Massimo Bubola - Storie d'amore e morte

Many will remember him as the author of some of the finest songs by Fabrizio De André, from “Andrea” to “Fiume Sand Creek” to “Don Rafaè”. Others will recall his collaborations with Fiorella Mannoia (the famous “Il cielo d'Irlanda”), Gang, Mauro Pagani, and Cristiano De André. But few know Massimo Bubola the singer-songwriter, who has now reached his ninth album with “Diavoli e Farfalle”. Yet the sensibility of this refined songwriter from Verona is far from common on today's Italian rock scene.

“I'm drawn to the darker side of human feelings,” explains the singer-songwriter from Veneto. “I tell stories of love and death, envy and betrayal, revenge and defeat. I like to harmonize opposites, good and evil, damnation and redemption. And I always try to write songs with a social conscience, ones that are in some way rooted in reality. Often, for instance, I take small news items and try to transport them into an epic dimension.” Wasn't that, after all, what Fabrizio De André always did? “Of course, I have no trouble admitting that Fabrizio was always a mentor to me,” says Bubola, not hiding his emotion. “He embodied such a deep cultural tradition… And we still had so many artistic projects planned together. Now that he has fallen like a soldier, someone will pick up his shield and armor. Even if no one can presume to consider themselves his heir.”

Massimo Bubola and Fabrizio De André were friends, as well as collaborators since the days of “Rimini” (1978). Together they spent long days at the farmhouse in Gallura, where the Genoese songwriter would gather his very own “tribe”. But today the memory is still too fresh and painful. “No, I can't talk about the relationship I had with Fabrizio. I can talk about his music, his teaching, which is so important for young people too. I can say that, partly thanks to him, I understood that to be truly ‘revolutionary’ you have to know the classics well, and that a good love song is better than a bad political song.”

It was precisely one of these love songs, “Andrea”, that would mark the greatest international breakthrough of the Bubola-De André partnership, with unexpected sales success in Austria and Germany. “Right,” explains Bubola, “because abroad only a few people know Italian singer-songwriter music. Often it's the fault of the twisted mechanisms of the record industry. But sometimes it's also us Italian musicians who have an unjustified inferiority complex. From my own experience, I can say I've met Bob Dylan, Michael Stipe, Lou Reed, and I've received a lot of compliments. I've seen a lot of curiosity on their part about the Italian scene.”

It was precisely from the meeting with Lou Reed that the “gestation” of Diavoli e Farfalle began. “We met in Conegliano, in the Veneto region, during a literary festival. We talked at length about music and culture. He observed in particular that we Italians are children of the Renaissance, and that it's from that period that we should draw our stories and inspiration.”

To celebrate 25 years of his career, Bubola released Il cavaliere elettrico (2001), a double live album drawn from recordings made between March '97 and December 2000. The record contains twenty songs, including “Il cielo d'Irlanda”, “Marabel”, “Maria che ci consola”, and others co-written with Fabrizio De André such as “Fiume Sand Creek”, “Franziska”, “Andrea”, “Avventura a Durango”, “Una storia sbagliata” and “Hotel Supramonte”. “Il cavaliere elettrico”, the songwriter explains, “retraces 25 years of Italian singer-songwriter music, touching on almost every rock genre, from tex-mex to rock-blues, from country to rock-folk all the way to plain ballads.” To present the album, the Veneto-born songwriter will set off on a tour taking him to various Italian cities.

Il cavaliere elettrico arrives on the heels of the success of Diavoli e Farfalle, a melange of mournful ballads and sweeping blues, intimate reflections and timeless legends. A record in which “every tear is a story, every tear has a story”, as Bubola had already sung in “Marabel”. Songs tied to small everyday dramas and to great epic tales, which contain – as in the opening single “La ballata dei luminosi giorni” – romantic references to Tristan and Isolde, Abelard and Héloïse, to Caliban, symbol of human brutishness, and to Prospero, emblem of magic and of man's elevation.

But it is above all Shakespeare's spirit that gives strength to the lyrics. A strength that is not afraid to give voice to the corrupt old man and the necromancer, to the coarse wet-nurse and the murderer. There's even a “murder ballad” in the style of Nick Cave, dedicated to EmmyLou's wife-killer, who madly loves the woman he murdered. “I can't stand the shallow love of pop songs,” says Bubola. “That's why I look for inspiration in the strong, dark feelings of Shakespeare, whom I consider the most representative figure of Western culture. I believe his work contains within it all the opposites and all the contradictions of the human soul. And no one else has managed to seem classic and modern at the same time the way he has.”

And what about Bubola's music? It's a universal blend, ranging from classical sonorities to Celtic folk, from blues to popular song, from the Cohen-style “ballad of redemption” to the acid distortions of Sonic Youth. Guitars, both electric and acoustic, dominate in particular, but behind them the keyboards, Hammond organ, piano and drums emerge forcefully. “The end result,” concludes the Verona-born artist, who describes himself as “a singer with a band”, “is the fruit of close-knit teamwork with the Eccher Band, the group that's been with me from the start. By now they know my tastes by heart, and I can say they've managed to create a sound that's become unmistakable.”

Il cavaliere elettrico vol. III (2002) is the third chapter of the live project, with songs united by their tragic nature (the subtitle is in fact “dark stories”).

In 2004, co-produced with Michele Gazich, the new studio album Segreti Trasparenti was released. A good record, alternating traditional-style ballads like “La sposa del diavolo” and the delicate “Jetta 'a luna” (written in Neapolitan) with songs of great introspective power, like “Stai con me”. There's also a standout new folk anthem: “La Fontana”. The closing track, “Tornano i Santi”, is further enriched by the presence of Mark Olson (founder of the Jayhawks) and singer-songwriter Victoria Williams.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google