After
a long hiatus, in 2007 il Biglietto per l'Inferno came back to life
on the initiative of two founder members, Giuseppe "Pilly"
Cossa and Mauro Gnecchi. With a renewed line up, the band started
performing live the old repertoire from the seventies and in 2009
released a new studio album entitled Tra l'assurdo e la ragione
(Between absurd and reason) featuring new arrangements of the
historic pieces along with two new tracks. In 2015 il Biglietto per
l'Inferno carried out this process of re-appropriation and reworking
of their past by releasing a new studio album, Vivi. Lotta. Pensa.
that in some way completes the work started with the previous one. It
was released with a beautiful packaging on the AMS/BTF label and a
three folds jacket with an art work by graphic artist Marco Menaballi
that tries to depict its musical and lyrical content...
The
current line up features Giuseppe "Pilly" Cossa (piano,
keyboards, accordion, melodeon), Mauro Gnecchi (drums, percussion),
Mariolina Sala (vocals), Ranieri "Ragno" Fumagalli
(hornpipe, recorder, ocarina), Enrico Fagnoni (upright bass, electric
and acoustic bass, acoustic guitar), Renata Tomasella (piffero,
recorders, ocarina), Carlo Redi (violin, mandolin, acoustic guitar)
and Pier Panzeri (electric and acoustic guitar). Along the years, old
and new members have matured and incredible cohesion creating an
amazing wall of sound where ethnic and folk elements are perfectly
mixed with progressive rock while the new female vocalist should not
be considered just a replacement for the original front man since
Mariolina Sala is not just a singer but also an actress and a
sensitive interpreter able to convey emotions with her enthralling
theatrical approach...
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| Biglietto per l'Inferno 2015 |
This
new album starts by the joyful notes of the title track, "Vivi.
Lotta. Pensa." (Live. Struggle. Think.). It's the new
arrangement of a piece contained on the second album of the band, Il
tempo della semina, a committed track about freedom, equality and
solidarity that sounds still actual and crisp, between globalization
issues and new revolutionary winds blowing all around the world.
Next
comes a brand new track, "Narciso e Boccadoro" (Narcissus
and Goldmund). It's a delicate, dreamy ballad inspired by the 1930
novel of the same name by Swiss writer Hermann Hesse, also published
as Death and the Lover. The novel tells the story of Goldmund,
a young man who wanders around aimlessly throughout Medieval
Germany after leaving a Catholic monastery school in search of what
could be described as "the meaning of life", or rather,
meaning for his life (quote from wikipedia). Here the ethereal
interpretation by Mariolina Sala evokes the last words of the
protagonist before passing away and the souvenir of his old friend
Narcissus...
The
following "La canzone del padre" (The father's song) is a
long, complex track that was originally released on Biglietto per
l'Inferno's second album. It's about the generation gap and tells the
story of a difficult relationship between a father and his son.
Eventually the rebellious son grows up and becomes a popular pop
singer but there's no way to heal that broken relationship. The band
really breathed a new life into this piece with a sparking
arrangement and a passionate interpretation...
"Mente
Solamente" (Mind, lonely mind, nothing but mind) is another
piece from the second album that here is completely reinvented
blending psychedelic elements and joyful folksy passages. It's an
almost instrumental track that invites to let your thoughts run free
for a while on the steps of a strange dance...
The
long epic "L'amico suicida" (A suicidal friend) closes the
album. It was originally released on the eponymous 1974 debut work
and was written in memory of an old comrade-in-arms of Claudio Canali
who took his life during the military service. This is another great
interpretation able to stir emotions with renewed energies...
On
the whole, this is a really good album that is absolutely worth
listening to.
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