Interview: FROM AMERICARUSO. THE LOST CONCERT the film directed by Walter Veltroni

Music news

80 years after the birth of Lucio Dalla, “DALLAMERICARUSO” arrives at the cinema on 20-21-22 November. THE LOST CONCERTO”, the new event film directed by WALTER VELTRONI.

From November 20th in digital format and from December 1st in physical format, the concert will be available for the first time in an album, “DALLAMERICARUSO – LIVE AT VILLAGE GATE, NEW YORK 03/23/1986” (published and distributed by Sony Music) .

The 4K docu-film brings to the big screen the complete footage of Dalla’s 1986 concert at the Village Gate in New York, edited by Ambrogio Lo Giudice, Pressing Line tour producer, which was almost entirely lost, now found, restored and remastered in Dolby Atmos. In addition to reviving the music of that night in New York, it recounts the birth of “CARUSO”, a song composed in Sorrento and published 37 years ago, on 10 October 1986, among the best known and loved not only of Dalla’s career, but of the entire history of Italian music.

“FROM AMERICARUSO. THE LOST CONCERT” is a film that was born by bringing to light a multi-layered love story: Caruso’s Neapolitan one and the one that binds Dalla to Naples and Sorrento (lands that Lucio has always felt was his), but also to America and to jazz (he was a born jazz musician and found himself years later playing in the temple of international jazz in New York).

We interviewed the director of the film Walter Veltroni and Angela Baraldi.

THE VIDEO INTERVIEW

THE SYNOPSIS

In the summer of 1986 Lucio Dalla, in the company of some friends, is crossing the Gulf of Sorrento with his boat. He is already considered one of the giants of Italian music and is returning from the concert at the Village Gate in New York, where with Stadio he recorded a live album destined to be called “Dall’America”.

Things, however, go differently. In fact, the album is still missing an unreleased song, which is slow in arriving. And it was precisely on his return from the States, when his boat broke down off the coast of Sorrento, that “CARUSO” was born. Thus, the album changes name and becomes “DallAmeriCaruso”, Dalla’s most famous album, an absolute classic of international song, capable of selling, in various languages, more than 38 million copies.

As Lucio Dalla himself explained, the genesis of “CARUSO” takes place on a precise day: the one in which, when his boat broke down between Naples and Sorrento was towed to shore, Dalla went to sleep at the Hotel Excelsior where he was assigned the very room where, in 1921, Enrico Caruso had stayed. According to legend, the great singer, ill and at the end of his life, had fallen in love with a young woman to whom he taught music in that hotel in Sorrento.

The hotel bartender at the time, Angelo Leonelli, told Dalla. Sitting at Caruso’s piano, in the hotel that had been the stage of that heartbreaking love (whether true or legendary), the “castaway” Lucio Dalla composed a song that brings together his pop imagination and the best melody of the Neapolitan tradition and Italian. In the film we find the objects and thoughts of those days and we retrace them in the company of the rock singer-songwriter and actress Angela Baraldi, who was on board the “Catarro” when the breakdown occurred, of Gaetano Curreri and Ricky Portera of Stadio, the owners of the Hotel Excelsior Guido Fiorentino and Lidia Fiorentino, of the former concierge Antonino Galano, of the music critic Gino Castaldo, of the director Ambrogio Lo Giudice, of the television author Nicola Sisto and of Paolo Glisenti, spectator – as the archive images showed – of the evening of Village Gate. To complete the story, the private and completely unpublished images of Lucio Dalla and the poignant interpretation of the pianist Danilo Rea.

The event at the cinema is designed to make spectators relive the emotion of the music of Lucio Dalla, who landed in the Big Apple with an incredible repertoire supported by his band, Stadio. A film to listen to and sing, which tells of the American journey, for him a point of arrival and at the same time the opportunity for a new start that will lead him to write one of his greatest masterpieces.

This new documentary arrives in the wake of the success of “Fabrizio De André and PFM – Il concerto trova”, from the same creators, again directed by Veltroni.

THE TRAILER

THE DISC

The concert album “Dallamericaruso – Live at Village Gate, New York 03/23/1986” (Sony Music) will be available from November 20th digitally and from December 1st in double CD format, double black vinyl, colored LP version (exclusive to the Sony Music Store) and in Dolby Atmos.

The physical versions also contain three texts written by Walter Veltroni, Ambrogio Lo Giudice and Lorenzo Cazzaniga. The Dolby Atmos version also contains the song “Caruso”.

THE TRACKLIST

This is the tracklist of the album:

DISC 1 – “Organized trips”, “L’ultima luna”, “Anna e Marco”, “Tutta la vita”, “If I were an angel”, “Cara” and “Washington”.

DISC 2 – “The Evening of Miracles”, “Balla Balla Ballerino”, “Tango”, “Ask Who the Beatles Were”, “Futura”, “Star of the Sea”, “The Year to Come” and “4/3 /1943”.

Staff

Written by

Christopher Johnson

Christopher Johnson is a dedicated writer and key contributor to the WECB website, Emerson College's student-run radio station. Passionate about music, radio communication, and journalism, Christopher pursues his craft with a blend of meticulous research and creative flair. His writings on the site cover an array of subjects, from music reviews and artist interviews to event updates and industry news. As an active member of the Emerson College community, Christopher is not only a writer but also an advocate for student involvement, using his work to foster increased engagement and enthusiasm within the school's radio and broadcasting culture. Through his consistent and high-quality outputs, Christopher Johnson helps shape the voice and identity of WECB, truly embodying its motto of being an inclusive, diverse, and enthusiastic music community.