Vinicio Capossela

Described as ‘Italy’s greatest secret’ by the Sunday Times, and ‘Italy’s most intriguing musical traveller’ by Mojo, Vinicio Capossela returns to London to present songs from his new double album Marinai Profeti e Balene, with a special performance immersed in the evocative setting of a shadow theatre.

Capossela’s magic lies in his ability to break the boundaries of a song and evoke, through the use of images, entire worlds infested by demons, grace, shadows and lost souls. His music blends the folklore tradition of Italy with global sounds, incorporating from tango to morna, rebetic music and beyond.

His latest release, Marinai Profeti e Balene – out in April 2012 – is inspired by the classics of world literature about the sea and its frightful spawning of amazing creatures, human, animal, and mythological. While the first CD, Oceanic is roughly dedicated to the universe of Herman Melville, the second, Homeric and Mediterranean jumps back several centuries, as it is devoted to Greek mythology and populated by characters from The Odyssey.

He released his debut album, All’una e trentacinque circa in 1990, which earned him Italy’s prestigious Tenco Award. To date he has released 13 albums, including Il ballo di San Vito (1996), which began his continuing collaboration with guitarist Marc Ribot; the Tenco award-winning Canzoni a manovella (2000); Ovunque proteggi (2006), which debuted at number 1 on the Italian charts and won him another Tenco; and the platinum-certified Da solo (2008).

‘A visionary songwriter... he spins enigmatic fantasies of both skid row Americana and mythological Italy in a grittily elegant cabaret-jazz style.’ The New York Times