Monday, March 20, 2006

Paying the rent in Arezzo - Save the Waves

Trying to find a possibility to perform in Italy can be rather annoying. Programmers answer. "yes nice, fully booked, contact us again when you're around," and never answer again once you're around. It's a kind of natural selection. Those who answered offered me a warm welcome.

Alessandro in Arezzo belongs to the association Fromscratch. He used to organise concerts in the centre of Arezzo. But then he couldn't afford the rent anymore ( 300 euro a month) and had to move to another place. Though this new concert hall is a cozy 16 square meters in a bookshop, it suffers from a psychological beyond-the-border complex: it is at the other side of the train station, where the new town is built.

Arezzo is one of those towns in Tuscany that offer the architectural wonders of the humanist era. It is well worth visiting. The marvelous view on Tuscan countryside, and the immaculate main square, that looks like a postcard on real life scale offer all the touristic cliche's you can wish for.
In summer it attracts thousands of music fans, who come to visit the Arezzo Wave - festival, one of the most important festivals of alternative mainstream music.

My concert attracted a bit of rain and eight people. One of them had driven 60 kilometers from Florence. I played and after the concert I had a long talk, because my sounds had provoked some curiosity.

But one little question kept singing in my mind. What if fromScratch had the 300 euro to pay the rent. Would a central place offer more possibility to attract people. And could an organisation that organizes concerts with musicians that are so marginalised that they hardly can be defined as musicians, do something to improve the situation if they received a little support?

I decided to write to the town council and to Arezzowave as well:


"Dear Ms Fabrini, Dear Mr. Valenti,

The importance of Arezzowave to music is indisputable. I appreciate very much that Arezzowave recognizes its responsibility, and, as the statutes say, is willing to support other projects.

I would like to present the association fromScratch to you. They organise concerts from the very marginality of experimental music in Arezzo. It is music that you won't hear in the radio, nor read about in the newspaper. Maybe it is no music at all, but a kind of research towards new kinds of expression that uses sound as its main material.

People who come to such concerts are soundicians themselves, or know of it by word of mouth. I wonder if a support from the council and/or Arezzowave can improve the situation. One can think of fringe events during the Arezzowave-days. But I am sure Alessandro of fromscratch can come up with more ideas.

Maybe it is an idea to visit one of the concerts that he organizes at the libreria leggere, viale Cittadini, 21. If you do, the 5 euro entrance will help the performer to cover his travel expenses. From a financial point of view, we are on that level.

Thanks for your attention,

This letter will also be published on my blog,
If you feel like it you can react,
and I will add your words to this letter,
no matter what the content will be like,

yours sincerely,

Rinus van Alebeek"


Association fromScratch: http://www.fromscratch.it/gallery.htm

Arezzowave: www.arezzowave.it

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home