Padre, fammi partire! (a tribute to Franco Battiato)

“Padre, fammi partire!” (Father, make me leave!). Franco Battiato, orphan of a father, sings this verse in “Da Orienta a Occidente”. He declaims it solemnly and decisively. More than a request for a blessing, it is a declaration of intent. The force with which this prayer is recited admits of no weakness, no compromise and no obstacle. To leave is necessary. The volcano is there, showing the way.
The power of this phrase reflects the impatience of a hawk that, tied to the arm of its falconer, waits to be freed of the chaperon, the hood that makes it blind, so that it can finally take flight.
The falconer, for Battiato, is Frederick II “The Knight of Intellect”. For us, who pay this homage, the falconer is Battiato himself.
“Padre, fammi partire!” is a small trace that is meant to bear witness to the musical, intellectual and spiritual legacy that Battiato has given us. Original compositions and reworkings of repertoire run through everything Battiato has been: basically, a firm and solid core that has mutated into different forms, all of them absolutely necessary.

We complete this album in the spring of 2021. A few weeks later Battiato dies, in Milo. It is 18 May 2021.
We decide to shelve the project.
Almost six years later, we let these tracks resonate, without too much fuss, whispered, as a true and sincere declaration of love should be.

Donato Epiro, Milo (Sicily) 13 October 2024