The defect of these tributes is that the performances rarely hold a candle to the original
The most likeable, the most sincere once again was Gianni Morandi: towards Franco Battiato he felt a sort of cultural awe that did not prevent him, however, from appreciating his humanity and sympathy. Homages to the dearly departed are always an arduous exercise, a difficult balance between admiration and the exhibition of one’s ego, between interpretation (in the multiple meaning of the word) and the inevitable I knew him well (Caro Battiato, Rai3 ).
–
Pif tried to apply the dear Martian module at the concert dedicated to Battiato held at the Verona Arena last September. In all honesty, it wasn’t a very happy idea, maybe the backstage interviews were enough. And in any case the defect of these tributes (it had already happened in Genoa with the commemoration of Fabrizio De Andr) that the performances rarely compare with the original: Down from the tower / I would throw all the artists / because the trumpets of judgment will sound / for all those who believe in what they do. Here, in Verona, everyone believed in what they were doing, too much.
–
There is not a single Battiato, there are many: there is the experimenter (in the years in which to survive he accompanied Giorgio Gaber on the guitar); there is the sublime inventor of erudite kitsch (not camp, but a genre still to be explored, especially in the literary world); there is Battiato sgalambrico (Manlio Sgalambro, philosopher distinguished by superb harshness, author of the essay On indifference in matters of society, discovered in late age the … joy of appearing).
–
A matter of taste, but the Battiato is more interesting what remains is the one that mixed high and low, mysticism and political commitment, the Adelphi catalog and international pop, curiosity and irony. Then I’m afraid he took himself a little too seriously, believing in what he was doing, abandoning the magnificent and holy misconduct.
–
January 6, 2022 (change January 6, 2022 | 12:52)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
–
—
:strip_exif()/i/2004648160.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
