The project “Ali – Poetry Music Images” was born from the meeting and collaboration between the students of the 2012 Cinema Workshop of the Cesare Pavese Comprehensive School in S. Stefano Belbo (CN), coordinated by Prof. Paolo Bobbio, the poet Luisa Gavazza, and the musician Max Santiglia, creator of the project itself.
Around 140 students from 5th Grade and 7th–8th Grade were involved and, under the guidance of their teachers and literature professors, followed a poetic path including reading and textual analysis of Luisa Gavazza’s poems, production of poetic imitation texts, and paraphrases.
The themes chosen for the poems are nature, absence, and freedom. The students analysed the poetic texts by writing paraphrases and comments and composed some “model poems.”
Luisa Gavazza and Max Santiglia held several meetings with the students in the presence of Prof. Paolo Bobbio and the other teachers. At first, the two artists published “Crisalide”, a collection of poems by Luisa Gavazza and texts by Max Santiglia, accompanied by a CD with Max’s songs—the same ones performed at their concerts. In this book, many comments, paraphrases, and model texts created by the Workshop students are already included.
In the meantime, performances were also created in which music and poetry intertwined, generating new atmospheres. Each song by Max Santiglia was paired with poems on the same theme. The musical section was entrusted to the group Scorie: Max Santiglia, voice and guitar – Salvatore Parisi,, saxophone – Ferdinando Vietti, cello. Emiliano Melis handled composition and arrangements.
Director Andrea Icardi filmed each performance to create the DVD included with the book.
The first concert took place on June 7, 2012 in the Church of Saints James and Christopher of the Pavese Foundation in S. Stefano Belbo (CN); the second on July 8, 2012 in the WWF Oasis Forteto della Luja in Loazzolo (AT) during the 2012 Butterfly Festival. Others followed, including one at the Agnelli Theatre in Turin on November 30, 2012.
The book “Ali” (which contains poems and poetic prose by Luisa Gavazza, as well as comments, paraphrases, and model texts by the students) and the accompanying DVD are the tangible result of the “Ali” project and were created thanks to the sponsors and friends who contributed: the musicians, the supporters of the crowdfunding on Kapipal, and the photographers who provided the images for the book: Lorenzo Mascherpa, Elisabetta Molinario, and Sergio Barberis.
Concerts performed with music by the group Scorie:
June 7, 2012 – Church of Saints James and Christopher, Pavese Foundation, S. Stefano Belbo (CN)
July 8, 2012 – WWF Oasis Forteto della Luja, Loazzolo (AT), during the 2012 Butterfly Festival
August 31, 2012 – Panoramic Terrace, Ancona
October 21, 2012 – “October Art,” Palatenda Erminio Macario, Torino Road corner Via Gozzano, Orbassano (TO)
November 30, 2012 – Performance at the Agnelli Theatre, Turin
PAOLO BOBBIO, Literature teacher at the Cesare Pavese Comprehensive School in S. Stefano Belbo, has been coordinating the Cinema Workshop for many years, offering activities aimed at developing literacy in the cinematic language.
These initiatives have produced excellent results, both in the level of skills achieved by the students involved in the projects and in the many awards granted to them by various institutions for the intrinsic value of their productions.
In November of last year, the Workshop received an honourable mention in the 19th Edition of the National Competition “Images for the Earth” with the film “Save the Oasis”, filmed in the WWF Oasis Forteto della Luja in Loazzolo (AT).
All the school’s work written together with the students has been collected in a digital book of about 600 pages (and 50 photos) titled: “Writing to Film: The Screenplay Book.”
LUISA GAVAZZA, who holds a degree in Pharmacy, worked as a pharmacist until June 2006. She cultivates various interests including writing, drawing, and painting.
Many of her poems have been included in anthologies published by Magma, Giulio Perrone Editore, Poesiaèrivoluzione, and Parole Sparse.
In April 2009 she published the poetry collection “Slow Your Pace” (Rallenta il passo, Parole Sparse Editions).
In 2009 one of her haiku was selected and published in the anthology “Haiku Sailing Toward Elba” (Haiku a gonfie vele verso l'Elba) for the Capoliveri Haiku Prize 2008, and several of her poems and drawings were exhibited in Cerreto Sannita (BN) during Movida 2009, 5th Edition, and in Cusano Mutri (BN) during the 1st Edition of the “Cusano Talk Festival.”
In April 2010 she self-published a second poetry collection titled “Listening Thoughts” (Pensieri in ascolto).
In October 2011 one of her short stories was published in the anthology “I Am Everything You See Through Your Eyes”, published by ARPANet.
She collaborates on the “Ali” Project with Massimiliano Santiglia, Emiliano Melis, and the middle school of S. Stefano Belbo.
In May 2012 she published with Max Santiglia the book “Crisalide”, which is already part of the project and also contains many works by the students.
MAX SANTIGLIA, singer, poet, actor. An artistic figure difficult to categorize, such is the nature of his icon.
Two theatrical performances: “Dr. Jekill and Miss Hide”, an intense and vivid one-man show in which Max Santiglia elevates his histrionic talents and transformative abilities in the complex task of accompanying his alter ego through the most important journey of his existence; and “Krisalis”, which stages human duality — the human being in his eternal struggle to harmonize his opposites: the chrysalis as a symbol of his ambivalence, oscillating between the fierce protection of his small everyday world and surrender to new transformations.
Two forthcoming books: a collection of short stories and a treatise on love.
Two rock bands: Skorie, a harder-rock group in which he previously played, and Scorie, which has a softer rock repertoire and with which he is developing the project “Ali – Music Poetry and Images”, from which a DVD will soon be released.
And also Arhea 54, the ’70s disco show inspired by the legendary 1970s, presenting a concert that blends music, theatre, and dance.
The strong point of Max Santiglia is his natural way of being outside of conventions, without any sense of artificial forcing.
Always accompanied by his characters, Max never considers the journey finished; through his continual transformations, he seeks his human expression outside of his shining armour. And this ensures that his artistic journey always offers countless and astonishing surprises.
He collaborates on the “Ali” Project with Luisa Gavazza, Emiliano Melis, and the middle school of S. Stefano Belbo.
In May 2012 he published with Luisa Gavazza the book “Crisalide”, which is already part of the project and contains many works by the students.
EMILIANO MELIS, music designer and multifaceted artist, lives and works between Turin and New York.
He has established himself with audiences and critics through the originality and poetic research of his work, offering a multiform vision that characterizes his artistic journey.
His musical activity has led him to perform in various clubs, receiving positive reviews, interviews, and radio airplay.
He published five CDs from 1998 to 2003.
He has collaborated with several Italian musicians and arrangers and with various figures in the world of contemporary art, composing for artistic videos and sound installations.
Melis has the ability to create mixtures of dreams, hallucinations, aesthetics, and minimalism, expressed through a fusion of music, words, and multimedia structures.
The performance becomes a unique moment, played differently each time, and just as empty spaces are a painter’s canvas, music and sound are his colours.
He composed the music for the artistic video “Armistice for Art”, presented for the first time by Fondazione Thetis during the 52nd Venice Biennale, and a new artwork titled “NoTime” during Ars Captiva, an exhibition of contemporary art.
He composed the work “WAITING”, presented at the Gobetti Theatre in Turin. In New York, he composed and produced his new opera “Nightshift.”
Visit the Website of Emiliano Melis
ANDREA ICARDI holds a degree in Cinema from DAMS in Turin. After several hands-on training experiences on the sets of films such as “The Way We Laughed” (Così ridevano) by Gianni Amelio and “The Partisan Johnny” (Il partigiano Johnny) by Guido Chiesa, and after a three-year apprenticeship in Rome, where he collaborated with the satellite network Nessuno Tv (now Red) as writer and director, and with the online newspaper L’Occidentale, he now lives in Turin, alternating his work as an independent filmmaker — with his own production company (IVM multimedia) — with that of audiovisual consultant for institutions and companies.
In addition to having produced numerous documentaries on the life and work of the writer Cesare Pavese, he has also worked as a journalist for the newspapers La Stampa and Tuttosport, for the weekly magazines Gazzetta d’Alba and La Nuova Provincia, and for the monthly journals Il Giornale della Logistica and Il Giornale del rivenditore agricolo.
A contract lecturer in Visual Communication Techniques at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Eastern Piedmont, he also teaches film at UTEA in Asti, at the Cesare Pavese Comprehensive School of Santo Stefano Belbo, and in the independent film workshops organized by the cultural association Lucas in Turin.
He also directs the video work for events of the Mirafiore Foundation in Serralunga d’Alba, the Cesare Pavese Foundation of Santo Stefano Belbo, and the Italian Serie A elastic ball championship.
SALVATORE PARISI, at age 13, took his first steps in music with the Collegno Wind Orchestra conducted by Ezio Petrini, with whom he played for nearly 15 years and recorded a CD of modern orchestral pieces featuring Giampaolo Petrini on drums and Giorgio Giovannini on trombone.
In 1996 he founded, with Diego Casale, the Exopì, an R’n’B band active in Piedmont for nearly 10 years.
In 2006 he collaborated on the music-and-words project “Love is Real”, written and directed by Eric Minetto and dedicated to John Lennon.
Since 2008 he has approached the study of jazz, first under Danilo Pala and then Ezio Petrini, and has collaborated with the Charlie Bird Band.
He currently plays regularly with the Soundtruck, a show band presenting original arrangements of film and TV soundtracks, and with Liquido Funky, a jazz quintet inspired by Herbie Hancock.
FERDINANDO VIETTI was born in Turin in 1982. Introduced to music at a very young age thanks to his family’s love for opera, he soon discovered in the cello his lifelong passion.
After completing a fully classical training path, Ferdinando had the opportunity to work with the New Trolls for the re-edition of their famous album “Concerto Grosso No. 1”. From this experience grew his interest in blending genres — a path that led him to perform music of all kinds, from light music to tango, from soundtracks to pop, without ever neglecting his “home territory,” classical music.
He frequently collaborates with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra and many other prestigious Italian and international musical ensembles.
SCORIE
The group Scorie was founded in 2012 from the collaboration of Max Santiglia within the “Ali – Music Poetry and Images” Project, which involved the students of the 2012 Cinema Workshop of the Cesare Pavese Comprehensive School in S. Stefano Belbo (CN), the poet Luisa Gavazza, and Max Santiglia himself.
Its members are musicians from diverse backgrounds:
Max Santiglia, eclectic singer, poet, actor, and founder of the group; Emiliano Melis, music designer and multifaceted artist who collaborates with Scorie by handling compositions and arrangements; Salvatore Parisi, with musical experience ranging from Wind Orchestra to R’n’B to jazz; and Ferdinando Vietti, who, after classical cello studies, embraced other genres and collaborations while still cultivating his classical roots, which lead him to frequent engagements with prestigious national and international ensembles.
Scorie has performed within the Ali Project, including:
Concert – June 7, 2012 – Church of Saints James and Christopher, Pavese Foundation, S. Stefano Belbo (CN)
Concert – July 8, 2012 – WWF Oasis Forteto della Luja, Loazzolo (AT), during the Butterfly Festival 2012
Concert – August 31, 2012 – Panoramic Terrace, Ancona
Concert – October 21, 2012 – “October Art,” Palatenda Erminio Macario, Torino Road corner Via Gozzano, Orbassano (TO)
November 30, 2012 – Performance at the Agnelli Theatre, Turin