A Little American Blues for the Old Italians

We just returned from a little mini-concert at the local elder care home near our house in Soriano nel Cimino.

Community service is important to us, and finding ways to do that has not always been easy, especially during all the lockdowns. But we have consistently come up to this home to perform since our first appearance on Christmas Day 2019, just 4 weeks after we moved to Italy. (I was more nervous for that concert than I have been in YEARS, btw.) We didn’t have a car at that point, so we had to walk to the gig, which is only about a half mile from our house, but up a very, very steep hill. In the dark, on Christmas night, with a cello, two Manhasset stands, a violin, and several books of music…..I will never forget that walk.

The building the elder home is located in used to be a hotel. During the war, it was occupied by German forces. When we are playing there I often imagine the different people who used this same space, and how drastically that has changed over time.

For today’s concert we offered them a choice: a short set of American blues and country songs, or a short set of Italian baroque. They opted for blues and country, so we went up there with Matt’s guitar (by car this time, so much easier!) and played some of the charts he has arranged for our duo like “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Heartbreak Hotel”. Even though they requested it, I was a little nervous about this program because I am doing some unusual things on my violin, using some “extended” techniques to make it sound more like percussion, or an electric guitar.

But they really seemed to like it, and we were happy to see them swaying and bobbing with the tunes. Some of the tunes they didn’t know, but that doesn’t really matter, a good melody is a good melody, and a toe tapping song transcends any language barrier.

After we finished, as we were packing up, several of the residents were gathered around the wood fire they had burning, and were singing songs together. I didn’t recognize the tunes, but I sure recognized the enthusiasm. As we walked out the back entrance to the evening just turning dusk, we heard them singing, clapping, and laughing behind us. What a beautiful experience.