Eight days until Christmas: “The Christmas of memories” (Enrico Ruggeri)

Let’s talk about Christmas according to Enrico Ruggeri. Who started singing about the Event in 1986, for a “Christmas” anthology; then he dedicated himself to a rock reinterpretation of “Jingle bells” in ’88; then in 1999 he wrote the beautiful “Christmas of memories”; finally he closed the circle by taking up all this, together with his partner/songwriter Andrea Mirò and his band, in a CD innervated by unreleased songs and covers of classics.

And we start from here. Skipping over the rereadings of “White Christmas”, “Winter wonderland”, “Jingle bells” or “Have yourself a merry little Christmas” to go to the unreleased ones.
“Stella” (we are not alone in the universe) is a hymn, evidently inspired by the Bethlehem Comet, about the certainty that there is more than what we see. And there is no need to be afraid, however. Because he is “an Other”, a “friend”, real life.
“Once upon a time there was Christmas” is a denunciation, even a violent one, about the Christmas that should be and no longer exists. Today, the 2000s.
“Watches, chains, cell phones and cameras from the windows: and the victim is you / Lots of stuff to eat, to stuff yourself until you feel sick: without ever looking up / A few gestures of solidarity silence the conscience when things are going badly: so as not to ruin this celebration / Once upon a time, on Christmas Day, they left us alone… / …among millions of gifts and Christmas colors, the bright center is us”.

“Little Christmas Letter” is the yearning for an absence, which Christmas amplifies but then redeems.
“How are you, I never hear from you, if I write to you… will you remember me? / Inside the house, night of waiting, a bell rings down in the church… / Immense emptiness, inside that incense, which colors such an intense Christmas with perfumes… / The light of mercy will come, there is noise, but I feel your taste… / Let me say: Merry Christmas, love”

And finally “The Christmas of memories”. Which doesn’t need much comment. Because it’s everyone’s, when we feel like we’ve lost the
child in us. Profound instruments that Ruggeri, the singer-songwriter Ruggeri, knew how to express very well.
“We had times in which those holly branches / dressed up notebooks and little thoughts / And there were many of us, friends with relatives, / neighbors and acquaintances / who are no longer there / In that large room, among that intimacy / … and there was a presence / that I can no longer find”

This song is taken from the book “Le musiche del Natale” by Andrea Pedrinelli, courtesy of the author and publisher Ancora.