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At the end of the day, our vision is to mix our musical roots with other things that we love, and collaborate with people from different parts of the world.

 

Bar Mediterraneo is an incredible album created by one of my favourites, NU GENEA, the Neapolitan duo formed by Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina.

“Heirs of that “Neapolitan Sound,” Nu Genea, aka multi-instrumentalists Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina, have furthered Napoli Centrale’s legacy by digging deeper into the local sounds of Napoli and collaborating with musicians from around the world. Their debut album, The Tony Allen Experiments, fused the afrobeat rhythms of Fela Kuti and Africa ‘70 with Neapolitan jazz, funk, and disco to worldwide acclaim. Nuova Napoli, the duo’s first album to feature vocals, expanded their sound to a full band that featured the city’s top musicians. Avid record diggers, the pair have also unearthed countless Neapolitan gems from flea markets across the area, and in 2018 collaborated with fellow selectors DNApoli and Famiglia Discocristiana to launch Napoli Segreta, a compilation series focused on rescuing and reissuing obscure and forgotten music made in Napoli from the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

 

Photo by Gennaro Canaglia

 

Nu Genea’s latest album, Bar Mediterraneo, envisions “a place where people meet and fuse together; an imaginary space that leaves its doors open to travelers and their lives, always exposed to the whims of fate. Some of this can be experienced through the multitude of sounds that come together in the tracks, layers of different acoustic instruments, voices and synthesizers merging in a unique musical blend.” (read more of In Sheeps Clothing Hi-Fi with Nu Genea here)

 

I particularly liked their answer to the question: “There’s also a specific concept behind this place, Bar Mediterraneo. Can you speak on that and how the idea formed?”

M: In Naples, you often drink your morning espresso at a bar, standing directly at the counter. You don’t sit alone at your own table. This really creates random and interesting morning talks. We have met countless people and friends in this way. The title Bar Mediterraneo, comes from the idea of an imaginary bar somewhere in the Mediterranean, that’s really a place of encounter. A place made of collaborations where people’s lives encounter and fuse together.

L: We imagined this album to be listened to on a road trip in a car on the coast of the Mediterranean. This idea also came out of the fact that we have been listening and questioning what it means to be Mediterranean. It’s not just about the real location of the Mediterranean, but it’s also an idea, a sensation, something that we can feel, but we don’t really know how to define it exactly. So we try to define it through the music.

 

Filicudi, July 2023

 

It is the perfect album to have playing in the background during the beautiful summer months. I hope it brings you all the joy and lightness in the world.