He definitively fell in love with Barcelona, playing on the rooftop of La Pedrera. "It was a concert with Irene Reig's group, The Bop Collective, at La Pedrera. And with the view of the city from that perspective, I decided I wanted to come and live here," explains the Sicilian composer and double bassist Giuseppe Campisi, taking, "like a good Italian," an espresso at the bar, regarding his arrival in a city he doesn't want to leave.
"I know I'm a musician, that I play the double bass and electric bass, and that I love to compose and arrange. I come from Sicily, but I haven't lived there for a long time: before coming to Barcelona, I was lucky enough to study in Boston and Amsterdam and to work, in recent years, with many musicians with whom I have shared many different and impossible-to-summarize experiences. Experiences that have led me to travel, learn, and explore the world through music," he argues with wide eyes and a ready smile.
--- Speaking of music, should I leave the radio on? Is there anything in particular you want to listen to?
--- I like the radio and I'm curious to understand what the current trends are, although I have to say that I rarely find something I like. Anyway, if you know a good station, let's leave that one, or if not, something by Coltrane, The Roots, or Rosa Balistreri.
The Call of Music
Giuseppe vividly recalls the great moments that pushed him towards music: "The first is the encounter with one of my first flute teachers, Fabio Pupillo. I was little more than a child, and seeing the musician's life lived by that teacher seemed incredible to me: all that passion that captivated him… I want to be like that too!, I thought."
--- And the second turning point, what would it be?
--- When I came into contact with jazz in a more serious way: I was a teenager and played in a village orchestra, one of those party bands, in which there were some very good musicians. During breaks, one of them, a brilliant saxophonist named Sebastiano Ragusa, would start playing songs by Charlie Parker, John Coltrane… That's where it all began.
Happy with his work with other musicians, the regular considers that he is "very lucky to be involved in many projects and this gives me the opportunity to experience music from many different angles: although what I do is almost always related to jazz and improvised music, each project is different and, therefore, the experience is different. This makes me enjoy it immensely!"
These days, Giuseppe Campisi presents his recently published EP, Terra ca nun senti, part of the About Sicily project: "It's a work dedicated to Sicilian music, which we recorded before the pandemic." This is his first album since his solo debut with the CD Un imprevisto è la sola speranza, recorded with some new talents from Barcelona jazz and released in 2020.
"I am lucky to play regularly with musicians I respect a lot and whom I consider among the best in the current scene. Among the recent or future projects to which I have the pleasure of contributing, without a doubt stand out Alba Careta's quintet, Joan Mar Sauqué's trio, Pol Omedes' group, Oriol Vallés' quartet, the Barcelona Art Orchestra, the groups of Alba Pujals, Lucas Martínez, Paolo Sorge, Marta Garrett… And a long etcetera." To all this is added a newly created new quartet. "I put it together in recent months with my original repertoire and it includes excellent musicians of the caliber of Santi de la Rubia, Jaume Llombart and Roger Gutiérrez".
The Mediterranean link
"The truth is that I love Barcelona," admits the musician, despite his understandable animosity towards "shabby tourism" and "the closure of local shops to make way for the umpteenth restaurant for tourists on La Rambla, or the umpteenth magnet and Barça shirt shop, or the umpteenth currency exchange stall." And, after a few seconds of hesitant silence, he resumes speaking: "The truth is that I don't know if I'm still in that first phase of physiological infatuation that exists in all relationships, even with cities, but I've been living here for two and a half years, and I still feel in love."
--- Even with all the things you don't like?
The parishioner thinks about it for a few seconds before answering affirmatively: "Yes. In the end, I have come to the obvious conclusion that the perfect place does not exist and that any reality always has compromises. What I really like about Barcelona is that it contains the characteristics of the Mediterranean world, in which I recognize myself, but at the same time it is an international city, which works quite well and with a propensity for cultural life."
--- And for gastronomic life, well, I don't even need to tell you... In this sense, would you like to snack on something?
Giuseppe Campisi's eyes light up with an electric gaze and his insides roar as he pronounces:
--- I love to eat, so I would say: some tapas as a starter and then a menu of combined dishes. Is that too much? ---he asks with a wink.