Aurora looks like a character from Whispers and shouts (1972), or maybe Fanny and Alexander (1982), one of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s masterpieces. It may or may not be a coincidence, but it is precisely in Scandinavia – to be precise in Norway – that the singer-songwriter Aurora (aka Aurora Aksnes) was born and raised, and of that Nordic and enchanted landscape she retains the blond hair bob and the air of an ethereal creature, capable of hovering over our heads with its clear but powerful voice. And now Aurora is preparing to arrive in Italy, bringing with her the poetry of her lyrics and the enchanted atmosphere of her music. In Ravenna Festival to be exact, historic summer festival of the Romagna city, whose mission has been, since the year zero (1990), to unite music and poetry.
The appointment with Aurora is for July 4 at 21:30 at the Pala De André, for a show that already promises to be exciting and powerful. Together with Aurora, the protagonist of the evening will in fact be his third studio work, The Gods We Can Touch, released in 2022 and dedicated, as the title declares, to the sacred present in our world. That magical and inexplicable vibration which led the ancient Greeks to personify the forces of nature and the emotions of man in a pantheon full of divinities. They are precisely the gods to whom Aurora addresses: Atlas holding the world on her shoulders (the reference passage is Everything Mattersperformed in duet with Pomme), and then Peitho, personification of seduction and persuasion, up to Persephone, Prometheus, Aphrodite and their other companions.
The Gods We Can Touch it’s a dark but enthralling album, which invites you to dance like around a fire on a cold northern winter night. A prayer for love and humanity, almost, and in fact the singer-songwriter also declared that «the age we live in makes it difficult to be human. We ask forgiveness for our instincts and desires, for our nature, when in reality we are perfect as we are. This album celebrates everything we should never be ashamed of.” One track in particular definitely goes in the direction of celebration: Cure For Me, dedicated by Aurora to all those who do not feel accepted by society for who they are, with particular reference to the LGBTQ+ community. The refrain says it clearly: “but I don’t need a cure”, I don’t need a cure.
Ravenna Festival will then continue until 23 July with a rich program of guests. On 30 June it is the turn of Stefano Bollani, who will bring his Concerto Azzurro as a soloist together with the Toscanini Philharmonic conducted by Kristjan Järvi. The Doctor Atomic Symphony by John Adams and 50/50piece written for four hands by Järvi and Bollani.
Ravenna Festival will then move to Russi, where the splendid country setting of Palazzo S. Giacomo will welcome the Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara (July 13) and A classic rave with Enrico Melozzi’s Orchestra Notturna Clandestina (July 15). Many other guests for the occasion, including Niccolò Fabi and Giovanni Sollima.
A triumph of music and sharing, which will culminate in the closing days of the Ravenna Festival (22 and 23 July), with rock and exceptional guests. On 22 July the Fast Animals and Slow Kids will tread the stage of the Pavaglione in Lugo, wearing an unprecedented symphonic dress. Finally, the grand finale on 23 July will be entrusted to guitar hero Mike Stern, to seal an edition of the Ravenna Festival full of great guests and moments of pure emotion.
The Festival program at this link.
