The last time they played in Barga was back in 2007, in an article published then we wrote: “Finally some Italian music in the piazza … sung by Italians, using the Italian language and singing about Italian things. Enough of the fake American music …. now it’s time for the Manolo Strimpelli Nait Orkestra. A fine concert in Piazza Angelio this evening from the Lucca based band. Well done Manolo Strimpelli and the band and also a pat on the back for Riccardo at the L’Osteria who organised the whole thing.”
This evening they were back, bigger, brasher, louder and more entertaining than ever before and the perfect ending to this year’s Piazzette Festa. Did anybody count just how many musicians are in the orchestra ?
Was in 10 , or 11 or even more ? .. a bit difficult to say as they kept changing places and instruments during the evening and at one point Stefano Nannizzi Petrolio, the keyboard wizard of the group climbed off the stage to shake hands with a small group of flag waving fans from the Rione Bufali of nearby Gallicano (so did they manage to win the Palio di San Jacopo this year ? ) … the band waited for him to get back up on stage and the music played on.
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A nice touch later on in the set was when just as they did 2 years ago in the same piazza, they dedicated the San Song to Silvano – our very own sadly missed outsider musician Silvano Togneri. Click on the link below to hear that song.
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During the evening the Paioli Percussionists of Piazza Angelio also joined in the fun but on the stroke of midnight the music stopped, the party was over, the Piazzette Festa 2009 was finished. The silence in the piazza was deafening.