On Tour
Moussa & Finesse on their first live concerts tour in Milan
an original west-african analog open-flash experience
Mossa Kidan is a guitarist from Mali. When he heard the Tinariwen, he understood what his life as a musician was meant to be.
Alongside Mossa we also find the bassist Finesse Fortune Somassou, songwriter and performer from Benin, who is part of the great tradition of Afro bass players such as Richard Bona and Bakithi Kumalo.
The first night, after a not so long while that the two musicians performed in the same venue, we can find them at Peacock Lounge in a full power exhibition that scrapes off all the rust accumulated in the last months that separated the two African artists.
The left-handed handle of Finesse combines a mirror image of the duet on stage, imbuing the audience with curiosity and excitement.
The vibes not-so-sober-anymore due to the powerful cocktails signed by Peacock
The Tuareg rhythm is the desert wind; different, mysterious, eternal.
Finesse, the style per person while performing a typical post-concert tattoo on request.
Day II, something charming is happening: the Milanese and ubiquitous Stefano Grasso, composer and drummer in numerous formations (white teeth, red hat), and the emerging percussionist Alexandros Rikos, a Greek multi-instrumentalist whose DNA is composed by the cultural exchange and the musical encounter (Dazed & Confused face), join the featured African group on their next two gigs in the city. Shyness has been immediately pulled away by the sense of magic that these four elements can put together playing such a unique sound that rarely the Italian metropolis has host before.
Tung dakatà, Tung dakatà, Tung dakatà, that's the way a calebasse sounds like.
Alexandros grew up in the Cantosospeso choir of Milan with heavy influences of oriental and black music.
Full set performing on their second night in Milano at T28. As if they had come out of the 80s, Mossa & friends find themselves on a war footing armed with musical instruments and ethnic spirit, ready to make us hear a sound as old as it is improvised in some moments of the performance. 100% sick outcome (in a good way).
Here Stefano's skill manages to contain the ideas, improvisations and arrests and elongated refrains that spring to the two African artists brains during their stunning songs who have also found an audience that is anything but shy and that has been dancing for hours now and heating the room.
Day III, the backstage of BIKO is a lovely madhouse tuned to an alien radio channel discussing music from distant countries, cigarettes in beer bottles, and pizzas orders in early hours. Friends are accomplices of the mental frictions that the band must face before, during, and especially after the concert.
Lights and shadows are a music integral part.
Sometimes, after I've personally developed the film of these pictures, I believe that the open-flash technic I've used on the analogic Canon camera follows and freezes the same spirits and demons that those musicians I've been together for three days and three nights managed to evocate with their mystical sound.
Special thanks are directed to Paolo Cerruto for organizing this event, Alex Cayuela for technical support, and the poets that performed on the third night.
Thanks to Peacock Lounge, T28, and BIKO for giving us the scenario where the dream became true.
Special thanks go to the sublime and professional IL GUSCIO rehearsal and recording studio. www.ilgusciostudio.com
Mossa Kidan
Finesse Fortune Somassou
Stefano Grasso
Alexandros Rikos
Shot and recounted by David Alvarez Rovida aka Ziggy Pic.