NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

Nirvana unplugged in New York, often known as MTV unplugged is first and foremost a high moment in music history to me.

For our very first chat here on the blog, almost five years ago now, I told you about the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore during the recording of this live show.

Then over time we talked a lot about music but never came back to what is really one of the most important memories for me.

First of all it is the memory of an emotion: the first time I listened to Come as you are without even getting to the end I was convinced that I would never like another song again.

Come as you are is perhaps the only one of Nirvana’s most popular songs, performed even during unplugged, I think precisely because of its characteristic intense intimacy.

But every single song performed during MTV unplugged is beautiful.

The cover of The Man Who Sold the World in my opinion beats even the White Duke.

Where did you sleep last night is poignant to the point of almost materialising Kurt’s suffering.

And then Dumb, About a Girl, Pennyroyal Tea … which is your favourite?

Sadly released posthumously Unplugged in New York with every listen reminds us of the pain and loss of an artist who would now be a grandfather, as his Frances Bean became mother to Ronin at the end of September.

Many tales and anecdotes about 18 November 1993 chase each other all over the place, but what we can all still see is Kurt arriving, and after a simple ‘Good evening’ he introduces About a girl by attacking his guitar ride.

The rest is magic, atmosphere, white flowers, candles, drapes and soft lights, like metaphorical arms that welcome us into an immersion of music and sensations, simplicity and depth at the same time, where everything else is stripped away, the whole world is outside, where all that counts is the lightness of a faint breath destined to fade away but which in reality can only remain engraved in the memory forever.

Extreme vulnerability yet disruptive power.

Nirvana Unplugged is one of the gifts I cherish, it is 30 years old today and yet I’m never tired of listening to it again.

I treasure it along with Kurt Cobain Diaries

Nirvana unplugged

and Montage of Heck, which I saw at the cinema earlier anyway.

Nirvana unplugged

On the off chance that you’ve missed something, I recommend catching up: I find it indispensable to understand the deep torment of a Soul torn between the love of music and the pain of life.

I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault

I’ll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame

I WANNA TAKE HUGH THERE

I WANNA TAKE HUGH THERE

I wanna take Hugh there … pun inspired by the very famous lyrics of a song that needs no introduction:

When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there

Impossibile to listen to this song without singing it, a universal song.

Just as Hugh is universally known.

Also this time I would like to talk about the non-original soundtrack.

Here it is.

I wanna take Hugh there.

What can I say?
A fantastic excursus into pop history.

I mention as an example You’re the One That I Want, itself the soundtrack to a film I have seen countless times in my life.

Grease was the first film with friends in the cinema in the place where I was born, obviously love at first sight.

A movie in which cars take on the role of status symbols for the guys, who process them, use them for drive-ins and also for their ‘dates.’

Lo and behold, even the Deadpool & Wolverine scene with the Grease song playing in the background takes place in a car … still a symbol if you will, but a lame one.

And ‘the encounter’ is still physical and related to friendship, but on the level that characterises the whole film: totally insane.

Friendship and madness mingle as elective affinities between this trio who manage to put together a series of crowd-pleasing situations, not to mention cameos.

The third element is Shawn Levy, who gave us that gem Stranger Things

Watch out for those other two: Hugh and Ryan interact like two opposite, colourful halves, just like in this little gadget.

I wanna take Hugh there.

They represent well the passing of time, with the desire to always remain themselves, superheroes or nerds, or both.

And at the first notes of Good Riddance you are left with nostalgia: something umpredictable but it in the end is right.

Would you like to tell me something related to any of the other songs?

You can find them directly on Spotify

In both cases the songs appear as per the tracklist on the Disney site which sells the two branded LPs.

There is actually more.

Impossible not to mention Hells Bells … I’ll let you imagine as soon as the first notes start.

And then there’s I wanna take Hugh there
courtesy of Madonna.

It’s not like it’s a no-brainer.

Ryan Reynolds said in an interview that he didn’t know how to ask for it: ‘what do I do, call up and say hello this is Ryan?’

Apparently that’s exactly what happened, but luckily for him, Madonna’s kids like Marvel superheroes too.

I wanna take Hugh there.

How about you?

I HAVE SEEN HER

I HAVE SEEN HER

I saw her win it …

And “it” is the BB Global Force award presented by Billboard magazine during the BB Women in music ceremony. 

Global Force as an award given in recognition of a woman in the music industry who has made a significant contribution to the business and who, through her work and continued success, inspires generations of women to take on increasing responsibilities in the field.

The Women in music event celebrates women at the forefront of all fields of music from composers and songwriters to educators and all other music professions.

I saw her …

She needs no introduction: Annalisa, @nali is Global Force.

I did not follow her debut, and the first time I heard of her was in the measure of “good but second best.”

Until during a play organised by the middle school my son attends, a pupil struck me by singing about a blue cat

I then went to research and discovered that the song was by Annalisa.

Annalisa who for all these years has continued undaunted to be “good, but in second place”.

And yet there is not a person who does not know her ‘I saw her …’.

Despite having my radio perpetually on the frequency of Virgin, a radio that only plays rock music, without really knowing how or why, I have found the refrain of Mon amour in my head.

And ‘I saw her…’ has officially become part of my way of speaking: when I find myself describing something mixed, tangled, entangled.

Physics graduate Annalisa Scarrone, Nali, teaches us how to chase dreams and show the world the Global Force.

Did you see her win?

I dedicate this photo to Tony: ultimate Katy Perry connoisseur.

VIGEVANO BIENNIAL

VIGEVANO BIENNIAL

Vigevano Biennial: the very moment I saw the first video introducing it, I felt a great sense of gratitude.

Arianna Forni, the creator and curator of this artistic and cultural project, during the last interview explains that she was inspired while visiting an artist’s exhibition in Vigevano, and fell in love with the Sforza Castle after about 45 seconds.

I want to point out this not so much with pride, but to remind those who, like me, live there and sometimes do not consider its value that much.

Who is Arianna Forni? Her bio is very rich, but among the many things I like to mention in particular her blog: The Greatest Coat.

On her home page, you can also find R.E.M.‘s  Loosing my religion and to me this a sign.

Music aside, Arianna with her words takes us on an artistic journey through art and with art

Alongside Arianna Forni, artistic director of all the side events: musical and otherwise, an artist capable of embodying the perfect fusion of music and painting: Andrea Fumagalli, Andy

The Vigevano Biennial has the patronage of the Municipality of Vigevano and 

of the District of Pavia 

and will be held from

8 April to 31 May, so be warned.

In the meantime, I suggest you not to miss the artists’ presentations on the Biennale Vigevano whispers of arts social pages. 

AFMetastrategy produces a crescendo of stories containing calls for artists, calls for partners, calls for endorsement and presentations of all the artists who will participate.

Truly the Castello Sforzesco and the Piazza Ducale are the place where step by step the dream becomes reality, or rather, turns into Art.

aTUTTOCUORE

aTUTTOCUORE

aTUTTOCUORE with all my heart I would like to thank my brother and sister-in-law because after Twelve Notes again this year my birthday present was a wonderful experience.

A musical experience but also a visual and sensorial one, because at every concert Claudio Baglioni manages to amaze with different versions while remaining true to himself.

After the debut in Pesaro, the indoor version of aTUTTOCUORE started at the Mediolanum Forum in MILAN on 20, 21 and 22 January and will continue on 5 and 6 February.

A show that you shouldn’t miss.

aTUTTOCUORE opens with E tu come stai? And it is just as if Claudio wanted to pick up the thread of the conversation with his fans: like a long public dialogue but at the same time intimate because of the way he gives himself.

This is followed by Dagli il via… and of course ‘the start’ is only the beginning of a long sequence of surprises.

Then Acqua dalla luna … hurry audience … you will see …

you will see the wonder created by the perfect combination of costumes by and choreography by Veronica Peparini directed by Giuliano Peparini.

I will continue with the set list:
Con tutto l’amore che posso and Quante volte featured by Claudio Baglioni’s funny dance moves and by the powerful peculiarity of this show: the images on the maxi-screens blending with the play of light and the evolutions of all the artists up and down the stairs of the stage set create an enthralling three-dimensionality

Then Un po di piu’
Gli anni più belli
Domani mai
Quanto ti voglio
Fammi andar via
Niente più
E adesso la pubblicità
A tutto cuore.

Claudio puts his heart into everything, in the sense of energy, in the sense of wanting to make music at its best, using his heart which, as he said in an interview, can also be considered a percussion instrument, as well as the calendar that marks our time.

And more: Mal d’amore
W l’Inghilterra
Sono io
Cuore D’Aliante
Uomo di varie età
Le ragazze dell’est
Uomini persi
Noi no
Amori in corso
Un nuovo giorno un giorno nuovo
Con voi

and with us Claudio sang illuminating the audience with multidirectional and totally inclusive beams of light.

Unmissable Questo piccolo grande amore
Dodici note
Io sono qui
Amore bello
Solo
Sabato pomeriggio
Porta portese
in a current version enriched with a riot of cheerful playfulness.

Avrai
Io me ne andrei
That masterpiece of Mille giorni di me e di te
My favourite for ‘the hair-raising coffee Via

E tu
Strada facendo
La vita è adesso
and concluding with the music of Poster.

At that point, instead of going far away, you just want to stay so as not to interrupt the magic, but on the screen the faces of the countless musicians, choristers, dancers, artists and performers scroll by.

One above all is the dancer Antonio Ciarciello, chosen after an epic casting, given the number of candidates, who all the time dances as a sort of alter ego.

What do you say? The set list is quite long, yet there are always a few songs missing from the poems in music that Claudio has written.

As many as there are songs, as many are the jackets that Claudio Baglioni has worn: a different one for each song, without ever a moment’s interruption, in a constant succession.

Also incessant is the kaleidoscope of images, futuristic and current, as well as evocative and suggestive by light designer Ivan Pierri

Paolo Gianolio, who has collaborated uninterruptedly with Claudio Baglioni since the 1985 album La vita è adesso.

Many years have passed since then, and yet … La vita è adesso: life is now … is it?

Which is your favourite?

Archives

Pin It on Pinterest