Berlin’s foremost daily, Der Tagesspiegel, gave a review of Vinicio Capossela's concert at the cinema-theatre Babylon on October 10, 2007. Penned by Peter Von Becker, the article was featured in the culture pages of the newspaper. Here is the translation:
THE ROMAN MINOTAUR
He enters the scene like a monster. Wrapped up in shadow, stage fog and tufted fur, as he plays a sort of bone flute, like a Satyr, a Pan, wreaking panic. Vinicio Capossela sings, resounds, desires, curses: “Do Not Bargain” (“Non trattare”), a Visitation. “Bis ich im Blut der Gottlosen meine Füße wasche” (“Till I wash my feet in the blood of the godless”, “Finché nel sangue dell'empio mi laverò i piedi”), says the German translation written on the black back wall. One would believe to be at a fundamentalist Mass. He then puts on a bull’s mask, introduces himself as “his own Minotaur” and sings “Brenne Troja” (“Burn Troy”, “Brucia Troia”)! But little by little, from song to song and from disguise to disguise, the monster turns himself into a musical comedian, clown, and Maestro.
Vinicio - as his fans call him – is regarded as a Latin mixture of Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. He is a poet and composer, and during the concert he plays the piano, the guitar and the accordion. He looks like one of Frank Zappa’s descendants with a sparser hairline, and he is in Germany with his band to play his only gig in an almost intimate, crammed-to-the-brim cinema-theatre Babylon. His outdoor concerts in Italy are attended by 30,000 people. His dark voice has something of Tom Waits and Paolo Conte, and it sometimes flirts with bel canto, like when he asks “Che cossè l’amor?” or pays homage with “Una rosa”. But Vinicio mixes it all in a potpourri of rock, rap and romance, tango and tarantella. A music circus.(Peter von Becker)
article posted by:Luca Bernini, Concerti e Produzioni