“Take the long way home”: the eternal return in myths and stories

Vinicio Capossela is a phantasmagorical songwriter, poet, writer and performer. In 1990, under the direction of Renzo Fantini, Capossela recorded his first album, All’una e trentacinque, which won him the “Tenco Plaque” (for a First Work), an honor he went on to receive three more times thereafter. After his first few “pre-biographical” albums, starting with Canzoni a Manovella (2000) Capossela has been addressing more universal themes, often inspired by great writers from Melville to Céline, from Dante to Homer. His “total operas” (Ovunque proteggi, Da solo, Marinai, profeti e balene) have been staged in theatres the world over. In 2004, Feltrinelli published his book Non si muore tutte le mattine (“You don’t die every morning”), from which a shadow theatre performance was drawn as well as Radiocapitolazioni, broadcast in Italy by RAI’s radio channel 3. Capossela’s latest work, inspired by the Greek tradition of the rebetiko (“a way of life, more than a musical style”), includes the album Rebetiko Gimnastas, a documentary he made with the filmmaker Andrea Segre, and the book Tefteri, taccuino dei conti in sospeso (“A notebook of unpaid bills”), published by Il Saggiatore; Il paese dei Coppoloni (2015) published by Feltrinelli.