Giovanni Allevi makes it clear immediately, as if it were a warning: «I will speak very slowly, so I can think better about what I have to say. I hope it’s not a problem ». Although shyness makes it difficult for him to talk on the phone, the tousled-haired composer with the contagious smile couldn’t be happier than this: Allevi in the Jungle, the docuseries on which he has been working since last summer and which saw him engaged in the search for a contact with the so-called buskers, the artists who have made the street their stage, is available on RaiPlay starting from 21 December with the first four episodes, which will be followed by a Christmas special set in Milan and the last four events, which will be uploaded to the platform on January 28th.
“I am completely involved in this new adventure” explains Allevi from his home in Milan, thinking about returning to Ascoli to his parents to spend Christmas together. “Given that I am an extremely shy and unsociable person, I never speak to anyone and I have a hard time being on the phone, I literally launched myself into this enterprise during the pandemic »says Allevi, adding that the idea of Allevi in the Jungle began to sprout inside him right in the middle of the first wave, when he was engaged in a series of Facebook streams entitled The clandestine meetings, a mix of philosophy and piano.
Stories.
“During these live shows, I certainly couldn’t imagine that on the other side of the screen there were those crazy geniuses of Twister Film, the film production company devoted to high-level advertising language. From this meeting of ours the idea of realizing was born Allevi in the Jungle».
It is curious that in the docuseries she, who has problems establishing contact, tries to get closer and to open a channel of communication with these artists.
“I was inspired by meeting these extraordinary people, the buskers. I consider them rebels and revolutionaries because, in their gesture and in their art, they reject all the stereotypes of the conformist society that surround us. They don’t care about consent, they don’t care about having a life on social media: they dedicate body and soul to perfecting their show and their expressive form. In front of these extraordinary interlocutors, I could only try to catch the spark from their words: what led them to go against the tide to indulge their deepest nature? I find their message disruptive. Especially in an era that is a bit bored and disheartened like ours. The paradox is that, during these impromptu dialogues, it was they who consoled me ».
The nonconformist drive is something you have in common, don’t you think?
“And how. After the initial fears – I am a person who runs away in front of the camera -, I realized that this nonconformist drive was completely meeting my subversive intent, the desire to demonstrate that true culture, true art and true innovative spirit start from the street , not from the protected areas of the ivory tower. I think this feeling developed in me because of the difficult past I had with the musical academic world: in this sense, Allevi in the Jungle it turned out to be an almost liberating experience ».
On December 24th we will see, again on RaiPlay, the concert that you made at the Colonne di San Lorenzo in Milan. What emotion was it?
«The greatest emotion was discovering a less decorated and less glittering Milan, but enveloped in the embrace of an extraordinary human warmth, which has never been so alive and intense as in this moment».
Did you find this heat during confinement?
«I am absolutely convinced that the lockdown has represented for many people an opportunity for a broadening of the mind: new horizons, new loves, new scenarios, the rediscovery of affection and solidarity. As if a new era had appeared in people’s minds, a more beautiful future. The distinctive features of this new world are less competitiveness and greater solidarity, not to mention the invasion of the feminine ».
That is?
“I am convinced that this obtuse and hyper-competitive masculine decision-making, expression of a will to power, will give way to a new principle in which the protagonist will be an intuition, a sweetness, an ability to welcome the new and the different”.
It is a bit of everyone’s hope, even if reality often clashes with this desire.
“I really believe that a new way of seeing things appeared during the pandemic despite the difficulties and pain that many people have experienced.”
Let’s go back to you: are you continuing to compose?
«From a certain point of view I am unemployed: my business has suffered a total dramatic blockade, but I say this with a smile because it is a condition that, unfortunately, has affected many people in their work. This moment of incubation is the prelude to a more beautiful future where we will return to our activities with a new enthusiasm and a new awareness. During this period I continued to compose music, which became even more intense and profound because it was affected by the double feeling that we are all experiencing: darkness and restlessness on the one hand and the hope of a light and a hug on the one hand. other “.
That’s kind of what he tried to find in Allevi in the Jungle.
“I heard this hope in the voice of the buskers and, in fact, I’m really curious to see how this project, so new and so true, will be perceived by the collective imagination”.
Excuse me if I ask you: but for someone who calls himself antisocial, the lockdown may have represented a sort of “relief” at first?
«When it started, I realized that I had always been in that condition, with the difference that my work had stopped. I have never sought contact because of my nature, I have never led a worldly life and I hardly leave the house, but I realize that, in what is my dream and my business, it is much more important to look inside yourself rather than being influenced by stimuli you have around you. Perhaps that is why I have developed a form of isolation bordering on asceticism. When in a time now past I was performing concerts in the theater with the piano, I had the feeling that from my solitude a bridge was born towards a collective embrace: this was moving and inexplicable for me ».
I imagine the idea of wanting to resume building this bridge as soon as possible is very strong.
«It is my reason for living. We are waiting for events to move towards a more positive hand ».
Speaking of the consumption of live or streaming music that we have been talking about for months, which side are you on?
«It’s as if I came from another era, like the eighteenth century: for me the important thing is to write, to invent new music. I do not know the means by which it is disseminated and they are not my immediate problem. For me music is an empty staff to be filled with notes ».
Like life.
“That’s right, and we must strive to make it a masterpiece, a work of art that we can create every day. If we are behind all the stereotypes that society imposes on us, the risk is to forget the masterpiece that we could be and become. With a gesture of courage we must, however, free ourselves from these superstructures and return to feel indescribable happiness gushing deep in our soul. The subversive intent that I told you earlier ».
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
