Peppe Voltarelli returns to France to present his new album “The great race towards Lupionòpolis”. The work of the Calabrian singer-songwriter already has 120 dates behind him between Italy and abroad, as well as having won the Loano Prize, the most prestigious award for traditional music in Italy. The first appointment is for Friday 13 December 2024 at the Goethe-Institut in Toulouse, for a concert organized by the Dante Alighieri Society and the Italian culture magazine Radici. The second appointment is for Saturday 14 December 2024 at the Marbrerie in Montreuil in the Parisian suburbs for the evening “Le Bal Rital“, in which he returns to play after participation in 2014 and 2020. The third and final appointment, in collaboration with the “Canzoni & Parole” Festival, is for Sunday 15 December 2024 at the Maison de l’Italie in Paris for a meeting together with the figurative arts artist Anna Corcione.

The connection with France

Peppe Voltarelli has been present in France with his music for over fifteen years, with two participations in the Avignon Festival and concerts in the theaters of Anduze, Nantes, Lyon, Paris and Toulouse. His song “Scarpe rossa dusty”, taken from the album “Ultima notte a Malá Strana” released in Europe in 2010 by the prestigious French record label Le Chant du Monde, it was on Radio France playlists for several weeks. In 2019 the single “Dio come ti amo”, a reinterpretation of Domenico Modugno’s global success (with which the Apulian maestro won the Sanremo Festival and participated in the 1966 Eurovision), was published by‘New York label Ora Ora in a new electro swing version in collaboration with the Parisian producers Bart & Baker. Finally, since its foundation in 2022, it has participated every year in “Canzoni & Parole”, a song festival Italian author in Paris. As evidence of the long-lasting and significant relationships with the French public, a special playlist, “Live in France”, is available on his official YouTube channel, with live performances, songs by French masters reinterpreted in Italian and interviews recorded in the Transalpine region (www.peppevoltarelli.eu/youtube/france).

The new album

Published by the Visage Music record label, it is the first album of unreleased songs eight years after the publication of the successful “Voltarelli canta Profazio” and two years later “Planetario”, both works awarded with the Targa Tenco as best performer album in 2016 and in 2021.

The Calabrian singer-songwriter presents his new collection of songs recorded in New York by Marc Urselli (three Grammy Awards and collaborations with Lou Reed, Nick Cave and U2) in the historic EastSide Sound of Manhattan and artistically produced and arranged by the Italian pianist based in Los Angeles Simone Giuliani (to his credit productions with Andrea Bocelli and the London Symphony Orchestra). The album, which contains ten new tracks of which eight songs in Calabrian dialect, one in Italian and an instrumental waltz, sees the presence of musicians of international caliber such as Davin Hoff (double bass), Jake Owen (guitars), Stéphane San Juan (drums ), Mauro Refosco (percussion) and the participation of Eleanor Norton (cello), Dough Wieselman (saxophone and clarinet) and Amy Denio (vocals).

The album is accompanied by the video clips of the songs “Nun signu sulu mai”, shot in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn and directed by Giacomo Triglia (Brunori Sas, Jovanotti, Lucio Dalla, Måneskin) and “Au cinéma”, directed by Lele Nucera and created with the actors and workers of the Calabria Film School of Siderno.

The artist

Peppe Voltarelli is a Calabrian singer, songwriter, actor and writer. Active since 1990 as founder, voice and leader of Il Parto delle Nuo Heavy, a cult band of new Italian folk. As a soloist he has released seven studio albums, four soundtracks and two concerts. He has won the Targa Tenco three times, with “Ultima notte a Malá Strana” in 2010 as best dialect album, with “Voltarelli canta Profazio” in 2016 and with “Planetario” in 2021, both as best interpreter album. He was the leading actor and co-author of the film “The true legend of Tony Vilar” by Giuseppe Gagliardi, the first Italian mockumentary. He boasts collaborations with Claudio Lolli, Teresa De Sio, Silvio Rodríguez, Adriana Varela, Kevin Johansen, Sergio Cammariere, Otello Profazio, Roy Paci, Carmen Consoli, Bandabardò and Amy Denio. An intense concert activity has always led him to play in 24 countries around the world and his records have been published in Europe, Argentina, Canada and the United States. The latest work, the album “La grande corsa verso Lupionòpolis”, recorded in New York and published by Visage Music in 2023, placed 2nd in the final ranking of the Tenco Prize in the best dialect album category. He was also awarded the Nilla Pizzi Prize in 2023 and the Loano Prize in 2024.

(On the cover, Peppe Voltarelli photographed by Danilo Samà in front of the Maison Gainsbourg at 5 bis rue de Verneuil in Paris)