Listen to me

How I did end up here

This is the first question most people ask me.
I come from a family where everyone, in various capacities, deal with or dealt with music.

My grandfather, whom I was named after, was a master of ceremonies and a singer, and his nine children have kept the name high in the tradition of making art.

I do not remember the time when I started making music, I was perhaps too young, but I started professionally to perform at 13 with my first instrument: the saxophone. Later I approached other instruments, to finally arrive at the poorer one, the guitar; and the most ancestral one, the voice. Guitar, voice and tradition that now serve to perfection in telling stories of love and passion, like in the serenades – performed at engagements -  or pieces I perform at weddings.

I studied music as the ancients did: attending a musician's house like a master’s shop. Before being a teacher of technique, the "Master" was a life tutor. He was not just talking about topics of a musical nature, but also answering questions such as "What is happiness?".

Although this path took a very long time and does not include academic qualifications, I am happy to have followed it. I think it made me something more than an instrumentalist, forming my critical spirit and my artistic awareness.

The tours were very interesting experiences. They allowed me to know places and people very different from each other, from the tiny villages of Italy - which retain their authenticity without "tourist pollution" - to the rural suburbs of Eastern Europe.

Also, touring Italy with other Neapolitan musicians has taught me a new language, the “parlesia”. This is a hidden language dating back to the 1600, a code practiced by actors and musicians (so keep the secret!) It is a way to understand that you belong to the same species and to talk freely even in the presence of non-professionals.

The experience of tours is placed in a time and a very specific age of mine, because subsequently the desire to anchor to a place has won over the fascination of discovery. I wanted a place that I could call home, and the Fate - for me born, raised and fed in the womb of Vesuvius - wanted it to be Belfast.

Love for Belfast was born by chance. With the economic crisis of 2009 I lost job in Italy, and while continuing to teach music, the opportunities to perform live had become less and less. This is why I tried my luck in Europe, from Malaga to Prague, passing through Belfast.

Belfast is a small city but with the character of a capital. It has a dense and vibrant history, in which for every blow inflicted by fate there is a great tale of social redemption. Belfast was the right place.

And this is where I started from scratch, musically in the only way I knew. Not as an artist, but as a craftsman who produces each piece by hand, with the humblest raw material, and the simplest tools: guitar and voice.