CONTRASTING FEELINGS

 Odi et amo, the third album by the Sfaratthons, was self-released in 2023 with a consolidated line up featuring Luca Di Nunzio (piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals), Cecilio Luciano (drums), Mario Di Nunzio (bass), Giovanni Casciato (guitars) and Giovanni Di Nunzio (guitar, vocals) plus the guests Geoff Warren (flute), Sabatino Matteucci (sax) and Alessandra Iandimarino (vocals). The music is, as in their previous albums, an excellent mix of vintage influences, modern sounds and bright new ideas in the best tradition of Italian prog. This time for the lyrics they were helped by Donato Di Luca and (in only one track) Pietro Lugli while the colourful art cover was painted by their friend and former bandmate Luca Luciano...

 

The beautiful instrumental opener, “Odi et amo”, begins with a dreamlike atmosphere but the delicate piano pattern and soaring flute notes are like the calm before the storm and the music goes on through many changes in mood and rhythm. The title is in Latin and refers to the incipit of a poem by the poet Catullus, Carme LXXXV. According to the liner notes, the music tries to evoke a mix of contrasting feelings and emotions such as hate and love or joy and pain drawing inspiration from the immortal poetry of Catullus...

“La donna amata” (The beloved woman) is another wonderful piece where dynamic progressive rock parts alternate with baroque passages leading through dreamy atmospheres and darker moments. The lyrics celebrate the love of a woman capable of shaking and giving strength to her man like a summer storm where the rain pouring down on the thirsty land can heal the wounds in the arid soil. The beloved woman shines like a fresh crescent moon in the sunset and after the storm is like an omen of adventure and a fulfilment of love...

The melancholic, mystic “Maddalena” is sung in Abruzzese dialect and tells in music and words of the feelings of a woman that tries to rediscover in the church near her home where she goes to pray what an evil man has stolen from her: faith and love. Many times she thought about taking her own life jumping off the cliff under the church with her eyes closed because her life sometimes seems worse than hell, bitter and dark like ash. But hope never dies and keeps her alive. The narrative vocals (in Italian) of the guest Alessandra Iandimarino close the piece playing the role of the protagonist...

 

“Saffo” is dedicated to a woman best known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music, Sappho, an Archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Most of Sappho's poetry is now lost and little is known of her life but her myth is still a source of inspiration for many hearts. Here she looks at you enraptured and feels like a goddess, one after the other she drinks the words of love coming from your smile and directed to her eyes, the eyes of woman eternally in love...

The long, complex “Zarina” (Tsarina) is dedicated to Maria Alexandrovna, born Princess Wilhelmine Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (8 August 1824 – 3 June 1880), Empress of Russia as the first wife of Emperor Alexander II. She married when she was still a teenager and her marriage was unhappy. She suffered from tuberculosis from 1863 onwards and spent long periods of time in southern Europe, in particular in the Italian town of Sanremo, to avoid the harsh Russian winters. The music and lyrics evoke the feelings of a fisherman watching the unfortunate tsarina walking on the sand of Sanremo beach. To his eyes she looks coming out from one of his dreams. He can’t get closer to her because she’s surrounded by the people of her circle and he’s too unworthy for them. But he can see the sadness in her eyes and perceive her uncertain breathing. Soon she will be gone and what will be left of her presence is just an army of palms. In fact, grateful for the hospitality of the place, the empress donated the first palm trees to the Municipality of Sanremo which still today adorn the Passeggiata Imperatrice (Promenade of the Empress), on the Sanremo seafront...

“Ti dono una canzone” (I give you a song) was written and recorded in remote mode during the Covid 19 pandemic and is dedicated to all the healthcare personnel and to those who took care of the sick in that dramatic period, those who really gave their best to overcome the crisis caused by the spread of the virus. It’s a song to listen to at night, made of tears and wind, weaved in style with a few notes for those who made of their job an act of love...

The instrumental “Odi et amo - Closing Session” is a short experimental track that closes the album with a disquieting atmosphere and a soft flute melody that seems almost to escape and take off from strange background noises, hidden chats and thoughts...

On the whole, an excellent work that deserves a place in every Italianprog collection!

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
http://www.sfaratthons.eu/
https://www.facebook.com/sfaratthons/

PROG IN NAPLES

 

More info:
https://www.teatrotrianon.org/programmazione/osanna-in-palepoli/

A TIMELESS CRUSADE

Il Cambio della Guardia (the name means Changing of the Guards) took form in Fiano Romano, a town near Rome, in 2016 on the initiative of composer and lyricist Alessandro Papili with the aim of playing original compositions inspired by seventies prog bands such as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi or Le Orme. After a good live activity on the local scene and a painstaking work in the recording studio, in 2023 they self released a very interesting eponymous album with a line up featuring Samuel Marchionni (vocals), Alessandro Papili (keyboards, acoustic guitar), Marco Centini (electric and acoustic guitar), Davide Magalotti (bass) and Angelo Lo Porto (drums) plus the guest Chicco Martini (vocals). It’s a concept album that, through the imaginary story of a Crusader knight, tells of the absurdity of wars fought in the name of God...

 

The beautiful instrumental opener “Prologo” sets the atmosphere alternating frenzied, aggressive parts with the keyboards in the forefront and calmer, reflective passages. It leads to the dreamy “C’è un’armata che mi aspetta” (There’s an army waiting for me) that starts by a delicate acoustic guitar pattern. The music and lyrics depict the feelings and the expectations of a Crusader knight who embarks on a ship to join the Christian army in the Holy Land. The crew raise the sails heading south as the scirocco wind brings sand and songs from afar. Now the ship sails across the Mediterranean sea heading for the promised land and new adventures...

“Il crociato - Parte prima” (The crusader - Part One) takes us into the horrors of war. The music and words evoke borders marked by time and desperate women and children on the move who leave behind cities and villages reduced to rubble. Their pace is slow and they have the fear of the Crusader soldiers in their eyes since the fight is merciless. However, there’s no way to stop the holy mission, there’s a siege and the Crusaders break into a fortress through a breach in the wall. They kill all the infidels inside the castle and the dried blood forms a kind of red path. It’s a cruel slaughter but the Christian soldiers trust God’s forgiveness and celebrate their victory under the sign of the cross...

The epic “Il duello” (The duel) depicts the challenge and the mortal confrontation between the protagonist and a Muslim knight. It begins with the confidence of the Christian knight who is longing to kill his unfaithful adversary, a desecrator of altars who thrives on lies and hatred. However, as the fight goes on, his perspective changes. He can see no angels ready to help him and guide his sword nor virgins waiting to cradle the soul of his enemy in an exotic paradise. It is simply a man like him, the Christian knight now can see the fear and the cruel reality with all the atrocity of war. In the end the Christian knight wins and kills his rival but experiences a strong sense of mercy and pity. His faith wavers and he feels that something in him has changed...

 

The melancholic, reflective ballad “In fondo al mare” (At the bottom of the sea) evokes the pain and torments of the Christian knight. All he really wants now is to be buried at the bottom of the sea, with sand and salt weighing down on him and the sound of waves crashing on the rocks under the moonlight. Like a leaf carried by the wind that doesn’t know where to go, now he seeks for the peace of the sea...

“Gerusalemme - Parte prima” (Jerusalem - Part One) starts by conjuring up the images of a battlefield scattered with corpses, broken spears, blood-stained shields, heads severed from the corpses. The landscape after the final battle is gloomy, the cost of freeing Jerusalem from the infidels rule is high and the taste of drinking from the Holy Grail is bitter. At night, when the emotive storm calms down, the music and lyrics focus on a camp nearby where the Christian knight can be seen embracing a beautiful Muslim woman. It’s the beginning of a very difficult and complicate love story, thwarted by the moral sense. The absurdity of war reveals another dark side...

The long, complex “Gerusalemme - Parte seconda” (Jerusalem - Part Two) tries to emphasize in music and words the strong contrast between deeds and ideals. The cross on the helmet and shield of the Christian knight recall the purpose of his mission. A crusader like him does not fight for gold or out of thirst for power but for an ideal. He offered his faith and his life to God but now, while his bloody axe is red as the sunset, he can see nothing around him but men hanging to life without strength in their fingers who loosen their grip and fall down. “God, what have we done in thy name?” - Asks the knight. But there’s no answer, he can’t hear the voice of God...

 

Cambio della Guardia 2022

“Il crociato - Parte seconda” (The crusader - Part Two) takes us back to the present but the view, after all the time that has passed since the Crusades, is in fact not very different. The music and lyrics depict a new kind of Crusader knight, without armour and horse. He wields a machine-gun and for him there are no mysteries. He comes from New York or maybe from Moscow and he was told that he’s on the right side. He’s ready to shoot a man fearing that he might be a terrorist. A voice seems to echo in the air telling him to press the trigger and kill, then to cross himself so God will save his soul...

The excellent instrumental “Oriente” (Orient) evokes a dark sense of beauty and with its Mediterranean flavours leads to the last track, “Il ritorno” (The return), where the rhythm rises to describe a wild horseback ride toward home, through forests and narrow paths. The knight is in hurry, behind him he steel feels the ghosts of the dead chasing him. He wants to know if what he left behind is still there. At last he throws away his helmet and breathes the air of home, then the sweet memory of a familiar face appears in the courtyard of his manor and a smile eases his pain...

On the whole, a very interesting debut album that deserves credit.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/cambiodellaguardia/

https://linktr.ee/cambiodellaguardiamusic 

PROG IN ROME

 

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1504498916944892/?ref=newsfeed 

 

 

More info:
https://www.arciliuto.it/programmazione/concerti/801-massimo-pieretti.html