DISCOVERING TENEDLE’S MUSIC
The story begins one night in October, in an industrial wasteland lost between Sesto Fiorentino and Osmannoro. In the car we are four: traveling with my friends Italo, Marco and Patrizia. Patrizia has invited us to the concert of Tenedle at Show Room Bechelli: it is not easy to get there, as we turn into an urban maze to dark roads, including deserts sheds, but I must say that is really worth. The concert of Dimitri Niccolai, aka Tenedle, is one of those musical discoveries that occur rarely, but when they happen they are important. The performance of the Florentine songwriter, now based in The Netherlands is exciting: high level music, immersive electronic arrangements, non-trivial texts and great choreography. Dimitri moves as a real good show-man as well as a refined musician and singer. After two hours of music, with songs from the last album “Vulcano” and not only, audience singing several times in chorus, songs as “Amore da un altro mondo“ and “La stella popolare”, the concert ends with a long applause then an invitation to have a drink together. Patrizia, who took several photos during the show, goes to greet Dimitri and presenting me to him: he’s a nice boy, kind and helpful, his eyes shine as he listens to his fans singing his songs, he shakes my hand and by my proposal to interview smiles at me and gives me a copy of “Vulcano” wich I let him promptly sign.
At home in the following days I have heard and listened several times the twelve tracks on the album, following the lyrics in the booklet. All songs are written by Tenedle, who sings accompanying himself on keyboards and electric guitars together with bass player Jos Caspers and the trumpet of Bert Lochs.
The style looks very eclectic and personal, even though it is easy to grasp some influences of great national artists such as Battiato and Baustelle. The lyrics are real poetry, in the best tradition of Italian singer: lyrics are engaged, protest, love and the desire to escape . The text of “Gliese” (perhaps a reference to the star Gliese 581, that is more than 20 light years from Earth, where it was announced finding a planet similar to ours in the habitable zone?) Is a song of cosmic love that alludes to the distance abysmal that can separate people, incommunicableness who can not overcome the light-years whit the delicate ballads where Dimitri puts aside electronic bases and relies on trumpet and piano – are sweet and dreamy, evanescent, captures that place that is between sleep and wakefulness. The album ends with the longest piece, with the provocative invitation to burn “these mountains of books, music mountains”, with the desire to surrender to sleep and to dream and to refuse to live a busy life and alienating. At this point you just have also listen attentively to the songs of the four previous album’s byTenedle, he began in 2003 and never stops. Sure that our Italian-Dutch citizen will surprise us again with other albums and other unforgettable songs.
Massimo Acciai Baggiani
Segreti di Pulcinella – Rivista di letteratura e cultura varia