“MAC” LP COVER

There was a risk of making something trite… Taking the photo for the album cover of Frank Salis and James Andrews was an exciting challenge. I wanted to simultaneously convey the depth of New Orleans’ musical history and the Crescent City’s strong spirit of inclusion. The good soul of Dr. John was already present in the title. On a hot summer night I thought about Irving Penn’s shots of the hands of Miles Davis. What if those experienced hands had communicated with other hands eager to learn? While I was thinking about that, I was playing with a necklace from the New Orleans Carnival. Et voilà! EUREKA! The hands of James and Frank seal an artistic partnership between cultures and generations. Their hands are spontaneously sharing the soul of New Orleans. The MAC LP cover was done! Frank liked it immediately: <In my opinion it is a brilliant idea that came out of Matteo Ceschi’s brain, perpetually looking for new ideas. The image can be read in many ways, one of which is certainly the passage of something. I would say more of a passage of culture than a simply passing of the baton.>

– Frank Salis and James Andrews, MAC, produced by Frank Salis and Nicolas Gilliet, NicOLAsound Records 2024 © – OUT MARCH 25TH

(Backstage photography: Vincenzo Del Franco e Nicolas Gilliet, Lugano, August 13, 2024)

FUORI E MOSSO

Milan, January 19, 2023: A rainy evening. The windshield of a car. Three friends chat. Everything seems blurry from inside… FUORI & MOSSO…

MANUEL AGNELLI: STUDIO SESSION AND NEW ALBUM

A bunch of shots taken in April during Manuel Agnelli‘s studio session for new solo album “Ama il prossimo tuo come te stesso” (In stores September 30, Island Records/Universal Music Italia)

When the Soul focuses… The lights dim to leave room for the flow of music…

“MR. TRAINSPOTTING” – IRVINE WELSH

“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.” (Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, 1993)

When I first read Trainspotting I realized I was very fond of alcohol and even more of music. Irvine Welsh impressed me as well as John Belushi did. Mr. Welsh’s prose has made everything more real and less “boyish” by transforming the wandering from one party to another into an apprenticeship… that is… both crazy but meticulous… And it has transformed me into the sonic lover and the cultural agitator I am today.

(Thanks to Nicola and Gabriele – Serendeepity Milano)

“FUJI X PASSION”, NOVEMBER 2021: TAKING PICS DURING A RALLY

In FUJI X PASSION, November 2021 issue, Taking pictures during a rally: Individual tales and collective narrative in the eyes of a photographer, my photographic essay. ENJOY!

TAMBURI NERI: A SUMMER TRIP IN ADVANCE

From the beginnings, with Glasgow indie label Optimo Music, until today throughout the pandemic. Andrea Barbieri and Claudio Brioschi’s Tamburi neri are back with their new Urlo EP edited by Danza Tribale! A live DJ-set (featuring Japanese singer and DJ Hacci Hiroko, based in Milan) set the ‘hood on fire: electronic boldness, dry drums and bass and ethnic sonic postcards were the main ingredients of the promotional event. Good vibes and black and white frames filled Serendeepity record store in the Ticinese area in Milan, welcoming back an “almost regular” life in town! Tamburi neri’s groove and lucid madness welcomed the Summer in advance!

VINCENZO DA VIA ANFOSSI’S “SHANGHAKEN”

A railway depot area transformed into a temporary atelier during the pandemic thanks to Beppe Treccia RIDE Milan’s advertising manager. A Milanese senior rapper and writer at work. Vincenzo da Via Anfossi a.k.a AKEN 16K has deconstructed (under photographer and video maker Alessandro Bejami Gianotti’s careful eyes) the fears of the contemporary world: plexiglass, paint, spray paint, wood, ropes and recycled materials are the “street antibodies” that animate SHANGHAKEN. Là dove vive l’uomo his first solo exhibition. The choice of where to start is up to you: the maternal boldness of the materials or Vincenzo’s soul slices.

SHANGHAKEN. Là dove vive l’uomo, June 8-20, 2021, RIDE Milano, via Valenza 2 – Ex scalo Pt. Genova, Milano

SUBDIVISION

Sadly, subdivison happens inside some political rallies. One who asks for freedom and rights is the same person who attacks with gender hatred another protester exclaiming “W…E” and “B…H” forgetting precisely about freedom and rights. What a fool a human being is!