PENNY RIMBAUD – How?

Fondatore, insieme a Steve Ignorant, del collettivo Crass, dello slogan ‘DIY’ e del movimento anarco punk londinese, di cui si è fatto portavoce, negli anni ’70 e ’80, per portare avanti una cultura di pace, di uguaglianza e di libertà, Penny Rimbaud sta per tornare con ‘How?’, il nuovo lavoro in arrivo il 14 agosto per One Little Independent Records. La composizione, divisa in 4 brani ognuno dei quali verrà pubblicato singolarmente, prende inspirazione dalla poesia classica di Allen Ginsberg ‘Howl’. Pubblicata lo scorso venerdì, ‘PART II’ è la prima anticipazione.

‘Allen Ginsberg’s classic beat poem, ‘Howl’, begins with the line: ‘I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness’. My rework of Ginsberg’s poem begins with the line: ‘I saw the best minds of my generation gagged by the opiate of capital’, and therein the shift in time and change in imperative. In January 2003, alongside a quartet of jazzers, I performed ‘Howl’ as my first gig at London’s Vortex Jazz Club. I chose ‘Howl’ because it had been seminal in my development as a writer and because it seemed so well suited to a jazz setting. After the gig, I was asked to do a repeat performance as part of that year’s London Jazz Festival which would be recorded live for release on the Babel label. I happily agreed, however, given that the gig was going to be recorded, I realised that I ought to contact the copyright holders, which I rather foolishly imagined would present no problem. Then, with only a month to go before the gig, I learnt that George Bush was visiting London and that a major demonstration was being planned on the very day that we would be playing. By then I was already having hiccups with the copyright issue, but, in any case, the Unelected President’s forthcoming visit was forcing me to question whether ‘Howl’ was entirely appropriate. However, it was only when I finally heard from its New York publishers, HarperCollins Inc., that I determined to abandon the project. Maybe I could write another piece which was somehow related to ‘Howl’? So, struggling with a blaze of contradictions, and with only two weeks to go, I sat down to write what became ‘How?’

Un disco che non possiamo definire di musica in senso stretto, l’album si compone di declamazioni ispirate all’immarcescibile capolavoro del poeta della beat generation. Penny Rimbaud parla e racconta in maniera forte e penetrante, l’impatto emotivo è eccezionale, resta ovvio il fatto che è necessario avere padronanza della lingua inglese e amare Ginsberg. Se avete questi fortunati fattori nel vostro dna, How? Diventa un oggetto prezioso da possedere.

MAURIZIO DONINI