CLARA SALVO

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In the tumultuous ’60s and ’70s, amidst the fervor of capitalist euphoria following the Economic Boom, folk music morphed from authentic expressions of daily life into commodified relics, brands and icons, serving commercial interests or fueling careers in what would soon be dubbed World Music. Amidst this cultural shift, Clara Salvo, still a student in Palermo, stood alongside the labor protest movements, and at the forefront of Italy’s early feminist marches, wielding her voice as a weapon and her guitar as a shield. Roaming the rural and urban landscapes of Sicily, Clara delved deep into the island’s musical soul, collecting and inheriting stories, lullabies, and chants which would form the foundation of the repertoire for “sung rallies” with the group Canzoniere di Democrazia Proletaria.

Clara Salvo’s story intertwines with those of the legendary Rosa Balistreri and the last of the ‘cantastorie’ (troubadours), from whom she received tales and songs in real-time. Sharing a passion for cuisine with one of these cantastorie, the anarchist Pino Veneziano, Clara turned cooking into her profession. Alongside her songs, Clara delved into the traditions of Sicilian culinary traditions, collecting thousands recipes all over the island, which she then meticulously preserved in her restaurant in her hometown of Trapani. Bridging culinary traditions and folk songs, her restaurant became a bastion of resistance against folkmarket commodification, exoticism, and touristification.

This album marks Clara Salvo’s first ever studio recording, undertaken at the threshold of her 70th year, reigniting the fading embers of Sicilian struggle and hope. With the masterful contributions of Matilde Politi, and featuring two of the comrades from the Canzoniere di Democrazia Proletaria, Clara gathers songs and stories spanning from the 1960s back to the mid-1800s, inherited in a Sicily where a resilient practical idealism—rooted in peasant and laborer experiences—tempered fatalism, a reality where speaking truth to Power, regardless of the outcome, was not yet futile or worse, advantageous.

Each song on this album encapsulates many tales, weaving together the diverse threads of humanity, not just of the past, but crucially, of the present and future. Whether it’s the ballads of cantastorie, anarchist anthems, prison chants, tributes to Rosa Balistreri, or the protest songs, often dismissed as nostalgic relics, here, gathered through live-in-studio recordings, they resonate anew, speaking to our present with the tireless and rebellious determination of the last great living voice of Sicilian folk.
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Clara Salvo: voice
Matilde Politi: voice, guitar, vocal dubs.
Enrico Stassi and Gaspare Perricone (from Canzoniere di Democrazia Proletaria): choir
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Music and lyrics by:
Ciccio Busacca (“Comu canciari lu munnu”), Pino Veneziano (“Soccu vonnu”, “La jatta”, “Lu patruni è suvecchiu”), Ignazio Buttitta e Rosa Balistreri (“La Sicilia avi un patruni”), Traditional (“Ma veni affaccia”, “Guvernu italianu”, “Lissandro”, “Catarine’ ncì ncì”, “Ponticello”, “Vinutu sugnu”, “Ninna nanna”), Aldo Lombardo (“Serenata per Paola”), Alberto Piazza (“Terra ca nun senti”)
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Produced by Chiara Scardamaglia & Fabio Parente
Producers: Gianluca Cangemi & Luca Rinaudo

Recorded by Luca Rinaudo at Zeit Studio (Palermo, Sicily).
Producer: Gianluca Cangemi. Studio assistant: Marco Nascia.

Mixed and Mastered by Luca Rinaudo at Zeit Studio (Palermo, Sicily)
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Graphic design and Artwork in inlay of physical release: Giulia Calabrese
Cover art: “Donnachitarra (portrait of Clara)” by Carmelo Morreale
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Curator: Gianluca Cangemi
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© ℗ Almendra Music by Moger Arte e Cultura, 2023
cat. num.  AM0053