- The Observer, Sunday August 13 2006
The thing about Italian pop is that much of it retains its own musical identity. Top of the charts when I was in Siena was 'Sei Parte Di Me' by Zero Absolute, and as it boomed out of cafes there was absolutely no doubt what part of the world you were in.
Not that you needed much reminding. Siena, Italy's best preserved medieval town, is home to Il Palio, the thrilling and dangerous bareback horse race held in the main square, Piazza del Campo, in July and August. It's all so quintessentially Italian, suggesting that the onrush of globalised culture hasn't trampled everything flat just yet. There's a proud sense of musical identity here that dates back to the Renaissance and the birth of opera - a rich heritage that's celebrated by almost 2,000 music festivals annually, from Neapolitan singing through to brass bands, pop, classical, jazz and opera. I'm here for Siena Jazz, the hidden jewel among Europe's jazz festivals. Its public face is over 30 concerts by Italy's leading jazz musicians over two weeks (all of which are either free or very cheap).
However, out of the public gaze the musicians give seminars during the daytime to some 200 students in the Accademia Nazionale del Jazz. And it's the students that make the festival buzz. 'They are all so keen to acquire knowledge,' says bassist and educator Furio de Castri. 'Jazz was banned under fascism, so we come late to the music!'
Didn't Benito Mussolini realise that by banning the music, he would make it essential? Even his son, Romano, became a professional pianist. And in the years since the war, the stirrings of an Italian jazz voice have developed; rich in lyricism and colour, it emerged during trumpeter Marco Tamburini's set when he played 'Non Ti Scordar Di Me', an old Italian pop song, in the Enoteca wine bar. It allowed the Italian love of good, old-fashioned melody to shine through. The crowd went wild, of course.
