I changed my guitar’s strings and practiced all the songs: on Saturday night I’m performing with Fiamma Fumana at a festival I am really intrigued by, Balla Coi Cinghiali. I think it will be the last FF show for quite a while. The creativity crisis I sense in the music scene; Jessica’s decision to leave the band, after she became a mother ; the various commitments of other FF members; and the shift in my own interests made me conclude that going on would be a mistake. Music is too beautiful and too important to be made on the side, using one’s consummate experience. I can’t even imagine making another album, in the absence of an urgent, vital message to get out to the world. Better to stop, think, maybe try out new stuff.

This is no time for giving speeches. I wish to thank everyone who sang, played, danced, listened, believed. I will never forget you. I still believe in the vision of Italy’s traditional music as living matter, to be danced in clubs, played in the proverbial garages and kept near to our hearts. I am certain that this music will stay with me, and maybe one day I will feel that my contribution is needed again. Saturday, at BCC, I will perform with a naked heart. That’s all folks.