nu genea: bar mediterraneo
Francisco Espregueira
Rediscovering, spreading and projecting Neapolitan sounds to a different level, the Nu Genea project formed by Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina is an essential homage to the rich sounds that the southern Italy city has produced, traded and kept. Following the acclaimed Nuova Napoli, released 4 years ago, Nu Genea are back with Bar Mediterraneo - based on an idea of a shared place where people meet and fuse together; a space that leaves its doors open to travellers and their lives, always exposed to the whims of fate. This can be experienced through the mixture of different sounds that come together in 8 unmissable tracks.
The knowledge and artistic vision behind Bar Mediterraneo conveys a meaning that leaves us emotional, happy and proud to be alive at the same time of Di Lena and Aquilina. Layers of different acoustic instruments, voices and synthesizers merge in a unique musical blend, including the voices of of many different people, separated by languages but united by the sea and the music of Napoli - always a of encounters. You can hear this all along the record. In "Gelbi", with melancholic Tunisian verses sung by Marzouk Mejiri; in "Marechia'" and the sun shinning from the delicate vocals of Célia Kameni; or in "Straniero", moment in which your soul is taken away from the hypnotic patterns recorded by the legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. Evidently, Nu Genea couldn't afford to overlook their firmly anchored roots into the Neapolitan culture and its dialect with the energetic "Tienaté" or in "Praja Magia", in which the vocals speak of Varcaturo, a village close to Napoli. And strange dances in a hot summer night that will never end.
Bar Mediterraneo is the place where people constantly return to transform curiosity into participation, tradition into sharing, unfamiliar into familiar. When travellers come through its “doors” they take part in a shared experience, enriching themselves and others by leading to unexpected musical journeys. Available on vinyl, through the one and only NG Records imprint, Bar Mediterraneo is a vibe to revisit frequently.