Parole Liberate

I have taken part in a special project called “Parole Liberate” (which roughly translates to “liberated words”). It’s an initiative started by the Italian label Baracca & Burattini and promoted by the Ministry of Justice in Italy, for which Italian artists compose the music to lyrics written by imprisoned people. I’m glad that I was invited to contribute. I was presented with different sets of lyrics and I have chosen one that I felt was very direct — I wanted to get to the heart of the matter.

Paolo Bedini, the head of the project, initially asked me to translate the words into English. After a while, we changed our minds and thought of having a mixture of Italian and English in the vocal parts. I had the idea of inviting Tony Levin to sing some of the verses in Italian — I like asking unusual things to the musicians I collaborate with. Tony’s vocals added a whole new layer of depth to the piece. I have also asked Pat Mastelotto to add some drums. My directions for him were: «Think about Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk». Bassist Silvia Ottanà came to my rescue, as I was struggling to find the right bass part and bass sound for the song. The icing on the cake is the trombone arrangement by Annie Whitehead. I have so much respect for Annie’s body of work and musicality. I’m so happy that she decided to lend some of her brilliance.

The track features great mixing and mastering courtesy of my good friend Eugene. I know I can always rely on his ears!

There’s a videoclip for the song, which is titled “Tempo” — once again, it was put together by Alessandra Condello, who had also helped with the video for “Building Homes”.

“Tempo” is now available on all streaming platforms and is included on the album Parole Liberate (Vol. 2), released via Baracca & Burattini on April 3rd and containing more great music and words from a variety of artists. Here’s the link to stream. There are CDs as well. You can purchase your copy on Bandcamp.