Page 41 - Mediterraneo e dintorni - 3-2020

foto Francesco Cordio
Giancarlo Paglialunga e Pierluigi Virelli

Una costante caratterizza l’e- È in imminente uscita un tuo la- Prima dell’estate uscirà il mio
spressione artistica rinvenibile voro musicale: puoi anticiparci nuovo disco da solista. Vorrei
nella tua musica popolare: quel- qualcosa? Ci sono temi partico- rappresentare quel linguaggio
la di essere fieramente ancorata lari su cui sei focalizzato ed il sonoro che inizia con la storia
ad un mondo agropastorale che cui messaggio vorresti suonasse dell’uomo ma che non finisce e
tu non solo canti e suoni ma che forte e chiaro? non deve finire con il passato. Il
diventa oggetto di una tua ap- tentativo è quello di darne una
passionata ricerca attraverso le lettura contemporanea.
tradizioni contadine, la vita e il Mi piace a tal proposito ricordare
lavoro dei pastori, i gesti della che recentemente è stato realiz-
quotidianità agreste. Questo zato un documentario, intitolato
tuo incessante ricorso alle origi- “Ai piedi della Sila”, che ha lo
ni… per trovare cosa? scopo di raccontare cosa e quanto
Non so se si debba trovare qual- oggi sia rimasto della civiltà con-
cosa. Credo sia naturale voltarsi tadina in questa zona del Mezzo-
indietro per indagare e tentare di giorno d’Italia.
capire come e cosa l’uomo abbia Realizzato dai registi romani
comunicato determinati senti- Francesco Cordio e Fabrizio Ma-
menti, le proprie emozioni più rini, è andato in onda lo scorso
ataviche attraverso diversi linLa dicembre su Geo, la trasmissio-
civiltà agropastorale è una de- ne di Rai3. Vita e mondo agro-
positaria formidabile di questi pastorale, antiche tradizioni e
contenuti in cui l’uomo vive in musica: qui c’è la genuinità di un
simbiosi con la natura. Non co- luogo e una perfetta armonia tra
noscere perciò quella vita, quella queste dimensioni. Potete vede-
cultura, significa non conoscere re il documentario sul mio cana-
l’uomo e il lungo tragitto che ha le You Tube o sulla mia pagina
fatto nel corso dei millenni.. Pierluigi Virelli (foto di Alessandro Garofalo) Facebook.

pierLuigi VireLLi certainly feel like saying that I am a big fan I don’t know if anything should be found.
of music, sound and choreutic language. I think it is natural to look back to investi-
The professional ethno-musician. at some point in your life you emigra- gate and try to understand how man has
His seems to be more a wide-ranging ted. Normally those who emigrate do communicated certain feelings, his most
cultural mission than simply or solely mu- so because they are driven by drastic ancestral emotions through different lan-
sical, since he insists with passionate ob- reasons. in your case, did you go away guages. The agro-pastoral civilization is a
stinacy and competence in spreading the to better understand your land by li- formidable custodian of these contents in
agro-pastoral culture of his land, Calabria, ving it from afar? What were you lo- which man lives in symbiosis with nature.
of which popular music is only one of the oking for? Therefore not knowing that life, that cultu-
many emanations. With a thousand con- When I left I was not clear if I was looking re, means not knowing man and the long
certs already archived, sounds discovered for something specific: surely I like to say journey he has made over the millennia.
and re-proposed, millennial words brought that I did not emigrate but simply left, to your musical work is imminent: are the-
to the fore, smells and flavors transformed go to discover, observe, try to understand re particular themes you are focused
into music, songs and dance, Virelli repre- how the rest of the world works, for human on and whose message you would like
sents himself as an explorer of the secrets and professional growth. Out of curiosity, to sound loud and clear?
hidden behind the strings and drums, the I left for the United States, for the Europe- I would like to represent that sonic langua-
bells and the leather, the story of the elder- an capitals. When you are young you are ge that begins with human history but
ly. Wind instruments, flying guitars, pipita, hungry for knowledge, to see what you that does not end and must not end with
marranzano, whistles, percussion and don’t know. A simple desire to open up to the past. In this regard, I like to remind you
bagpipes are the faithful companions of a the world. that a documentary was recently made
life adventure of this thirty-six-year-old ar- a constant characterizes the artistic on the Geo broadcast on Rai3, entitled “At
tist struck by light, just 14 years old, by the expression found in your popular the foot of the Sila”, which aims to tell what
sound of a shepherd on a mountain road. music: being fiercely anchored in an and how much of the peasant civilization
Which do you think is the definition agro-pastoral world that you not only remains in this area of southern Italy to-
that comes closest to your artistic sen- sing and play but that becomes the day. Life and agro-pastoral world, ancient
sitivity? object of your passionate research traditions and music: here is the authen-
I have never been convinced that defini- through peasant traditions, the life ticity of a place and a perfect harmony
tions can make the idea of what you do, and work of the shepherds, gestures of between these dimensions. You can see
because sometimes they could even be rural everyday life. This relentless use the documentary on my You Tube channel
misleading and complicate everything. I of your origins ... to find what? or on my Facebook page.

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