Raffaello Converso - 'A nuvola è femmena (2023)

On how the idea of Raffaello Converso and Mimmo Napolitano to play the music of Salve D'Esposito was born, the two artists tell:
We are always looking for the Great Neapolitan Music and above all for musicians and lyricists who have enriched our land and spread our roots and traditions through music all over the world.
Who hasn't listened to "Anema e core", also known in the various languages of the world as "How Wonderful to Know"; “Mon Coeur Cherche Ton Coeur”; “With all my heart and soul”; “Alma y corazon” and we could go on…
One day, crossing the threshold of the house of Luisa D'Esposito, known as Isa, daughter of Maestro D'Esposito and his son Andrea Rossi D'Esposito we were introduced to the history of music and of the family of Salve D'Esposito, Director of orchestra at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, considered by the Music Critics of the time (1950) and today as a musician of international standing "for having contributed to profoundly renewing Neapolitan music".

The musical score of D'Esposito's "Anema e core" has given new life to the Neapolitan song, it is in fact a "Slow Lento Sincopato", a completely revolutionary genre because it is danceable. Every anecdote told by Isa evoked familiar images, musical suggestions and many emotions. Mimmo Napolitano: in my work as an arranger, I have noticed how every musical idea, whether of a jazz, classical or popular nature, seemed to come directly from the pieces, which suggested the most natural, the right solution to me, and this feeling was confirmed by the musicians themselves who, in addition to playing their parts, were very involved in this project. When you listen to these songs, you will be emotionally involved and you will travel through time, songs from the 1970s proposed in a jazz version with the refined voice of Raffaello Converso, musician, singer and actor appreciated in Italy and abroad accompanied
from the anema&core ensemble, six musicians who with their instruments enhance the notes and musical metrics of D'Esposito/Napolitano, transforming and transmitting the blue lapping of the waves into music in the company of the seven notes across mountains and oceans, conversing with all languages. What results from their work is a heartfelt tribute to Italian author music appreciated all over the world and enriched, in their interpretation by numerous contaminations: bossanova, opera, Latin American, jazz.