Playing Louder Than Bombs: A Tale of Music and Resilience in Wartime Naples

The whistle that does not scare is not that of the bombs, which fell by the hundreds on Naples in 1943. But it is precisely among the shelters and alarms of those days of fear, and then of pride and popular resurgence, that Zurzolo begins this astonishing story, which mixes life and music, the dreams of a generation. The story, invented but not too much, retraces the adventure of a group of boys who play louder than the bombs, and form a band that chases and even achieves success, only to lose sight of each other. As always happens in life, to lose oneself. Tonino's angry sax thus draws the melancholic melody that from the alleys of the port weaves the stories of Nicola the Indian, the beautiful Wanda-Giannino, Scellone, Aniello, and many others. The meaning of this story - at times magical, enchanted - is that you have to play louder than the bombs, whether those of the Gaza Strip on television, or of Naples in '43, or of the cowardly gangs that bloody the streets today. Because music is stronger. Life is always stronger. The story is completed by a selection of tracks that make up the new album Itinera ed. musicali, in which Zurzolo, together with his students from the Salerno Conservatory, reinterprets some memorable songs from the musical scene of the second half of the 70s, from the Showmen to Napoli Centrale, Carlo d'Angiò and Eugenio Bennato, Pino Daniele. Marco Zurzolo, saxophonist and composer, has collaborated with important Italian and international artists. He has published over twenty CDs and is the author of numerous soundtracks for cinema, theater, and television. He has won prestigious awards, including the 'Quality Award' from the Ministry of Culture. For Colonnese, he published the successful I Napoletani non sono romantici, with 8 micro-stories by Elvio Porta.