The window on the memory of DAVIDE VAN DE SFROOS opens in theaters

Article by Marzia Picciano

When Davide Van De Sfroos he answered the phone a week ago, it's exactly as I could have imagined, I was catapulted into his world from afar. At 12 o'clock, even if separated by a cornet, all the laghee imagery that distinguishes him and has followed him around Italy for years now is powerfully revealed – let's say that it is accompanied by an important din, that of the midday bells, but after all, what could we expect?

We are on the lakeside of Menno, he tells us, “I just hadn't considered the tubular bells factor here and they are enthusiasts here, they go on for up to an hour, they're very long“, and every party and baptism required its own bell-ringing celebration, in fact he had to change office, otherwise he wouldn't get out of it. “Nwe couldn't understand anything anymore”, and for a moment the idea of a singer almost too immersed in his material makes you smile.

After all, Van De Sfroos we have often hosted him on these pages (here and here, for example) and following his exploits has a bit of the epic advance of the voice of the interior, understood as hinterland, but not the one misrepresented by the media and become synonymous with backwardness or something else. I'm talking about a dimension of the soul, which probably for many does not have the features of the hills and mountains in the arms of Lake Como, but probably retains the same flavor.

He must have thought exactly this when he put into action the idea of his new tour which had just started, Davide Van De Sfroos & Folkestra 2026? So a tour of theaters, which is not new, but his first with a small orchestra that will support some of his historic musicians to give a new look to the ballads and stories that effectively represent his repertoire.

When we heard from him recently he closed the Varese date on January 23rd, the first of the tour, “as per tradition, it has always been a place of departure or arrival or passage, but always present“, before the second one in Mantua. There, in those two days of preparation, he understood that it would be different.

“We too heard for the first time the orchestra really truly amplified and all the pieces as a whole, a mix between the band, therefore step and double bass, drums and piano, me with my guitar, and then Anga (Angapiemage Galiano Persico) and her violin who directs all the boys, and so on… and there I felt the great strength of this union, between folk, rhythm and therefore the help of classical instruments, both wind and strings”.

A surprise for the soul?

“I have to say yes. When so much time passes, the risk is of finding yourself faced with something that is repeating itself, which after all, is inevitable. However, with all these curious arrangements, with these choices to change the cards on the table a little, you find yourself every time like with a new dress, even if they are songs that you may have played many, many years ago. They give me an extremely new sensation, one that I had sometimes dreamed or thought about. Because the arrangements on the album were a certain way, maybe I couldn't reproduce them live live, because I couldn't have all those musicians. Now, however, it's like finding yourself presenting something extremely new and stimulating. This is priceless. It's what makes you feel, with each song, the vibration, like the first times”.

It is Davide's first truly orchestral work with Folkestra. Yes, there was an album of pure symphony, “but they were 45 elements that were guided by the Maestro and I simply sang over them, but it was like listening to a soundtrack“, that is, his songs transformed into an orchestra, him standing still with the microphone.”Here, however, it's like doing a concert with the band accompanied, however, aided and fed by wind instruments, violins, violas, cello and so on”.

What was the public's response to this new version of De Sfroos and of ballads that have now become an element of common feeling for a long time, and above all, how was Davide's response to this exciting experiment?

We already know from the public that there has been appreciation. Van De Sfroos and Folkestra already have three sold ouds in their pocket for the final dates of the tour, namely Arcore, Saronno and Como, and it is no small thing that a tour in the theaters of these cities actually sells out like this.

“I had a lot of faith in this type of experiment and I must say that the public, who responded immediately with a sold out, and copiously also in Varese and Mantua, responded with great warmth. Also because they also realized that they were being offered a show which, beyond the style of the musical genre, which may or may not be of interest, has to do with excellent music. A certain type of song is performed, even the best known ones such as Pulènta and galèna frègia, in a very rich, very powerful way. And the slower, more meditative songs sound in such a poignant way, because these instruments are able to create a halo, a narrative from an emotional point of view that fills every hole.”

It's difficult not to be touched by it. “I saw an enthusiastic audience, because they didn't hold back, very attentive, very respectful, but also very loud at the end of the song”.

Not something he ever thought of doing outdoors, at an outdoor concert, with beers and the desire to dance. This is the tour of contemplation, as well as the (very calculated) entrepreneurial risk of the artist, also because nowadays it is not certain that everyone has a great desire to “feel”.

There's even more. There is that the trajectory of Van De Sfroos' career also includes some responsibility at a certain point, which is welcome, obviously he says, “in not letting certain stories, this language and certain tools die.”

“When from punk or rock I fell in love with the power of folk and ethnic music in general, I didn't have in mind being the spokesperson for who knows what movement. This happened precisely because the passion was there and there were no discounts. It was something really straight, heartfelt. I knew that I wouldn't have walked with anything else, because it was precisely what came to me from inside, like a calling, a vocation.”

From vision to awareness, however, the transition is not obvious. “As the years went by I realized that there weren't many of us making a product like this, also because it could be, in quotes, inconvenient, if we consider the mainstream from the point of view of the diffusion of the songs. The dialect, even according to many producers, couldn't work because it was relegated to other beliefs, other times. Instead I realized that folk always exists: it never seems to be in fashion, but it never fades because it's part of the roots, it's part of the very structure from which it was born everything.”

In the end it is a lowest common denominator. “Even the apparently most distant people, when they find themselves dealing with these instruments or these rhythms, perceive a certain emotion, a certain commotion, and then a window onto the memory opens.”

Then this window is actually an infinite terrace, because beyond a tour in the national north-east, the one where Van De Sfroos with his music naturally makes inroads by presence, osmosis let's say, Van De Sfroos has played almost everywhere, and has his cover bands not only in Verona but also in Cagliari. And what about a tour with Folkestra in the theaters of the south? For now we'll finish what we have to do, then who knows…