Renzo Rubino was a guest of SPOT – The Podcastthe format hosted by Michael Monina And Maximilian Longo which is recorded live, outdoors, at Spot Music Fest of Bareggio, in the Arcadia Park on the outskirts of Milan. The Apulian singer-songwriter arrives on stage with the imagery he has carried with him for years, that of the sea, boats and ports, and tells the story of Port Rubythe festival he created and which over time, according to him, has put him back on his feet.
Not a promotional interview, but the story of how something born for fun, a man with a small boat playing alone in a port, became an event and at the same time a way out of a difficult moment. In between, anecdotes about guest artists, research work on young people and a record he's been working on for some time.
What is Porto Rubino: the stage is a boat
The festival that Rubino organizes in Puglia has a peculiarity that makes it different from all the others: the stage is a boat and the audience watches the show from the dock. The sea element is constant, and it is a magical experience for those watching, less so for those on board amidst the waves and rolling. An idea that comes from a precise imagination, that of those who really live with the sea.
Over time, Rubino has built a cast around this format that alternates established names and young artists. This year we have given ourselves themes for the individual evenings, such as the one dedicated to thought and word, with Carmen Consoli as his lead artist, a name he had been chasing for years. Then an electronic evening with Dardust, and again Ditonella Piaga and Venerus, in a program that brings together songwriting and research.
How the idea was born after Sanremo 2018
The starting point is a moment of crisis. After the Sanremo Festivalor 2018, which hadn't gone as he hoped, Rubino didn't have much desire to do concerts and didn't know exactly what to do. Having a small boat, he went to sea and began to play alone in the ports. It was the year in which there was talk of closed ports, and he instead discovered the port as a welcoming place full of people, fishermen, children.
Everything was born from those first songs played in a cove. The turning point came with a phone call to Giuliano Sangiorgi, invited to come on board to play a few pieces. From there the word of mouth between friends, the idea of seeing your favorite artist in a context like that of Puglia in the evening, between the moon, sea and waves, and the transformation into a special event.
“Porto Rubino saved me”
When asked if the festival has distracted him from music in eight years, Rubino responds by reversing the perspective. Tell us that Port Rubyin some way, helped him, and at the direct word of the conductors, “Did he save you?”he confirms. It gave him breathing space and the desire to do things again, preventing him from entering into too rigid a perspective immediately after Sanremo.
The paradox he tells is precisely this: after the darkness of 2018, his musical activity grew more than ever, and laterally he started doing many more concerts than before. To the point that today he says he is ready to hand over the festival, perhaps to the two hosts, to dedicate himself solely to the artistic part, while recognizing how much that tiring creature has given him.
The anecdotes of fines, dives and seasickness
A festival at sea brings with it stories that wouldn't happen elsewhere. Rubino tells about Eugenio di Eugenio in Via di Gioiawho after diving from the boat at the end of the concert received a fine, because it is not allowed in those waters, between the Coast Guard and divers. And of Piero Pelu who, despite the invitation not to do so, on the pirates' evening he took the plunge and also made the captain, the cabin boy and all the crew dive.
Then there is the flip side of the coin, those who have suffered from the sea. Rubino mentions Francesca Michielin and Tosca, the latter to the point of asking him to never invite her on a boat again. And the story of Vinicio Capossela, who dived to recover his dog that ended up in the water. Anecdotes which, he says, make Porto Rubino not just a concert but an entire context.
The artists who didn't understand the context
Not everything goes smoothly. When the friends willing to go up for free ran out, the fees arrived and with them also some disappointments, with artists who didn't understand where they were. Rubino talks about those who wanted to bring fifteen people including dancers and visuals on a boat, without realizing the spaces and the meaning of the festival.
On the contrary, the positive example he gives is that of Madameone of the artists he loves most, who, despite having an electronic and complex production, understood the festival and performed as a duo, almost acoustically, creating an evening designed specifically for this purpose. For Rubino, this is the effort he asks for: if the songs are beautiful, they can be stripped and dressed for any context.
Research on young people and the contest for emerging ones
One of Rubino's reasons for pride is the scouting work carried out over the years. Quote Joan Thiele And Lucius Coursesnames passed by Port Ruby before becoming the names they are today.
Hence the idea of a contest for the new generations, hosted at Detune of Milan, with hundreds of applications received and a severe selection process. Rubino says that among the projects presented he found dozens of very high level, sometimes higher than that of already established artists who came on board as main names. A signal, he says, that if these kids are followed and given a space in which to play, there are good conditions for Italian music.
The best album and dreams for the festival
On the personal front, Rubino confirms that he has been working for some time on what he considers the best album of his life. The writing and pre-production are finished, the recording of the final version is underway, but he won't say anything about a date. The desire is to release it before the tenth edition of the festival, a goal that has been set almost as a challenge, given that every year he says it will be the last and every year he does it again.
Looking ahead, dream of bringing Port Ruby outside Puglia without distorting it, in places with a poetic imagination such as Venice, Genoa or Sicily, and he confesses to trying every year with Milan, perhaps at the seaplane base. Before leaving the stage to reach the contest, he closes with the wish to the hosts that their project too, as happened to him and All Music Italiagrow starting from something small that you believe in.
