Il Muro del Canto - Western on the banks of the Tiber

After the success of their debut "L'Ammazzasette", the sizeable Rome-based outfit Il Muro Del Canto returned with an album, "Ancora ridi", in which the tradition of Roman popular song blends with more rock-leaning accents, also drawn from the live approach honed during a successful tour. We meet Alessandro Pieravanti (narrating voice, percussion) and Giancarlo Barbati (electric guitar) to try to decipher the identity of this promising creature, born out of the increasingly fertile Roman folk laboratory.

You've just released the album "Ancora ridi", which marks an evolution of your sound toward more rock-oriented territory. What are your goals with this new work?

Alessandro Pieravanti: It's our second album after "L'Ammazzasette", a record that was written a bit more in the studio and reflected a more singer-songwriter-oriented approach. "Ancora ridi", on the other hand, bears the mark of the more than a hundred shows we played around Italy: it represents all the new influences we blended together during that tour, and therefore also the impact of the stage and the audience. Inevitably, the result was a much more dynamic, more rock-driven atmosphere. There's still a strong Roman core, but it's more of an atmosphere we draw on. In truth, we're speaking to a national audience, and we've also got an Italian tour planned.

The existence of a Roman scene, though, is a reality that can no longer be ignored. For instance, on the cover of the latest Blow-Up you appear alongside Ardecore, Ave Aò, Bandajorona, Emilio Stella, Alessandro Mannarino and Orchestraccia, as flag-bearers of the new Roman folk-rock. Do you recognize yourselves in that definition?

Alessandro Pieravanti: Yes, in the last five years a lot of bands have emerged, and some have even achieved a certain amount of success. The idea of Roman popular music has become somewhat mainstream, but it's been freed from being seen solely as stornello songs or pure folk tradition. People realized that base could be a springboard for a new sound, one that engages with rock and various underground sonorities. All of this thanks to a lot of cross-pollination, with everyone bringing their own personal, distinctive contribution.

In the case of Ardecore, for example, there was a strong mixing with post-rock elements, resulting in decidedly modern sounds and completely reworked arrangements. In your case, though, the songs are born "new" right from the start…

Alessandro Pieravanti: Exactly, as far as we're concerned we only play our own songs, and we specifically try to bring together traditional sounds (instruments like the accordion, the violin) with modern ones — I'm thinking of Giancarlo's electric guitar, but also of certain contemporary folk sounds from across the ocean.

And what about your lyrics?

Alessandro Pieravanti: In our stories there isn't a clear reference to the past, and therefore no rediscovery of memory, except in a few specific cases. It's more of an attempt to write timelessly, losing any chronological reference point: the songs could be set a hundred years ago just as easily as today.

Your lyrics often tell stories of anger, hunger and desperation, very much in keeping with the tradition of Roman popular song. Isn't it precisely the reality we're living through these days that makes them so relevant?

Giancarlo Barbati: That's exactly what I wanted to say! The problems are the same, which I don't think is a very good thing... The imagery is up to the listener to choose: it could be set in Trastevere in the 1920s, or in Ponte di Nona in 2013 — that's the hallmark of our songs.

Why do you think that, for so many years, this world of Roman song was relegated to tavern music by the very same Italians who might have fallen for Irish jigs, mariachi trumpets or Balkan folk?

Alessandro Pieravanti: There's a bit of an Italian-style snobbery toward a lot of things that belong to us and that always end up being rediscovered later on. There's an anxiety about wanting to prove you're modern, about being in step with what comes out of the United States or England, especially in music. As if people were ashamed of their own traditions. Then at some point someone comes along with the courage to dig those things back up and show that they deserve attention. And that's when the opposite excess kicks in, just as damaging: that heritage gets plundered by everyone and turns into a fad.

Do you see that as a risk in your case too?

Alessandro Pieravanti: Yes, we don't like the idea of being easily pigeonholed into the new Roman scene. We write songs, and we chose to sing them in Roman dialect - not the old-fashioned kind, but today's - because we use a very direct language, as if we were telling a story to a friend, the way you speak when you don't have perfect diction - not you, me! (we laugh) - that's just how you're used to doing it. That way the words come across more directly, off the cuff, sometimes not even caring about proper grammar. And this approach has a strong impact on the audience. But saying that we're trying to follow the trend of Roman music is another thing entirely... If anything, it's some of the new bands forming today, modeling themselves on us or on Ardecore, that are starting to conform to a certain style. I'm not saying this out of arrogance, just because we really have no intention of helping to shape a "scene" of that kind.

How important is the live dimension to your music?

Giancarlo Barbati: Hugely important. We were born on stage, first and foremost. This record, in particular, is truly a live product - we even wrote some of the songs during soundchecks. It's a dimension that belongs to us, and we also really enjoy the contact with the audience.

There's also a strong cinematic imprint in your songs - I'm thinking of the epic themes of Morricone but also certain western sounds. How does this interaction come about when you're writing?

Alessandro Pieravanti: There's definitely the influence of the many films that shaped us, both as people and as musicians. We feel very connected to the great Italian directors, from Pasolini to Fellini, to the whole neorealist movement, and also to great figures who are landmarks for Rome, like Anna Magnani or Alberto Sordi. All of this influenced us from childhood, helping to shape a very powerful imagery. Our approach is therefore heavily shaped by these influences. As for the western epic, we're big fans of that kind of film and we really like drawing a parallel between Rome and the Wild West: this city, so chaotic and conflict-ridden, really brings to mind a western battle with horses and guns. So we like mixing Rome's present and past themes with western music, to recreate that kind of atmosphere.

Even your videos, in a way, feel almost like short films...

Alessandro Pieravanti: Yes, we made a series of video clips with SoloBuio Visual Factory, and the whole project tries to translate our atmospheres into a cinematic key, thanks above all to director Carlo Roberti, whose talents lean more toward filmmaking than toward video production in the strict sense.

In collaboration with "Leggo"

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