Banksy - Art or garbage?

It's funny. In a world where anyone would do anything just for personal celebrity someone still tries to hide. And it's much more funny cause the guy is famous. The more he wants to hide the more he gets known!

Banksy. That's the name. Or better that's the nick. He is an artist. If it's acceptable to call artist someone who paints (also) the city walls. Not so much is know about his identity. But it's sure that his pieces of art are part of Sotheby's Auction. At ever increasing sale prices. Maybe that's not enough to call him artist. But his work is strongly discussed. Not only for its quality. That could be liked or not. No. What does really propeller the discussion is that it's still not clear if Banksy is a silly vandal or something more.

To some extent he reminds me Keith Haring. Haring did started to satisfy his artistic needs in the NYC underground. Painting with white graffiti the black paper sheet used for covering "expired" ads. The ones who did "steal" those curious drawings have now a treasure in their hands.

Banksy too operates in the urban habitat. The wall is his canvass. Graffiti are his art. Using the stencil he has decorated the ghetto walls of some of the less nice British towns. He has left his mark all around the world. What makes Banksy different from other Graffiti makers is the message within his artwork. Never light. Always stimulating. He loves to provoke people. He is a rebel. A very self-marketing oriented rebel. Yes, he gives for free his artwork to towns and people but he also has a very active net created to sell it. But this is not something bad.

Once again I cannot tell if Banksy could be considered an artist or not. Probably yes. He paint for the people. He makes the people talk about his work. But he makes them smile too. For sure he makes the people think. And to do so (with any means) is one of the first target of each artist.

Ben Harper - Lifeline

I have seen a very interesting clip on Ben Harper. During a live show he was asking to the audience about how they have known his music. On TV? No one. On the radio? No one. Thanks to the advice of a friend? An explosion! Anyone has known him thanks to the word of mouth. Such a primitive marketing tool!

I had the same experience. Magical. Half drunk, late at night. During a party with many friends I have suddenly heard the rhythm of a bongo coming out from the stereo. Then a fine acoustic guitar riff. And finally his voice. He put a spell on me. It was Ben Harper's one. He was singing "Burn One Down". I was hypnotized. Since then I have started to hear all of his music. Up to his simply wonderful cover of "Strawberry Fields". Stunning.

Due to the primitive marketing tool of the word of mouth I have started to be a genuine Harperoholic! Anytime a new release is announced I start to fell a strong interior conflict. On one side the happiness related to the good news of some more music from Ben Harper. On the other side the fear. Ben is not from Mars. Sooner or later he will fail. His artistic inspiration must disappear.

Anytime he releases a new album Ben Harper declares that it is his best one. The most complete. Actually I have never been disappointed by him. Anytime the fear for the flop is strongly kicked out by the beautyfulness of his music and by the very deep lyrics. It's incredible but time after time Ben Harper looks like a perfect guy who never fails. For sure, some albums are better than others. But anyone is surprising. Just one example: "There will be a light". Very far from the previous works. Ben Harper was able to renew his music without betray his soul. He was able to bring the Blind Boys of Alabama back to music. He made a real masterpiece.

It's clear enough that when I heard about the new album from Ben Harper I have started to feel a little anxious state of mind. I have to be honest. Truly. This time I had a strong feeling about a possible failure. After a double album arisen from the angry generated by Katrina hurricane. A shout in favor of all the (black) homeless not considered by the administration. After months of tour all around the world. After a week of work in Paris relegated in a studio with his innocent criminals he has created another masterpiece.

It's a black music album. Soul. It sounds like a record from the '70s. But it also sounds modern. Since from the very first listening I had the proof that Ben was right once again. It's not important to write about each of the 11 tracks. It's enough one that could represent the whole album: "Put it on". Like the Marley tune. But inspired from the golden era of Black Music. Amazing. Makes your heart beat faster. It makes you scream while singing following its rhythm with the body.

Maybe sometimes Ben Harper will record a bad album. I don’t know. For sure today he is more from Mars than from Planet Earth.

Giovanni Allevi and Stefano Bollani

In my opinion Jimi Hendrix has been one of the greatest musical genius ever. His feeling is absolutely unique. Nobody has ever been steps ahead like him. Nowadays a lot of guitar heros could play hundreds of notes per second. But without sentiment. Pure technical power. So boring! Even when I think about instrumental albums, like a solo piano album, I just pair it with this bad feeling. Boring. Boring. Boring!

As sometimes happens then arrives something that makes me change my mind. Probably something strange. Unique. I don't know. I just know that this time the thing that made me change my mind is related to a couple of Italian artists (piano players). The names are Stefano Bollani and Giovanni Allevi.

The first time I have seen Stefano Bollani was on an MTV's broadcast. He was playing live some solo tunes. Brilliant, no doubt. But then he did an experiment. He has asked to the audience to write on a piece of paper a tune he should play. No limits at all to the requests. 5 or 6 have been chosen randomly: Smoke on the water, like a virgin, Summertime and others. Very hard job for Stefano. But just after a few seconds he has played a great medley of all this songs. Absolutely incredible. Unbelievable. Ok. Quite easy. It was a TV show. For sure everything has been carefully prepared before. Or not?

Just to have some kind of proof I have been at his live show some days after. I was really curious. Incredible. At the end of the show he did the same experiment. The audience was shouting the name of the songs for the encore. He wrote more or less 10 titles. And after a few seconds he started a wonderful medley. I was there and I can witness this extraordinary experience. But what has really impressed me is the wild and creative attitude he has playing the piano. And the audience too has impressed me much. Complete silence during the performance. Explosion of noise, claps and whatever just after the last note of each tune! Amazing.

As a consequence of this nice experience I felt ready for testing another Italian piano player. Giovanni Allevi. He is a very shy guy with a great sensibility. His last album (piano solo!!!), Joy, put a spell on me! Since from the very first listening I had a positive feeling with it. I have found myself listening the whole CD for 3 or 4 times in a row. After that I did feel a little bit strange. Confused. Never in my life I thought possible for me to like so much instrumental music. And without any guitar too! But the truth is that Giovanni Allevi is simply magic. Any of his note could transfer real emotions.

An hazardous comparison could be between Giovanni Allevi and Jimi Hendrix. More than all in a couple of tunes. The first one, Downtown, reminds me the experiment made by Jimi Hendrix to reproduce the noise of the traffic with his own guitar. The second one, Jazzmatic, is a crescendo where rhythm and the dynamic of the player are simply unbelievable. And powerful. As only Jimi's guitar was.

Sometimes is really nice to be wrong and change mind. Thank you Giovanni. Thank you Stefano.