This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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“Espresso. The ultimate symbol of all things Italian. Dark. Rich. Earthy. Complex yet effortless. Elegant yet primal. Hot. When made in the right way, the only way, it is like nothing you have ever known. This is Italy to me. If one person embodies all these elements, it’s Paolo Conte. His music, his lyrics, the experience; as Italian as Espresso. This is my manifesto, my Espresso Manifesto: to create works that proudly display the wonders of those earthy, complex, elegant, primal people, my people – the Italian people.” ~ Daniela Nardi
Hot on the heels of two sold-out CD release concerts at Lula Lounge, Italian-Canadian songstress DANIELA NARDI brings her stunning new album Espresso Manifesto – The Songs of Paolo Conte to Yonge-Dundas Square this Saturday, June 2 @ 5:15 pm. As part of the day-long Piazza Italia festivities, the award-winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist will share her signature interpretations of songs by legendary Italian artist Paolo Conte, whose stature in Italy is comparable to that of Jacques Brel in France or Tom Waits in America. Piazza Italia is a festival highlighting the immense value of Italy's cultural and commercial contributions to Toronto. For more information please visit www.danielanardi.com / www.piazzaitaliatoronto.ca
Espresso Manifesto finds Nardi, the Toronto-born daughter of Italian immigrants, exploring some adventurous new creative territory. She and her husband, renowned jazz pianist/composer Ron Davis, travelled to Italy to record the album with a studio band that included some of that country's most respected and prestigious jazz musicians. The album engineered by legendary engineer/producer Pasquale Minieri will be distributed in Canada through Acronym Records/EMI Music Canada. "Daniela Nardi’s Espresso Manifesto turns out to be a brilliant homage to legendary singer/songwriter Paolo Conte. With beautiful arrangements very respectful of the original songs, Nardi magestically takes on this brilliant, jazz-inflected repertoire,” says Stanley Péan of “Quand le jazz est là,” broadcast on CBC/Radio-Canada's Espace Musique.
Because Conte's work has such a strong male character, the project was extremely challenging from a female's perspective. Nardi has, however, managed to record a full album of his sometimes dark but ironic work, and draws on Conte's more vulnerable, emotional material. Her passionate re-workings of such stirring vintage numbers as the plaintive, haunting, tango-inspired "Gioco D'Azzardo," the beautifully bittersweet "Nina," the punchy, playful "Via Con Me" and the breezy, swinging "Gelato al Limon" offer powerful testimony to both Conte's enduring genius and Nardi's singular interpretive skills. The result is a transcendent cultural experience.
WHO: DANIELA NARDI
WHAT: Espresso Manifesto – The Songs of Paolo Conte
WHEN: Saturday, June 2 @ 5:15 pm
WHERE: Yonge-Dundas Square
TICKETS: FREE event
WEBSITES: www.danielanardi.com / www.piazzaitaliatoronto.ca
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