‘BARBARA’

David Riondino narrator’s voice,

Sara Jane Ceccarelli voice,

Christian Pabst grand piano, keyboards,

Paolo Ceccarelli electric guitar

Original production

Translating songs by French songwriters into Italian is an important exercise, given our relative knowledge of the vast repertoire of transalpine songwriting.

Among the lesser-known authors, despite being a prominent figure, is Barbara. The singer-songwriter, pianist, and initial interpreter of Brel, Brassens, and other phenomena, quickly joined the masters, building between the 1960s and the 1990s an elegant songbook, always effective in both dramatic lunges and satirical tacks: her songs became pages of human comedy set in Paris, France, and Europe. German and French cities are the setting for stories that are always visually striking: whether they are hospitals where your father dies, or pity mounds where you sell the furniture that has been with you your whole life. Each song is a figure: whether it is The Eagle coming back to find you from childhood, or Solitude in the form of a sloppy lady waiting at the door.

And each song is a little musical gem. Translating Barbara is a very enjoyable and captivating work: the themes are absolutely relatable to our lived experience, while rarely is the form of the sung story so well accomplished. (David Riondino)