Vito Nicola Paradiso: Frontera

Description

After writing and publishing pedagogical compositions for decades, with the wisdom of artistic maturity, I felt the need to create music which would firstly gratify myself. And so this project was born, constituted by my personal feelings and moods. Through “the Art of Sounds” I narrate about places, characters or simply about the events that have taken place in recent years, in a sort of “musical portraits” of contemporaneity. With this recording I wanted to fix a point, which is, in itself, a starting point. I wished to be not only an interpreter, but a handler of notes and a creator of sound images, constantly looking for new ideas that characterize and alternate between the poetic, the dreamy, the sarcastic and the descriptive. Apart from the solo pieces, I also wanted to include chamber and orchestral music, in which the guitar is the protagonist, together with completely different musical instruments. I admit that I have never had specific training in traditional composition, and probably I will not undertake it in the future, because I want to feel free to express my feelings and aural ideas without any academic conditioning. However, I have a strong awareness that my music arrives to the listener’s heart, before to his head. I advise everyone to enjoy this album with their eyes closed, and during a relaxing moment. Enjoy the music!

Migration issues
Mare Nostrum
This composition for guitar and string orchestra is part of the “Migrations” series and narrates the introspective feeling of an African migrant in the middle of the Mediterranean. This is program music which raises doubts and fears about an uncertain future. Floating in the darkness of night, being half-awake, just like the journey of Ulysses in the waters of the Mediterranean where he was tricked by the songs of the Sirens, so the migrant is surrounded by the winds that carry music coming from the four cardinal points in a sort of fatal attraction. From the dreamlike Prelude (Wind from the North), to the enthralling rhythms of a Bedouin dance from North Africa (2:27 south wind); to the mysterious and disturbing melisma of the Middle East (3:46 wind from the East), up to the Andalusian atmospheres coming from the Iberian Peninsula (5:23 wind from the West). But just as the needle of a compass always points towards one and only one direction, so the migrant’s goal is to point towards the North (6:50 North wind).

Frontera
This meaningful title is inspired by the long border between Mexico and the United States of America: it narrates the journey into the Californian desert of South American migrants, who every day try to cross the border. It also describes the sensations perceived by a man during an unlikely flight in the desert, among snakes, coyotes and the whistling of bullets of the border guards. A wheezing race interrupted just by short overnight stops to rest and catch your breath.

Tribute to Ennio Morricone
Elegia
With the sad news of the death of M ° Morricone on July 6th, 2020, I felt the need to write a piece in his compositional style that would represent as closely as possible his musical imagination, which has always distinguished him in his compositions written for the cinema. Thus this sweet Elegy was born, as a memory and a dutiful homage to a great Italian composer who gave us priceless masterpieces.
Tribute to a friend
Milonga para un amigo
A heartbreaking Milonga written in a Piazzollean style and a dutiful tribute to my friend and colleague Giuseppe Di Gioia, who shared with me all the work of this album: it was recorded in his studio, and he took care of every detail with professionalism and a great passion for music.

Environmental issues
Aquarium de corail
Immerse yourself in a gentle swimming on the seabed of the coral reef, with hundreds of marine varieties of each species surrounding you. The bright colors of the corals illuminated by the rays of the sun filtering through the clear water, air bubbles coming from the seabed, countless shoals of colorful fish fishes that suddenly change direction. An environmentalist tribute to our planet.

Floresta Saudade
“Saudade” iit’s a term that represents ing the melancholy and the sad state of mind of the Brazilian people, a tribute in the form of a Brazilian valse to the largest green lung of the earth, such as the Amazon rainforest, which is annually disfigured by the hand of man’s ignorance.

Gabbiani tra i due Mari
Four musical paintings that narrateing the beauty and the contemporary history of a city of southern Italy with a thousand facets and contradictions. An interactive musical journey of Taranto seen and imagined from above through the eyes of two seagulls (the flute and the clarinet).
The stillness of the night, which in its sweetness expresses a sense of discomfort of a wounded nature; at the first light of dawn with the sweet Awakening on the Mar Piccolo; and then continue with an impetuous and dramatic Gliding among the rivers and the toxic clouds coming up from large factories.
The last painting hopes for the rebirth of the city, which aimsaiming at the redemption and pride of a land rich in history and culture, where the two seagulls freely fly, in the clear sky that is reflected in a wonderful sea.

Tribute to the Eternal City
Per le vie di Roma
A pleasant musical walk looking up through the streets of Rome, often stumbling on the cobblestones and visiting the monuments, parks, and fountains of this splendid city.

Two musical jokes on contemporary politics
38 ° Parallelo
This ironic song tells us of the historic meeting that which took place on June 30, 2018 on the Korean border between two powerful heads of state that who are bizarre to say the least.
As you listen to the song, imagine the silhouette and the way of walking style of Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. A historic meeting from the beginning of the third millennium that which caused a lot of uproars, but ultimately ended in nothing.

Capriccio Italico
A musical joke that grotesquely narrates about two famous contemporary Italian political figures, who share the same first name (Matteo), and): even if they belong to two different political sides, they are nothing but the two faces of the same coin.
Parthenopean nights
Notte a San Gregorio Armeno
& Botti di Capodanno
Notte a San Gregorio Armeno & Botti di Capodanno
This Neapolitan diptych narrates of two of the most important nights of the year. The sweet chant Night in San Gregorio Armeno is inspired by the most important moment of Christmas Eve, a moment when the streets are now empty, and all the people are locked in the house waiting for midnight. On In the cold and deserted streets, mirrors of water reflect the glittering of the Christmas lights in a sort of magical moment in whichwhen time stands still. On the other hand, with a completely different character, the piece New Year’s Fireworks: that, with a hilarious and unbridled tarantella, it describes colors, movements, and noises of the famous fireworks in the Neapolitan city.

Vito Nicola Paradiso