The music will open Social Xmas in Poggiorealethe kermesse of events to be held from 9 to 30 December 2022 in Poggioreale at the Il Poggio restaurant (via Poggioreale 160/c, Naples), organized by the group of social enterprises Gesco with the social cooperative NClick within the billboard “Other Natali 2022” of the Municipality of Naples.
Friday 9 December at 19.30 we start with the performance of music and poems curated by Gianni Valentino And Lello Tramma: Totò Poetry Culturean adventure that celebrates, on the 70th anniversary of Malafemmena, the poetic production of Antonio de Curtis.
Better known under the pseudonym Totò, in the imperial registry with the title of Prince of Byzantium, de Curtis was the author of dozens of poems: amorous, family, social. And some memorable songs. On the occasion of the crucial anniversary, the homonymous duo Totò Poetry Culture was born which includes the poet/performer/author Gianni Valentino and the musician/producer/songwriter Lello Tramma (former founder and leader of the band Palkoscenico).
Together, the duo exhumed the skeleton of Totò’s poems and elaborated the syllables and rhythm in a contemporary formula, alternating sounds of oud, saz, piano, guitars, Moog, tuba, theremin, Jen, drums, bass, trumpet, shawm, cello with electronic manipulations, samples, digital apps. Celebrating mutual passions for Massive Attack, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Rӧyksopp, Angelo Badalamenti, Underworld, Thievery Corporation, Buckshot Lefonque, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Jam & Spoon, Jaydee, ISAN, Pink Floyd and the Beatles.
The mask of Totò in the cinema and theater has – often and involuntarily – alienated enthusiasts, even the most devoted, from the intense verses that he wrote in creative autonomy – even during the phase of sudden blindness, using a Geloso tape recorder – and which, only later, they were understood in spirit and sentimental depth. There is an innate and intact rhythmic and musical sense – despite being illiterate on staff – in the Neapolitan genius and the poetic-musical project Totò Poetry Culture regenerates its sources and lets them resurrect.
In memory of what is a monument in verse to holy and cursed love: Malafemmena.
Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno de Curtis entitled verses and assonances of crystalline grace to that ambivalent feeling, radiant and desperate, salvific and lethal, psychotic and intoxicating. In his introspective and physical way, the poet-prince has traced a moon which still illuminates private sensations, intimacy, biographical facts, penance. Among the titles composed by him, now brought to light on electronic soundscapes, I love you ê femmene, If you were n’auciello, Core illiterate, Ammore perso, ‘E Pezzienti, ‘A cchiù sincera, The prayer of the clown, Che me manca, ‘A ‘nnammurata mia. And she: Malafemmena. The will of the puppet actor who died in 1967.
From that document, from that 1951 autograph sheet dedicated to Mizuzzina, alias his wife Diana Bandini Rogliani, the duo that includes the poet/performer Gianni Valentino and the producer/musician Lello Tramma sets out again to transport the pages of Totò into a futuristic and digital. Which does not give up any analog segment. This is how ambient, dub, downtempo, chill, deep house, folk sounds coexist with the ancient words of the prince of laughter and courtship. So far, seven tracks have been released on streaming platforms and YouTube. Two songs recorded on the vinyl of the same name Totò Poetry Culture: Malafemmena and Mizuzzina. A large format 45 rpm production in a limited edition of only 100 copies. For collectors and enthusiasts.
The performance
The duo proposes a live performance of about 70 minutes with narrative interludes in which the relationship between Totò and Federico Fellini, Totò and Lucio Dalla, Totò and Pier Paolo Pasolini emerges, as well as pages from the Prince’s intimate diary, in which the audience can listen to what has taken on electronic-literary experimentation to understand the genesis, research and creative process of this idea, up to its evolution on stage, illustrating how a historical heritage can pulsate again thanks to new digital apps for creating music and the desire not to forget one of the most magnetic artists that Neapolitan culture has expressed in the twentieth century and beyond.
The verses from which the traces of the duo project Totò Poetry Culture arise have been collected in the book Antonio de Curtis The Poet Prince edited by Elena Anticoli de Curtis and Virginia Falconetti (Colonnese publisher).
“Poetry and electronic music find their symbiosis”, says Gianni Valentino, creator of the project and narrator/performer for Totò Poetry Culture. “Spoken word and sonic groove were created in unison. It wasn’t about composing the music and then passively interpreting the verses as if it were a song. Nor vice versa. We worked esoterically in the studio and also far away, in our respective homes. Tirelessly. Kidnapped by this poetic abyss, exchanging tons of music and finding the most sensible and balanced solutions that such an adventure could require. In a juncture of human, social, spiritual and creative darkness, triggered especially by the second Covid lockdown, the arrival of this idea was a miraculous light to get me back up again”.
For his part, Lello Tramma says: “After twenty years of productions, albums, concerts, collaborations with Italian and international artists, I’m happy to have finally participated in a project in which I don’t play the role of leader in the foreground. It makes me feel more relaxed and also more responsible because I’ve grown musically and I’m more aware. Sometimes it’s nice to stay a little behind the scenes. Always playing.”
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The artists
Lello Tramma is a musician, songwriter, producer, composer, researcher.
Classical guitarist, since childhood, and later a jazz guitar and modern guitar scholar in the segment of the Neapolitan school. Finally experimenter of the rock and electronic universe. At the age of 20, in the Neapolitan hinterland, he founded Palkoscenico, an electro-dub-rock band. He becomes the frontman as well as the author of the lyrics and with the group he makes four albums – “Palkoscenico; “Attentive look”; “Press Loud” and “Rockmatik” – featuring Madaski, Dean Bowman (Screaming Headless Torsos, John Scofield, Lester Bowie, Don Byron), Shaone, Zion Train. In the national and international tours that followed, he shared the stage and festivals with Khaled, Roy Paci, Africa Unite, Francesco De Gregori, Elio e le storie tese, Caparezza, Linea 77, Enzo Avitabile, Motel Connection, Max Gazzè. Formerly a worker in a factory of fabrics and women’s clothing, he then graduated in Sociology at the Federico II University of Naples with an anthropological thesis that allowed him to explore multiple researches of an ethno-musicological nature: from the origins to the cultural developments of musical languages both traditional and modern. He has created soundtracks for short films and theatrical performances. In 2018 he released his first solo album, “Faccio un giro in tram”, a collage of autobiographical stories that mix acoustic and synthetic sounds. He has two daughters: Giovanna and Raffaella.
Gianni Valentino is poet-performer, author-writer, music consultant for cinema and TV, pr manager.
He has published the collection of poems “The feathers of the stupid angels” (2015) and the investigation-reportage “I am not FREE” (2018). He conceived / directed the “Senso VIVIANI” project. He has made music documentaries – “Gli Squallor” (directed by Michele Rossi and Carla Rinaldi) and “Neapolis Rock Festival: decennial” (co-directed with Francesco Lucca) – and the review “Video_Sens_Action!” (guests Julien Temple, Jovanotti, Uwe Flade). He composed the letter “Daughter” for the multimedia exhibition project “The rooms” of the Other Size Gallery in Milan. He was portrayed by photo/graffiti artist JR for the installation “The Chronicles of New York City” at the Brooklyn Museum. He has made poetic performances in Barcelona and New York. With the set “Rapsodie electrofisiche” he performed at the “Pomigliano Jazz Festival” in quartet with Marco Messina, Sacha Ricci and Loredana Antonelli as open act for Matthew Herbert. He created “Ouverture Oum” at the Madre Museum in Naples as a tribute to the Iranian video artist Shirin Neshat and the Egyptian singer Oum Kulthum in trio with Raiz and Paolo Polcari. He wrote-performed the recited concert “And for them – Suite for slaves and cello” with the musician Davide Maria Viola and conceived/staged the performance “l’Arancia” inspired by the “Diary from prison” by the painter Egon Schiele with DJ Chemical Mamo. Finally it was directed by Edoardo De Angelis in the episode “Magnifico Shock” of the ensemble film “Vieni a Vive a Napoli”.
Totò Poetry Culture opens the Social Xmas review in Poggioreale