Anatolia on stage at the Scala

When the Teneke play, something happens every time. When hands beat quickly on those metal containers that look like pots, it either announces a great festival or a terrible threat. The lead character of one of Yashar Kemal’s most touching stories, the traditional Turkish tin drum played at the Scala in Fabio Vacchi’s new work. The premiere of a show that will be as loud as the sound of the tin drums themselves, because the piece speaks about a country divided between past and future, tradition and innovation, fundamentalism and freedom. Difficult and current issues, that considering the civil and artistic fame of the names involved, will certainly reach beyond the geographical borders, right into our lives and history. “The original story – said Vacchi, 57, from Bologna, author of international successes such as "La station thermale", "Dai calanchi di Sabbiuno", "Les oiseaux de passage", "Tre veglie" – is set in a dusty and poor village in  Anatolia in the 50’s where rice cultivations divide the population in two, the exploited and the exploiters. An age-old situation, unchangeable, that a young man full of energy and good will, open to innovation will not be able to change. The same teneke who welcomed him, will beat savagely upon his departure.”.
An acoustic crescendo of percussions and popular beats recreated by Vacchi according to his style, which takes inspiration from the ethnic sounds used by Ligeti and Berio. “But the story has an open ending, - warns the composer- the fact good lost does not mean all his ideas are bound to fail. He lost a round, but the war continues”. It can all be interpreted as a metaphor of other problems and topics. “Turkey – continues Vacchi – is a country that is divided in two. A strong lay presence clashes with fundamentalist ideas, both old and new. The entrance of Turkey into the European Union, which I think is inevitable, must also take into account the fact that this country is the door towards the Orient and the West”. “A civil piece with an epic cut” this is how the composer defines his latest piece, which was staged by Ermanno Olmi with whom the composer from Bologna had already worked successfully writing the music for “Il mestiere delle armi” and the more recent “Centochiodi”. “A completely new work, both as concerns the musical aspect and the dramatic composition which stems from a moral choice” which is how Olmi, happy to work on an opera different from the romantic clichés, defines the opera being prepared at the Scala. “Here – says the director – the main character is the land the chorus brings to life. Fifty centimeters of soil which produces  life, without which we would all be dead”. Life on the farm in the forefront, enhanced by Olmi’s sensitivity (of the time of L’albero degli zoccoli). “A time when the relation between peasants and landowners was consolidated: those who controlled everything on one side and those who obeyed on the other. The peasants who belonged to the landowners totally, body and soul. Today the workers are aware of the right to their dignity. And this makes the hostility harsh.”. Terraced rice fields that reach up to the sky. A mountain of clay and water where the clouds travel, where sun and rain play with light. Slashes of iron, copper and gold. Peasants and landowners. Sharp spades digging the earth, the violated, raped and tortured soil, by men who have no respect. No respect for nature or laws. “Kemal, who grew up in those swampy regions of Anatolia, warns us: of all the abuses of man, abusing the land is the worst thing you can do” says Olmi, who has been a friend of the Turkish writer since the time of their first meeting in Percoto, where Yashar Kemal received the Nonino Award. “Man can live faithfully and respect land or establish a relation of exploitation with the land. Land is like the skin of a lover: you have to take care of it and love it to enjoy its fruits. The “clever” ones  use the resources of “progress” to exploit it, destroy it and violate it, without thinking that tomorrow that same land will punish them.  Land and water were the main pillars of the scenes created by  Pomodoro, who represented a sick planet on an inclined surface, destroyed by environmental disasters, where human beings surface from mud just like the clay ghosts of Xian. “The idea was to give shape to a piece of the earth’s crust tortured by human greed”, explains Pomodoro who transformed the stage into an enormous sculpture on the traces of that informal abstract expressionism which marked most of his works. Shiny surfaces representing rice terraces, big clothes reflecting pieces of the sky, segments of plows, shovels, pickaxes in a sick soil. “A big dying animal eaten away by parasites”, states Pomodoro, “just as the parasites working on the land, pressed and eaten away by brutal rhythms”. The world of peasants also emerges from the music directed by Roberto Abbado who says Teneke is “marked by a varied musical score,  which also includes ethic elements, a popular Turkish song, a popular song from the Friuli region, treated with the typical style of  Vacchi, the harmonic series. Discordant harmonies that, together with the chromatic richness of sounds, form the strong emotional impact of this musical score”. A piece for a great orchestra, almost one hundred musicians, besides the chorus and the six solo singers . “The Scala Orchestra is working hard and has an exceptional versatility”, assures the conductor. In three moments, two cellos and a violin capture the soul of the lead characters. Two mouth harmonicas are also part of the orchestra. An old, warm and clearly popular touch.