Available from Friday, September 24 “Non Esiste Amore A Napoli”, the new album by Tropico, labeled Island Records.
Partenopean and born in ’85, Davide Petrella has given us a delicate album, sensitive and colorful as the sea of Naples; it is divided into 14 tracks all linked by a single red lace that, “like a unique intersection of things”, becomes a real hymn to love. The artist in his new album, accompanied by some featuring (few but good), told us about the world through the eyes of those who see love as the only engine of the planet, all set in a romantic Naples.
Taken by his work then, it seemed right to ask him a few questions about it.
“Non Esiste Amore A Napoli” is a very intimate work. How much of your private life is in the album?
So, I always say that music belongs to the people. And I really believe that.
I believe that in order for a song to be accomplished, it has to try to speak to everyone.
For me, starting with personal, specific facts about my life is just a spark to write a song… there’s my life in my songs, but there’s also every person keeping their antennae straight. I think the songwriter has a high sensitivity to the precious things in life, that maybe other people can’t explain or tell about, but they’re theirs as mine, they’re already there. Songwriters just go looking for them, for everyone, because it’s in their nature.
Naples is certainly a romantic city, with a double face. How much did your hometown weigh in the writing phase of the album?
Naples for me is the center of the world.
I love traveling and discovering new places in the world and until now, for me there is nothing comparable to Naples. It is an unrepeatable crossroads of things, of contaminations, of humans, shadows and lights, absolutely unrepeatable. Naples is seen and told in so many ways, I am deeply in love with it. Cyclically Naples loses the thread of the story, then, its people, its souls, its planets realign themselves and the story becomes incredible again. Naples is always awake, even when it seems to be sleeping, it is always alive.
The feeling is that something very powerful is about to happen. I don’t know what it is, but I’m here.
In the album there are some very interesting featuring, including Elisa Toffoli. What was it like working with her?
When I wrote “C’eravamo Tanto Amati” I immediately understood that in order to make the story more complete, certain things should be sung by a female voice. I immediately thought of Elisa, because I felt that the piece was special, it was sincere, intimate, and it was really alive. Elisa knows me enough to be able to enter sincerely into the story of the song. It was just asking to be understood. Elisa understood it right away, when I listened to her vocal takes it broke me in two, it was a jewel. I will always thank her for all the advice and for being the way she is, a jewel.
What artist would you like to feature in the future?
I can’t think of one right now, I’m not a fan of featuring for its own sake, there must be a sincere appreciation and the possibility of actually doing a collaboration that enriches us, otherwise there is no point in collaborating.
Considering the health emergency we are living through, it was definitely not a “normal” release. How have you lived/are you living this period?
We are always going to three thousand km/h. I work with a team that I always try to choose carefully.
I need free people, who want to go higher, who go for music and art, when I find them, I also lend them my soul. I feel that with this team I can really make a difference. I’ve worked so hard to be able to afford the privilege of saying something like this: we’re free here and we’re crazy about this stuff. The installation of the boat in the Gulf of Naples is just one of the things we’re doing. The release, like the videos, the graphics, the songs, the sound, the lyrics, the voice… are all ways to try to make ourselves more visible, to try to tell the music that we are here.
Now let’s talk about live shows. Lately there have been a lot of problems related to this, since the venues still don’t have 100% of the capacity, but hopefully we are on our way to a definitive solution. Will we see Tropico on stage soon?
Before finding the Tropico project I went through at least 3 or 4 artistic lives. We played everywhere in Italy, in any condition, in any place… I’ve been in a band, I’ve been alone, I’ve never asked myself many questions, even when playing wasn’t as easy as today. The important thing was to play.
Concerts are the first thing, because there are people who really believe in you. Honestly, I don’t think the time for concerts has come yet, there is a lot of confusion and for the government of idiots we have, culture in general doesn’t exist. I can’t wait to be able to bring up the delirium that I would like to bring as a show to the live shows… Everything has changed for me and I want the live shows to be an experience too. But there aren’t the prerequisites around yet unfortunately and I don’t want any half-lives for my next concerts, I’ll release a lot of projects and songs and I hope to announce live dates as I’m dreaming of them as soon as possible.
PH Enrico Rassu, Vittoria Piscitelli, Biagio Munciguerra
