There is excitement for the return of Davide Van De Sfroos to the city. The singer-songwriter from Como will be on the stage of the Teatro Comunale on Saturday at 9 pm, for the first lucky appointment of “Words and thoughts” (also included in the billboard of “Belluno Città del Legno”): already over 500 tickets have been sold. The “Yanez” artist will present a rich “autumn” concert where songs from the latest album “Maader Folk” will alternate with other more dated ones.
Davide Van De Sfroos, as never in Belluno?
«I’ve already been to Belluno twice. Two very powerful, magical, intense evenings, with a whole world, that of the North-East, where many were Alpine, fighters, travelers, emigrants. In one of the two dressing rooms Mauro Corona had come to see me, who later became a friend and travel companion, so much so that in the video for “Oh Lord” he is present as the only actor. I am very happy to come back because I believe I will find certain people, certain energies that I had met and have not forgotten. My postcard from Belluno? A real city, capable of listening to stories and of great enthusiasm ».
He is touring Italy with his latest album “Maader Folk”. Where does this title come from?
«“ Maader Folk ”comes from a dream of mine. When I took Covid, I saw this mother figure linked to nature encouraging me, at a time when I was a little downcast, tense, scared. It seemed like a beautiful image to me: I called it Maader Folk. The record had been recorded for some time, but there was still no title. So I proposed this idea, which management and record companies really liked ».
What stories and what journey does this record tell?
“It’s a path tiled by songs that have gone through these seven years. Songs also spiritual as “Oh Lord”, or on the uncertainty of our existence as “Nel nomm”. Songs about women who have to wait, like “Agata”. “The bewildered”, on the hidden people who still live attached to a country that seems to no longer exist as it was. Or more intimate songs like “La Vall”. It is a record that goes back to the roots of the country, in all its facets and idiosyncrasies ».
How is this journey told, linguistically and musically?
«Linguistically I use a switch between dialect and Italian. There is always a massive presence of the Tremezzino or Larian dialect; and there are passages where you play with Italian. Also in this use of the dialect there is a return to the roots of the country and its legends, its micro-lives or micro-realities. Stories that are born and grow with this kind of sound. You hear it at the bar, on the street. The tools of a certain job, the ways of being, joking, living, suffering. The musical language adapts, with a great variety. You can find country western songs, or more related to the Anglo-Scotus-Irish tradition. Something that may seem more Caribbean and something more light-hearted or gypsy in nature ».
How will the concert be structured?
«It will be a single flow, without pauses. The lineup is strongly autumnal: meditative, made up of memories, of new but also old songs, such as “New Orleans”, “The machine of ziu Toni”, “40 pas”. It will be very dense: especially out of town I like to tell something about the songs, but I forced myself to be tight in order to leave as much space as possible for the music ».
An invitation for the Belluno public?
“If you want an evening that strongly embraces autumn, a moment of reflection, an embrace of poetry, like when you are walking in a Belluno wood looking at the fallen leaves and those not yet fallen, then you can cut out a couple of hours to listen to music that has to do with the roots of music of all time. A formation of seven elements that will try to bring back on stage all those good ghosts that are part of our emotionality. We live in a complicated, hard, sophisticated era. There are wars, diseases, violence, misunderstandings and despair. Our job as little “shamans” and musical pharmacists is to prepare small potions, building songs that can help us reflect and feel better, to give an injection of emotion and then go home with more energy ».
The shaman Van De Sfroos in Belluno: “I sing a return to the roots of the country”