STEFANO SALETTI & BANDA IKONA - SOUNDCITY

"I started from the recordings that, in the past few years, I have made around the Mediterranean in many border cities: Lampedusa, Istanbul, Tangier, Lisbon, Jaffa, Sarajevo, Ventotene... Sounds, noises, radios, voices, sound spaces, buskers have all inspired my melodies, lyrics and rhythms. As always in my compositions I use Sabir, the language of the sea, together with Turkish, Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Neapolitan, Swahili, Romanian and Macedonian to describe the richness, the hopes and the pain that inhabits the "streets" of the Mediterranean. Finally, having grown up, the band is no longer a Piccola Banda Ikona but Banda Ikona, a group of wonderful friends and musicians with whom I share this musical journey."
Stefano Saletti

"The Mediterranean... are streets. By sea and by land. Connected. Streets and cities. Big, small. They hold each other by the hand. Cairo and Marseille, Genoa and Beirut, Istanbul and Tangier, Tunisi and Naples, Barcelona and Alessandria, Palermo and...".
Jean-Claude Izzo, The Lost Sailors

Clicca here to see the promo video of "Soundcity - Sounds from border towns".

SOUNDCITY
Sounds from border towns

1 - Lampedusa andata (S.Saletti) 4:05
2 - Berkin'e bak (S.Saletti) 6:15
3 - Balar tzigana (S.Saletti) 3:48
4 - Azinhaga (S.Saletti) 5:10
5 - Padri di noi (S.Saletti) 6:15
6 - Sarajevo mon amour (S.Saletti - G.Coen - Y.Sannino) 5:05
7 - Gaza Beach (S.Saletti - B.Eramo) 5:29
8 - Sbendout (S.Saletti) 5:02
9 - Balkan trip (S.Saletti - G.Coen) 5:24
10 - Tangeri (S.Saletti) 5:19
11 - Lampedusa ritorno (S.Saletti - G.Coen) 3:51

Produced and arranged by Stefano Saletti
Executive producer: Erasmo Treglia and Pietro Carfì for Finisterre
Recorded and Mixed at Four Winds Studio (Rome) by Stefano Saletti and Bertrand Morane
Additional recording at Pijamasound Studio (Rome) and Bazgaz Studio (Rome)
Mastered by Fabrizio De Carolis, Reference Studio (Rome)

Cover art and image: Michel Collet
Artwork: Roberto Saletti
English translation: Linda Bull

Thanks to: Fabiana, Eugenio, Marione, Fabrizio Dc, Riccardo splendido gruppo d'ascolto e non solo. Leo Cesari e Ramya con i quali continueremo il viaggio. Felice Liperi, Stefano Cioffi, Alessandra Puglisi, Marianna Fazzi, Flavio Severini, Roberto Catucci, Auditorium Parco della Musica Roma, Valentino Saliola ed Helikonia, Marco Abbondanza Festival Sete Sois Sete Luas, Emilio Jordi y Miguel del Festival Espai Mediterranei, Maurizio Pizzardi, Giampaolo Cantini, Raida Zubi, Claudio Martinez, Linda Bull, Daniel Zagghay e il Centro Baobab, Paolo Antonelli, Your Music. Giovanni Lo Cascio suona piatti Ufip

A Titty…

Banda Ikona:
Stefano Saletti: oud, bouzouki, guitars, saz, ukulele, vocals, piano, bodhran, talking drum, tammorra, cabasa, darbouka, marimba, programming
Barbara Eramo: vocals
Gabriele Coen: clarinet, sax
Carlo Cossu: violin
Mario Rivera: acoustic bass

with
Giovanni Lo Cascio: drums set, darbouka, davoul, riq, krakeb, talking drum
Arnaldo Vacca: bodhran, canjira, riq, darbouka, daf, udu, zucca, tamburello, talking drum, davoul, shaker, vibraton, castagnette

and:
Awa Li: vocals (1, 8)
Emeka Ogubunka: vocals (1)
Yasemin Sannino: vocals (2, 6)
Riccardo Tesi: organetto (2, 5, 6, 7)
Pejman Tadayon: ney (2, 6) daf (6)
Alessandro D'Alessandro: organetto (3)
Lucilla Galeazzi: vocals (5)
Nando Citarella: vocals, tammorra, bodhran (5)
Giuliana De Donno: harp (7)
Gabriella Aiello: vocals (9)
Jamal Ouassini: violin (10)

1 - Lampedusa andata A prayer to the sea of Lampedusa sung in Swahili, a language from East Africa. Hope for a new life is entrusted to the sea. "Our Father who art in heaven, amen, hallowed be thy name".

2 - Berkin'e bak The song of a woman in Istanbul on April 29th, 2013. "There will be chaos on May 1st," said an American who passed by... And so it was. In Gezi Park, after clashes with police, Berkin Elvan, a 14 year old boy dies. This melody is inspired by a traditional Armenian theme. The song is sung in Sabir and Turkish. "Berkin'e bak" means "Look at Berkin".

3 - Balar tzigana Sung in Sabir and Romanian: "Dance all night, all night here near me, until the last breath, fruit of love. And the soul will be saved".

4 - Azinhaga An old man in the streets of Lisbon sings a psalm from the Bible. Azinhaga is the name of the country where Jose Saramago was born, as told in his book "Pequenas memórias". In Portuguese it means "path" and is derived from an Arabic word "as-zinaik", "narrow way." It is sung in Sabir and Portuguese.

5 - Padri di noi A nocturnal tammurriata in Ventotene, a border's island, in September 2014 with Our Lady of Grace played on the rocks. It becomes a Pater Noster on a traditional text in Sabir (with a central part in Neapolitan dialect) that fishermen used to sing in the ports of the Mediterranean.

6 - Sarajevo mon amour The title of this song is inspired by a book by Jovan Divjak, hero of the defense of Sarajevo during the Balkan war of 1992-1995. It is sung in Sabir and Turkish.

7 - Gaza Beach A missile kills a child on the beach at Gaza. The image goes around the world - yet another innocent victim of an endless war. Sung in Sabir and Arabic: "The sand is tinged with red, the ball is picked up by the breeze, a hug catches you, now you fly. Oh night, go or stay... ".

8 - Sbendout In Jaffa a protest by rabbis blocks the city. In the West they are closing their borders. "Sbendout" in Sabir means "banished". It is sung in Sabir, French and Spanish: "I am a migrant, I am banished, I am the fear of your past, I'm white, I'm black, I have no colour".

9 - Balkan trip The new routes of migration pass through the Balkans, with old and new fears. Sung in Sabir and Macedonian.

10 - Tangeri At the port of Tangier ,in late August, hundreds of migrants' cars are waiting to board a ship back to Spain. The text is inspired by a traditional song that says: "You who leave, where are you going? You're going to end up coming back". The melody is inspired by a traditional Jewish theme from Morocco based on a classic Moroccan urban rhythm. It is sung in Sabir and Arabic.

11 - Lampedusa ritorno

Italiano