Friday
May 18
2007
Lula World: Direct from Italy Vinicio Capossela (with Marc Ribot)
Vinicio Capossela, 2006 Tenco Prize (Italy's equivalent to the UK's Mercury Prize) winner, is at the forefront of a new generation of singer-songwriters re-inventing Italian song.
The work of this musical auteur pays homage to the influences of both Paolo Conte and Tom Waits. But Capossela's own magic lies in his ability to break the boundaries of a song and to evoke, though the use of images, entire worlds inhabited by demons, shadows, lost souls and losers. Lyrics play a crucial role while the music, free from any genre restraints, is at the complete disposal of the musical world Capossela conjures up.
In his early pieces, Capossela's music was informed by the American underground culture and road myth embodied by Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski and by the Italo-American identity of the work of Martin Scorsese. His songwriting continues to explore the many facets of the Italian cultural diaspora from the Argentine tango of Astor Piazzolla to the American swing of Louis Prima. A dramatic and bewitching 'circus artist', Capossela is known for his theatrical live performances.
Vinicio Capossela has released nine albums in Italy. His latest studio set "Ovunque Proteggi" (May You Protect Me Everywhere) topped the country's album charts achieving platinum sales status and was described as "...the best side of pop..." by Vanity Fair Italy. The album is steeped in historical, biblical and mythological references. In fact, the artist took a sort of archaeologist's approach to the project, writing and recording in the very places the songs led him to, from a prehistoric cave in Sardinia to a Renaissance-era church in Sicily to a 19th century theater in the Veneto and to other significant locations.
Capossela has collaborated with artists as diverse as Macedonia's Kocani Orkestar, American jazz crooner Jimmy Scott and New York City guitarist Marc Ribot. He is also an award-winning novelist in Italy whose work "Non si muore tutte le mattine" (You Don't Die Every Morning) has been adapted for radio broadcast and for the stage.
Please note: Admission for this show does not include cover for Apostle of Hustle.
Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot (pronounced REE-bow) was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1954. As a teen, he played guitar in various garage bands while studying with his mentor, Haitian classical guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus. In 1978, Ribot crossed the river to New York City, where he served as sideman for such musicians as jazz organist Jack McDuff and legendary soul shouter Wilson Pickett. Ribot began his five-year stint as a member of the Lounge Lizards (John Lurie's innovative and influential Downtown jazz ensemble) in 1984. At the time, Marc's playing, which blended elements of classic Blues guitar with the ironic No Wave/Knitting Factory aesthetic, caught the ear of a number of artists who were also interested in amalgamating and disrupting disparate musical traditions. Ribot performed on some of these singer/songwriter's finest records, including Elvis Costello's SPIKE, MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE, and KOJAK VARIETY; Marianne Faithful's BLAZING AWAY; and Tom Waits' RAIN DOGS, BIG TIME, FRANK'S WILD YEARS, MULE VARIATIONS, and the recently released REAL GONE.
All the while, the increasingly in-demand guitarist continued to explore the ever-changing terrain of New York's New Music scene, working with musicians such as Arto Lindsay, Don Byron, Anthony Coleman, T-Bone Burnett, the Jazz Passengers, Evan Lurie, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Chocolate Genius, Bill Frisell, Medeski Martin & Wood, and John Zorn in any number of incarnations.
Ribot also composed and recorded his own brand of Downtown soul music with his bands, Rootless Cosmopolitans and Shrek. In 1996 his recording DON'T BLAME ME, a solo reinvention of American standards, received praise from the Village Voice as "a record filled with savory and unlikely amusements." In 1998 Atlantic Records released the critically acclaimed MARC RIBOT Y LOS CUBANOS POSTIZOS, featuring Ribot's beautifully slanted interpretations of material by the great Cuban songwriter Arsenio Rodriguez. In 2001, Atlantic released SAINTS, a solo work where Marc turned well known tunes such as The Beatles "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere" into left of center spacey sound collages.
