaglione prison in Ancona, engaged in a musical workshop of the Festival. Thanks to a special permit, Gaetano Laudano and Davide Ciancaleoni, representing the jury of the prison, presented the award to Helle on the stage of the Sferisterio. An important cultural integration initiative for the re-education and reintegration of prisoners, promoted by the Guarantor of Human Rights of the Marche Region Giancarlo Giulianelli.
“How exciting, it’s a great responsibility to open the Festival in a magical place like this, I hope what I feel like doing to artists is to find their own path and always continue to follow it, music is an opportunity to grow and to create bridges that reach people”. With these words Diodate opened the first of the two final evenings of Musicultura, a refined author and very talented performer, he offered “Fai Noiso”, the song with which he won the 70th edition of the Sanremo Festival and the two songs with which he won the David di Donatello for best original song “Che vita marvelous” soundtrack of the film The goddess of luck by Özpetek and “My land” present in the film Laf building of Riondino.
Among the other guests of the opening night, Marcin Patrzalek at his first live in Italy. The young and talented Polish guitarist, famous throughout the world for his ability to reinvent famous songs and make them unique, offered the “Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen, “Kashmir” from Led Zeppelin and closed his acrobatic performance with “La toccata and Fugue in D minor” by Bach.
National premiere Serena Brancale presented his latest single “Stu café”. With her powerful voice he also reinterpreted the great Neapolitan music of Tullio De Piscopo and Pino Daniele with “Andamento slow” and “Alleria”. She closed the performance with “Sta uagnedd” and “Baccalà” dragging the 2,400 people present at the Sferisterio into a great cathartic dance.
“Musicultura is a magical place for songwriting, for the free expression of those who love making music and writing words” he said Filippo Graziani on the Festival stage. With an enveloping musical embrace the artist celebrated Ivan’s legacy with the great songs “Lugano addio” “The guitarist” “The sailor’s song” and closed the dialogue between father and son beyond the boundaries of time in the jubilation of applause with “Lazy”.
Touching testimony from Alessandra Campedelli the courageous coach of the women’s national volleyball team of Iran and Pakistan who uses sport as an agent of social transformation to improve the condition of women in countries where they suffer constant violations, showing them other possible worlds.
In the second evening, the Musicultura final, Nadawith her versatile and powerful voice, she performed the songs “Senza un questo”, “Stasera non rainfall”, “In mezzo al mare” and “Luna in fiore”.
The actress and singer Carlotta Proietti paid homage to Gabriella Ferri, 20 years after her death, with “Il waltz della toppa” and surprisingly with Paola Turci the all-Roman duet with the famous “Tanto pe’ canta’” was born on stage.
Grand finale of the 2024 Festival with Enzo Avitabile to whom theHonor for High Artistic Merit by the Rector of the University of Macerata John Mc Court and by the delegate of the Rector of the University of Camerino Daniele Tomassoni.
“I have been part of the Musicultura family for twenty years, I am honored and I want to thank you for everything you have done and will do for music” so Enzo Avitabile opened his performance to the tune of “Don salvatò” a song that the artist dedicated to Mina. She continued with “Maronna Nera”, “Tutt ‘equal song’e criature”, “Thalassa cardia” and the overwhelming Salvamm’ o munno ”with the percussion of the barrels and vats of the Bottari di Portico. Enzo Avitabile closed the journey between the roots of the Neapolitan tradition and the influences of the world, with “Aizamm na mana” dragging the packed audience of the Sferisterio into a liberating collective dance.
Among the guests of the final Alessandro Bianchi led to Musicultura Lesc Dubrov, the non-existent president of the Labor and Ethics Commission of the European Union, a gray Eastern European bureaucrat sabotaged and mocked by his underpaid translator.
The evening of the Festival, live on Rai Radio 1, also saw interventions from the Rai Radio 1 Bus Station Marcella Sullo, Duccio Pasqua And John Vignola.
There Rai, main media partner of Musicultura with Rai Radio1, Rai 2, TgR, Rainews24, RaiNews.it, Rai Italia And RaiPlay reported the event with live broadcasts, insights and numerous reports.
The final evenings of Musicultura can be seen on Rai 2 next July 15th, in the television program directed by Duccio Forzano which will also be spread across the five continents from Rai Italy.
