AGI – A concert for piano and voice surrounded by hundreds of candles lit on the floor, in the wonderful setting of the Baths of Caracalla: Fiorella Mannoia and Danilo Rea opened “Luce”, a show that will tour touchingly different Italian locations , from June 1st to September 2nd. A exquisite concertof which Rome got its first taste when the singer took the stage in a red evening dress, after a short while wearing high heels to continue barefoot and more comfortable, accompanied by Rea, a pianist of undoubted talent, who delighted audiences twenty Minutes before Mannoia performs with a medley of singer-songwriter hits reinterpreted in a jazzy key.
In nearly two hours, the artists created an extraordinary partnership, bringing to life a live piano part that enabled both to express their full talent without the support of other musical instruments. A show that will be a real “gem” for this summer of 2023. An intimate concert that seals the encounter between pop and jazz. “I’ve known Danilo for over 30 years,” said the Roman singer, “we’re friends, we met on stage.” We decided to join our alchemy since we’ve always been in tune and from here became the idea of this show was born.”
Why is it called “light”? “On the stage there are candles, the piano and us – explained Mannoia again – We wanted to create an atmosphere with the bare essentials and we thought the candles would reinforce that uniqueness by taking everything away.” “It’s a way of giving everything a dreamy meaning through the essentiality of voice and piano,” Rea added. There are genres of music that need a lot of support. But a dimension like ours, intimate, needed no further embellishment.” Mannoia and Rea have interpreted songs from their repertoire and songs of songwriting character that appeal to them.
“For me,” said Mannoia, “‘Margherita’ is a song of the heart.” A text that Cocciante sings with no one else. And that instead I was lucky enough to play with him once. And then, early in my career, I sang it when I took part in a one-race broadcast, and it all started from there.” And the love Mannoia has for this song was expressed at the moment of interpretation: the first Part was sung with voice only, in absolute silence, and then continued with piano support.
Voice and piano also for “La donna cannone”, for a homage to Franco Battiato with “La Cura”, for Lucio Dalla with “Felicità”, for Lucio Battisti and his “And I think of you”, Paolo Conte with “Via con I myself”. And then classics like “Sulo pè parlà”, “Besame mucho” and “Quizas Quizas”, “Messico e Nuvole”, up to highly successful songs for mannoia like “Quello che le donne non dire”, “Come si cambia” , “The Doubts of Love” and the beautiful interpretation given by the singer of “Sally” by Vasco Rossi.
“We – said Mannoia again – We are proof that pop and jazz can come together. Danilo had no arrogance towards pop and vice versa.” The lineup is open, “sometimes we change”, the artists explained, “I don’t know, maybe we’ll start a collaboration if we go to different places. If it happens”. “We play the songs of our lives,” said Rea, “Every time we’ve done that, we’ve entered a magical atmosphere full of emotions, maybe because we know that every concert will be different from the next.”
At the end of the appointment in Rome there is also space for “Che sia benedetta”, a song from San Remo sung by Mannoia, written by the singer-songwriter Amara, who took the stage at the Baths of Caracalla to interpret it together. And when Mannoia speaks of Sanremo and asks him to take part in the festival again, he does not hold back, but makes it clear that he is not thinking about it at the moment: “My projects are now not about whether a good song comes out, the right thing.” one, then let’s see”.
A new TV show? “We have a lot of ideas, I’m obviously willing to bring others in as well if they give me the freedom we had to call whoever I wanted and on the topics I wanted to discuss. So why not?” Space for too social initiatives such as “One, no, one hundred thousand”: “We are thinking about doing something again.” It seems clear to me that there is a need for it,” said Fiorella Mannoia. “We don’t want this event to remain a sporadic event,” added the singer, “we have ideas and projects in this regard. There will be news.” .
And at the concert for Emilia Romagna, the answer leaves no room for answers: “It was the right thing to do. We could not abandon our compatriots who suffered. I remember that with the initiative “One, Nobody and Hundreds of Thousands in Campo Volo” we raised more than two million euros. So it’s done. It’ll be a drop in the ocean, but there’s no avoiding it,” the singer concluded.
