Peppe Voltarelli, an Artist-in-Residence in New York City.

Joey Skee (November 12, 2012)

Exploring "The Voyage, the Forefathers, Belonging."

As a New Yorker, I count myself fortunate to be able to enjoy the city’s embarrassment of cultural riches. And as someone appreciative of contemporary Italian culture, I am thrilled that Italian singer-songwriter Peppe Voltarelli [2] is here in the city as artist-in-residence for four Saturdays at Barbès in

Park Slope, Brooklyn. Voltarelli has dubbed this residency “Il viaggio, I padri, L’appartenenza”—The Voyage, the Forefathers, Belonging. He will conclude his stay with a December 8th performance at Drom [3]in Manhattan.

(This residency was organized by Mark Gartenberg of MG Limited [4], who has brought such acts as Vinicio Capossela [5], Carmen Consoli [6], Jovanotti [7], and Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel [8] to the United States.)

Voltarelli began last night’s performance from the back of the small performance space with an a capella chant of Otello Profazio’s “Lu me paise [9]” (My town), in which he dramatically captured the audience’s attention and undercut the adjoining bar’s distracting cacophony. He recounted in a macaronic patter of Italian, Calabrian, Spanish (he had arrived that day from a two-week stay in Buenos Aires), and English about growing up in the Calabrian town of Crosia (Cosenza province), in which the sounds of the weekly open-aired market grounded him aurally to place.

In addition to his own compositions sung with acoustic guitar, “Lu marinaru” and “U paisi di ciucci,” Voltarelli also performed songs that shaped his artistic persona and sense of self, like Domenico Modugno’s “Lu Tambureddu [10],” Luciano Rossi’s “Se mi lasci non vale [11],” and Léo Ferré’s “Les Anarchistes [12].”

The hour–long set was too short but for those of us in New York City, we are fortunate to have another three weeks to enjoy Peppe Voltarelli's unique artistic presence.

Barbès [13]: November 17th and 24, December 1, 7pm
Drom [3], 85 Avenue A, Manhattan: December 8, 9pm

Photograph by John Napoli.