IW Campania Selections - 4th night

Back again for the now customary appointment with Italy Wave's Campania selections. We've reached the fourth and second-to-last night, and the moment of decision draws near: only six of the twenty-four hopefuls will continue their journey towards Florence, reaching the regional final at the end of the month. Today's line-up featured four more artists: singer-songwriter Marco Saltatempo from Caserta; rockers Naadir and Sula Ventrebianco; young punksters The Wisers. Anyone who's followed every instalment of this adventure will have noticed the stylistic variety of the acts on show, as well as their quality. Once again, to our considerable satisfaction, all of that holds true. The only two downsides were the technical problems that disrupted the first performance and the smaller turnout compared to the previous night: a real shame, given the show that unfolded; and one more reason to thank SudTerranea for the wonderful hospitality it affords us and for the visibility it grants to quality music. Yes, I know, right now I sound just like Pippo Baudo, and I don't want to come across as sappy; but this competition is generating a family-like atmosphere that gets under your skin and goes beyond anything you'd expect. Maybe it's because the evening wrapped up with a tasty variation on the classic Italian custom of making peace over food and wine: chocolate cake and wine courtesy of Naadir, capable of getting everyone unanimously on the same page; maybe it's because when there's no money involved everything is magically simpler; maybe it's whatever you like, but there's a real breath of fresh air in the room. And the glue holding it all together is always the same: music, good music, the desire to play.

Saltatempo, blond curls and acoustic guitar, opens the show flanked on stage by musicians of considerable calibre. Keyboard, bass, drums and congas display tremendous polish and command in laying down accompanying textures, ranging from jazzy to Caribbean. And yet, however much the band may enrich the sonic spectrum, Marco's true strength lies in the melodic sense of his songs, that songwriting halfway between the popular and the auteur, capable of reaching both more seasoned listeners and a wider audience. A fine voice completes the basic toolkit needed to go far; all he's missing is a chance, a big, real one: a major label waking up from its slumber to pick him up and put him on the radio, to put it plainly. The only criticism one could level at him is the rather trite lyrics of one of the songs performed, "La spazzatura". All he can do now is keep suffering a little longer and fight on with humility.

After the lovely opening of the evening, we move on to heavier sounds - decidedly heavier. Naadir are a mighty tracked vehicle grinding away from metal to funk; they've chewed heavily on Faith No More and quite a bit on System of a Down, and are still searching for a definitive synthesis (as bassist Stefano Esposito himself tells us, who incidentally deserves an honourable mention), but they already have a brilliant present going for them. Huge live power, well-focused songs (even more multifaceted on record), high-level instrumental skill, well-crafted sonic transitions, emotional involvement (at any moment you'd think they might start spitting blood). If they really manage to refine themselves and break free even further from their models, they could well become a band of international standing. For now, they're one of the brightest stars on the local scene.

With the Salerno act's sonic assault over, it's time for another rock band to take the stage. They're the Neapolitans Sula Ventrebianco, and for them the key word is originality. Sula range across hardcore leftovers, rock surges, 1990s indie references, a reworking of Neapolitan melody (check out their excellent "Contorni e muri"); all delivered with great power and commitment, with the wildcard of Sasio Carannante's highly distinctive voice. A definitely atypical outfit, capable of transcending regional parochialism and carving out a niche in the no-man's-land of Italian rock, less adolescent than that of Verdena and less intellectual than that of Afterhours. Sure, there are a few slips of inexperience for a band that's only been together since last September, but the ground covered since then bodes very well, and the potential still to be fulfilled is plain to see.

Having weathered this one-two knockout combo, the dirty work of carrying on and closing out the evening falls to three young lads, The Wisers. A "light" punk trio, flirting with pop and rock'n'roll, twenty-somethings still finding their feet but who clearly know the genre inside out. The start isn't their best, but the response is swift, thanks to their signature tune "Hangin' Around". Freshness, a desire to have fun and sheer recklessness take the place of fear and heavy comparisons, gradually winning over the crowd. Their performance is one of those moments of musical reconciliation where you forget everything and everyone; Andrea Caccese, voice and guitar, is, in his blissful unawareness, a little stage animal. Eyes lost in the air, the most spaced-out expression imaginable, sudden screams: in a word, punk. Which isn't all there is to it, but it's also this, and tonight it comes across brilliantly. I admit there were initially some doubts about their inclusion, but they earned their place in the competition out on the field. My most sincere best wishes go out to them, and I hope they're happy with this experience.

As promised, we all end up in the backstage area attacking the cake, amid photos of a modern-day Bacchus (the great Fabio Liguori, juggling two jobs, university and drumming for Naadir, playfully exposing himself to the audience's lecherous gaze), and existential questions about whether it's really appropriate to go back for a third slice (Marco Torrese, bassist of Sula Ventrebianco).

All that's left for me to do is flag the upcoming dates. First of all, I want to give a shout-out to the night of Wednesday 12 March @Velvet Zone in Naples: this is the debut of the "lava movement", a sort of physical and ideological community born from the mind of Aldo Campana, singer of Lega Leggera, with the aim of bringing together the best emerging bands from Campania under the banner of the courage to take risks. On stage, alongside Lega Leggera themselves (suspended between rock and musical theatre), the winners of Italy Wave's Campania selections from two years ago, I Pennelli di Vermeer (a curious blend of prog, melody and singer-songwriter fare). Then, on Friday 14 March @SudTerranea Club, the fifth night of Italy Wave's Campania selections, where you'll be able to hear the last five bands in the running: everything from the classic Neapolitan tradition living on in Cu43 to the metal of Kymaera; from the indie-tinged electronica of Desert Kisses to the American-influenced rock of Sleeping Beauty; not forgetting, of course, the post-metal of Dasauge.

The city is alive, you just have to listen.

(10/03/2008)

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