The silence of Liberato

There are a lot of cliched statements about silence and its value. The issue is even more actual when it concerns an artist that has based his image on an anonymous but at the same time unwieldy identity. It was February 14th of two years ago when Liberato posted on YouTube his first video - 9 MAGGIO - and along with his iconic Tumblr made of gifs and images of Naples, Maradona, pot and roses, started one of the most influential and interesting projects of the contemporary Italian artistic landscape. 

In a loud and gossip environment like the one of Italian music - Have you watched Sanremo? Have you followed the Ferragnez wedding? - Liberato was able to create his own space, distant from the small and crowded square of the town market, managing however to reach a wide audience while still maintaining his true identity.
After more than six months from the live performances in Naples, Milan and the last one at VIVA FESTIVAL in July, Liberato broke his social media silence just to announce his next concert in Rome, the first one in the capital. The announcement was made in very Liberato-style: a link to buy the tickets, nothing more. No location or further information, just a date - July 22 - and a rose. 
The power and the communicative strength of this music project lie exactly in its absence or, as in this case, in the silence. 

- CLICK HERE TO BUY THE TICKETS -

The paradox of Liberato remains his identity. The anonymity so jealously protected is juxtaposed to his being truly and undeniably Neapolitan, which comes out especially in his videos: a complex mix of Neapolitan poetic tradition, dialect and the current aesthetic of the city, still suspended between the postcards of Elena Ferrante and the moving shots of Francesco Lettieri. The only visible part of Liberato are his visuals, where he narrates a serial teenage love story that moves from Gaiola to Quartieri Spagnoli without losing his approachable yet sophisticated aesthetic. 

In this narration of Naples, Liberato is not alone, he fits in a cultural and musical movement that, as Mattia Barro wrote on Rolling Stone made Italian music international only in Naples. Along with other artists like Nu Guinea (who were, in fact, the opening act of Liberato's concert on the Chiaia boardwalk) and Bawrut, they are bringing the Naples scene back to the grandeur of the '70s and to the Neapolitan Power of James Senese and Enzo Avitabile, that found its ultimate embodiment in Pino Daniele. 
Geographically speaking, these three large Italian cities are crystallizing in their music: Milan as the cradle of trap music, Rome as the last remaining indie scene outpost, quickly turning into something else, and Naples as the vanguard.