TOWARDS THE MEETING/ Ron, Lucio Dalla and that reference to Coehn's crack
The Rimini Meeting pays homage to Lucio Dalla and hosts an interesting meeting with the singer-songwriter Ron (2)
In this year's edition, in homage to the figure and art of Lucio Dalla , the Rimini Meeting will dedicate two musical evenings (“Let's wait without fear, tomorrow – Songs and disquisitions on Lucio Dalla”, Friday 22 August, 9:30 pm, West Pool Stage; “'If I were an angel' (to be able to laugh about it… to continue to hope…)”, Saturday 23 August, 9:00 pm, FS Group Room C2).
Again, in a morning homily during the most dramatic period of Covid , Pope Francis meditated: "Let us pray today for the artists who possess this immense capacity for creativity and who, through the path of beauty, show us the path to follow. May the Lord grant us all the grace of creativity at this time."
The Irish group U2 , twenty years before the papal reflections, published a song entitled precisely “Grace”:
“Grazia, she takes the blame, covers the shame, removes the stain.
What was once pain, what was once friction
What left a mark no longer hurts.
Because Grace generates Beauty from the ugliest things.”
It's the early 90s and the American group REM launches a moving message that starts from pain and opens up to a collective hope: “Everybody hurts”.
Then-front man Michel Stipe said: “If you record a song that transcends the moment you wrote it, that becomes something people hold dear, something that helps people through difficult times… what more could you ask for?”
Several years later (2020) Don Julián Carrón , at that time president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, stated in a meeting: “The Mystery, destiny is communicated to man through a flesh, through the reality of time and space, according to a physical modality of things, according to precise circumstances. (…) Recognizing this method is called faith”.
Could a historic singer-songwriter, who has made existential skepticism his banner, have written a song that explicitly opens up to a salvation, whose arrival we don't know but which we are tasked with waiting for? This happened to Francesco Guccini with "Shomer ma mi-llailah" (the biblical phrase "Watchman, what time is it in the night?").
The "Big Master" introduced: "It's a verse from the prophet Isaiah that has always struck me. The sentry replies that it's almost over, but dawn hasn't arrived yet, and adds, however, to return and ask, to persist in asking. Continuing to ask questions, persisting in aspiring to the truth, is fundamental, essential. Returning and persisting helps us stay alive, not succumb."
They seem to echo the words that Luigi Giussani recited before Pope John Paul II : “The true protagonist of history is the beggar. Christ begging for the heart of man and the heart of man begging for Christ.”
Eric Clapton is a great guitarist who has endured periods of depression, drug use, and unrestrained love, yet surprisingly has always retained a glimmer of humanity, a direct result of never losing sight of something that transcends human pain (and he's been through a lot). "Holy Mother" is a prayer to Mary, an explicit cry for help that burst forth during a night of desperation. It's a surrender into the arms of the Madonna, without any ifs or buts.
Professor Franco Nembrini , a great popularizer of Dante's Divine Comedy, comments on Alighieri 's heavenly encounter as follows: "Looking at the Madonna helps us understand who I am. (...) Mary is the pinnacle of each person's humanity."
And we could go on forever, but we'll stop here, but not before paying homage to the Meeting's guest, Ron , who, together with Massimo Granieri, will delve even further into the theme of the saving power of songs . The Lombard singer-songwriter wrote a seminal song on this theme, "Non abbiam bisogno di parole." A true masterpiece of music and lyrics: "Many have confided in me that their love stories and friendships were saved by listening to this song. The engaged couples got married and had children."
In his book, The Little Prince, the writer Saint-Exupéry recounts the encounter between the protagonist and the fox. In this immortal hymn to friendship, the fox teaches his companion the method: "Words are a source of misunderstanding." Friendship will be surprising each day, preparing your heart for the encounter.
And so it will be for all of us, waiting for salvation, longing to recognize it when we can glimpse it, even with the help of the great songs of the rock or pop universe.
Because “There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
(2- end)
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