Fiamma Fumana Official WebSite

Carina l’esperienza di BandaBooster a Pescara! Tre giorni di prova e via, tutti sul palco del Teatro Sant’Andrea a suonare insieme: Mauro di Buen Retiro, Giovanna e Emiliano di Jam Esther, Luigi di Zendavesta, Enrico Lombardi, Tony Nevoso, Cisco, Giovanni Rubbiani ed io. Nella prima parte dello spettacolo abbiamo fatto cover, da Johnny Cash ai Muse, Da Brian Eno a Rino Gaetano, alternando le diverse voci soliste (tra cui anche quella di Cisco): nella seconda parte abbiamo suonato pezzi dell’album di Cisco e dei primi Modena City Ramblers, cominciando in trio acustico voce-chitarra-fisarmonica e venendo poi raggiunti dall’intera BandaBooster per il gran finale.

C’è stato anche un bis (Ninnananna…), ma l’abbiamo suonato soltanto Gio, Cisco ed io, senza amplificazione, seduti sul bordo del palco, con la gente seduta sulla moquette ai nostri piedi e a luci accese. Il custode del teatro aveva acceso le luci di prepotenza, si vede che voleva andare a casa!

Grazie a tutti, ai ragazzi dei corsi di Booster (sul progetto Booster trovate più informazioni sul blog di The Hub), all’organizzazione, ai miei vecchi amici e splendidi quarantenni Gio e Cisco. Bella serata, bella esperienza, alla prossima.

Sono a Pescara da tre giorni, con Cisco e Giovanni, a preparare lo spettacolo di Bandabooster. Scrivo giusto due righe perché siamo molto impegnati, ieri abbiamo fatto le due in sala prove. De resto si tratta di preparare uno spettacolo in tre giorni scarsi, con gente che non ha mai suonato insieme! Comunque è divertente. Adesso vado in teatro per le prove generali. Informazioni qui.

Artistic director Donald Shaw and his people at Celtic Connections have called a press conference and gone live with the 2008 website. What a lineup! Flook, Steve Earle, k.d. lang, Liam Clancy, Mercedes Peòn (we crossed path at Folkwoods, in Holland), Solas, old glories Moving Hearts, Eliza Carthy, Peatbog Fairies, Le Vent du Nord, Michelle Shocked, Bill Wyman (BILL WYMAN?), Capercailie, Trilok Gurtu… And yes, we are there too, in the Voices of the world together with theBulgarian Women’s Choir Angelite. No Uncle Earl, though: their place - quite appropriately with the rest of the night’s lineup, I think - has been taken by the Aberfeldy Gaelic Choir, conducted on this occasion by Margaret Bennett, high-ranking vocalist and mother of our much-missed Martyn. Gulp. We really must be super-ready for that.

GREAT NEWS! Frusion’s Ian Smith called me to announce that Celtic Connections has booked our show for the 31st of January 2008, with Mondine and all! We are still waiting on the details (press conference is on Wednesday next week), and the same night the website will launch, but it appears they are setting up a “Voices of the world” night with us, the Bulgarian Women’s Choir (not sure which one) and American girls Uncle Earl. The whole thing should take place in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall… the ladies will be delighted, especially Agnes, the Scottish Rice Weeder, a Glaswegian…

An anonymous photographer Kev Howard sent Roberta these shots of our Solfest 2007 show, in England. Thank you, thank you so much!

Just a quick note to highlight Sunday night’s show, at the Civic Hall in Novi di Modena, with the legendary Novi Rice Weeders Choir. I almost forgot about it, then this morning they called me for radio interview… whoa, dude.
Anyway, every year the rice weeders organize a few events in Novi, their home village, to honour the memory of Torino Gilioli, the first choir director, who passed away a few years ago (it was he was directed the choir in “Four Piedmontese” in our first album). I can’t wait to see them! This wil probably be the last From mother to daughter show in 2007, so don’t miss it if you can, it’s worth it!

Well, we’re back! It’s been rough, but very beautiful too. Globalquerque, the great vibe in Millwood Junction, the Shiprock High School where everybody’s a Navajo (the Navajo skater, the Navajo dark lady, the Navajo geek, the Navajo metal fan, the Navajo cop…) and where I detected a great creative potential (a girl stepped forward to sing us a ceremonial song, it was very emotional!), the unbelievable landscapes of Colorado and Grand Canyon, the workshop at San Diego University where we discussed Emilian traditional music, reuniting with our friend Clarissa Clò… see you soon, West!

We’ve got a problem: Ian Smith at Frusion, our British agent, is going through a phase of feverish activism (I think he was encouraged by feedback from Solfest, where actually we did pretty well). In the past few weeks he’s been requesting all kinds of promo material, which is good! Now he wants live photos, he says he can’t find any on the net… Does anyone have any he or she would share? Ideally, I’d like a FTP link or a Yousendit delivery, but normal email is also ok. Thanks so much!

PS - I found this on Flickr; it’s us at Folkwoods Festival, in the Netherlands (photo Deskman)

From the files of the irreplaceable Drew Miller - Mr. Omnium - I got hold of a DVD from a few years ago, shot at Winnipeg Folk Festival 2004 in a beautiful sunny afternoon. I have decided to upload some songs on YouTube, starting with this “Di madre in figlia” (”From mother to daughter”).

Playing Solfest was a lot of fun. British festivals, I had been told, are a totally separate experience. And it’s true: there is a great variety of music and activities, from puppets to raves, from children’s games to an indie music stage. And people are out to have some serious fun: many wear fancy dresses, so that the audience is crowded with superheroes, pirates, vikings, brightly coloured waliking beverage cans and even a dragon; and if the costume requires to stand half (or three quarters) naked in the rain with 12 Celsius, Brits are happy to call their Norman-Viking roots into action and just do it. When we went on (just before Badly Drawn Boy) the sun came out, a lot of people came from the whole area to rally at stage front and started to dance. Great fun! I hope to be back soon. I think we will.
Something funny: Chumbawamba ended their set with… Bella ciao!