There is a blonde who has bewitched Stefano De Martino. She is 23 years old, she was born in Naples, she lives in Scafati and as a special feature she plays the guitar (very well). She is one of the most popular names among young Neapolitan artists: Alessandra Tumolillo. Over 62 thousand followers on Instagram, a video – in which he plays Chesta sera by Nino D’Angelo – which has reached 1 million and 600 thousand views, a talent in revisiting Neapolitan classics in a jazz key and already two participations in «Bar Stella », the Rai Due broadcast hosted by the showman originally from Torre Annunziata Stefano De Martino. «I landed on TV a bit by chance – says Alessandra – Stefano, some time ago, started following me on Instagram. And through that social network she contacted me complimenting me and agreeing that as soon as the possibility arose, we would meet in person. Well, I can say that he kept his word. Because on the occasion of the first episode of Bar Stella, a hole was created in the lineup and to fill it at the last minute he thought of me. When he called me, I had just recovered from Covid. So, being the fatalist that I am, I thought that my time had really come.”
The meeting with Lina Sastri
On TV, at De Martino’s request, since it was the evening of All Saints’ Day, Alessandra embraces the guitar and sings Munasterio ‘e Santa Chiara. Naturally, in her way: reinterpreting it in a jazz key. A success. So much so that her followers multiplied on social media and De Martino invited her on the show for a second time. And this time, complimenting her is (also) the special guest of the evening: Lina Sastri. «Her compliments truly gave me a unique emotion. It was an honor to receive them from an artist like her, an incentive to always do better.”
The family of musicians
The fact is that Alessandra, despite being very young, has not been able to do without her guitar for over ten years. Born into a family of musicians, father Sandro a violinist and mother Anna a pianist, both graduated from San Pietro a Majella, she is attending the last year of the same Neapolitan conservatory. And, in 2024, she will graduate in jazz guitar: «Music has accompanied me since I was little when, inevitably, I followed my parents as they went around to concerts. Then, at 12 years old, it was my dad who put the guitar in my hand for the first time. It was he, who is a multi-instrumentalist and also played with Pino Daniele, who taught me the secrets for the first games with chords. Something that, thinking about it now, saved my life when my parents decided to separate. After high school, however, it was my mother who wanted me to dedicate myself to guitar and jazz at the conservatory: partly as a reaction because it is a music that gives a lot of freedom, in contrast to what she plays, classical, which is very more rigid”.
The classics in a jazz key
But how did the idea of revisiting Neapolitan classics in a jazz key come about? «In reality, I was pushed down this path by the people who, from time to time, listened to me, even on social media. With them I have always managed to create an equal relationship, of give and take. And I must say that they were right: they glimpsed the path that I feel is truest to affirm my artistic personality. Now the guitar is a sort of extension of my body. And even when I study a piece, alone in my room, it gives me a very strong emotion: it’s a continuous experiment, as if I were continually meeting a new person.” Alessandra is also a composer. From this point of view, her model is Claudio Mattone, author of numerous successes (from Ancora by Eduardo De Crescenzo to Il cuore è un zingaro up to the soundtrack by Scugnizzi). But his dream is to «bring a bit of America to Naples on the notes of PJ Morton, Bruno Major, Allen Stone and Stevie Wonder, to bring the old sounds into the contemporary world, perhaps duetting with George Benson because he is the guitarist who most approaches Pino Daniele. For a Neapolitan with a guitar in her hand like me – concludes Alessandra – it even seems superfluous to specify it, but he is my legend”.
2023-12-26 09:58:05
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