Kode9 recalls Sergio Ricciardone: “A catalyst, together we shared the love for ambiguity and intrigue”

When it comes to people like Sergio Ricciardone, I have a particular theory that includes three different levels of closeness. The third (it is a decreasing scale) concerns hundreds of thousands of people who do not know his name not but who, thanks to his creation, C2C Festival, have been influenced and influenced other people in turn. In an unstoppable chain effect, the party at the beginning of the 2000s, in the middle of a disillusioned stagnation for the new millennium, a promoter and two partners, Roberto Spallacci and Giorgio Valletta, took the reins of the Turin cultural stall in his hand creating a real revals of revenge of electronic culture and nightlife.

In the period of 20 years (of the three founders, Sergio then remained the only one in the organization, forming an extremely prepared team to carry on the project) this movement ended up becoming one of the most important avant -garde music festivals in the world, one to go to really proud abroad, as well as the largest indoor in Italy.

Descending level and passing through the second, we find all the people who in fact knew the Turin prodigy, who died prematurely (and unjustly) at 53 years old on 11 March. Among these people there are those who knew him by name, sight or who even “I exchanged two words once at the Lingotto”, thus being able to empirically test the charm, the mystery but also the kindness and extreme calm that broke this omone Salt and pepper Beautiful and esoteric as a Hollywood star of the 1920s. With this gaze that literally pierced you, type San Sebastiano and the arrows.

The last level, the first, now obviously proportional to the closeness, is that of those who wanted and loves him, of those who cried (and, I will not deny it, he cursed every type of possible divinity) for most of the last week. It is the level of those who have shared beautiful and ugly moments with him, pantagrualic binges and copious sips of French wine, but above all deep speeches and unforgettable moments of music.

Ok, but everything 'I'm panegyric to say what? That of all these hundreds of thousands of people (perhaps even millions), all belonging to the three famous levels of this ramshackle theory formulated by a friend with a heart in pieces and the mind still clouded by mourning, in fact there is a specific person who intended me to ask me to remember one of the most important musicologists of our time. He is also a musicologist and exactly like Sergio at the beginning of 2000 he gave birth to something, in this case a blog of music criticism very intuitively renamed Hyperdub, who then became one of the most revolutionary and innovative labels of the twenty -first century electronics. Random names: Burial, DJ Rashad, The Bug, Laurel Halo, Fatima Al Qadiri.

This person I am talking about is called Steve Goodman but calls himself Kode9. He is a writer, musician, DJ and London Label Manager who manages to be inexplicable to be truly A phenomenon in each of the aforementioned activities. Perhaps this is also why Sergio estimated him so much, so much that he has called him to play many times. However, it is rare to be able to unwind an interview with a shy animal like Mr. Goodman. But here we don't talk about discs or tours promotions. Here there is a friendship that even death can interrupt.

How did you meet Sergio?
It is a difficult question. I think the first time I played for C2C was within a Hyperdub showcase. He asked me to make a live set with the late Spaceape at the Carignano Theater in 2010. I get to smile if I think back to his calm during the soundcheck, when the bass dropped the dust from the ceiling and the theater staff was in total panic.

And in addition to music, was there something that tied you?
Food. He tried to make me know Turin food that I had never tried. I remember when he made me know the calf tuna. The latest communication I had with him, a few months ago, were some messages from his hospital bed where we talked about his escape to the Scottish highlands to cure himself. Obviously we made great conversations on local food.

There is a strong link between Hyperdub and C2C, between London and Turin: how do you explain it?
For me Sergio is the explanation of all this. He was the catalyst, through repeated invitations. I think, like many, he was a big fan of Burial. But it also seemed that it was in tune with the aesthetic of the label more generally, and many times he invited me to put together Hyperdub showcase or to make Hyperdub historical sets. As a music curators, I think we shared some brain cells. Perhaps this is summarized by the book project Avant pop to which he asked me to contribute in the last two years.

About Burial. Sergio was humble but also ambitious: did he ever ask you the impossible? That is, to make Burial play to play at the C2C?
He did it one or twice. I made a short set of Burial songs together with my live set at the Carignano Theater in 2010. But, unlike many promoters, once I told him that this was a special occasion that would not be repeated and that Burial was not interested in playing live, he gave up. I think he liked the ambiguity and the mystery of the thing, and several times I have played surprisingly for him, wearing a towel in the head half -set after Aphex Twin. Whether it was the place (the Turin Auto Museum) or the setting of the set (no one else would have made me sound disguised with a green wig for C2C ad Halloween), it always wanted that there was a unique touch. We shared the love for ambiguity, surprise and intrigue. I think we have contributed to strengthening one in the other that there is no contradiction between popularity on the one hand and strange music and without compromise on the other.

In short, you convene with me that there was something unique in him.
And how. Going around the world and playing the festivals as an electronic musician can make you feel a monkey who performs on a conveyor belt. It can be a cold and ungrateful experience. So it is quite rare for a festival quite great always feel an intimate connection with the city. And this has always happened thanks to Sergio every time I have been invited to play. He always joked about the fact that, since he had invited me to play so many times (perhaps almost 10 if the events are included in other cities, but I lost account), we would have renamed the K2K festival. I think it was a catalyst for many people. Speaking with Italian artists friends, we all agree on the genius of having promoted what he called “The Italian New Wave”, and I was honored when during the pandemic he asked me to make a mix of Italian artists for the release of the C0C festival.

What is the happiest memory you have of him?
In 2015 he invited me to cure A Great Symphony for Turinwhere local artists would have made music from different parts of the city, treating the city as an instrument. As a preparation, he led me to take a tour of the city, showing me the squares, architecture and, of course, food.

I also have a very expensive memory of the last time I saw Sergio in person. We were doing a Hyperdub show at the Spring Festival in Barcelona in 2024, and mid -evening I was turning between the crowd, and I was surprised to find it composted in a dark corner alone close to the subwoofers. We found ourselves complaining for 20 minutes how stressful it is to manage a festival or a record label.

Then, oh well, it makes me laugh if I think back to the fact that she had a special cursed file. A black book for flagship artists who had never managed to hire due to how annoying their agents or management teams.

Yes, it seems just a Sergio thing. On Saturday, among other things, you played in Milan. Have you put some track to pay him homage?
Yes, I put Last Winter by DJ Rashad. Obviously, that it was a tribute I only knew.

What will you miss more than him?
I will miss his smile and the random SMS in the middle of the year in which he told me he was organizing the next K2K festival.