Pianist by choice, composer by chance, writer by passion. Anna Dari combines her musical activity with the literary one, publishing “Prigioniera libera 2.0” (Free prisoner 2.0), an extraordinary autobiographical text in prose
and poetry, with the publishing house Pubme and the preface of the psychiatrist Giuseppre Tavormina, secretary of Eda Italia Onlus (Italian Association on Depression).
Between narrative and lyric, the book recounts twelve years of the human and artistic journey of the musician writer linked to the tunnel of major depression and the possibility of its overcoming through the inscrutable
process of artistic creation. The courageous publishing project thus becomes a renewed and more complete version of the previous “Prigioniera libera” (Free prisoner), published in May 2019 with the Asti-based publishing house Letteratura Alternativa and participation in the International Book Fair of Turin, receiving a mention at the International Literary Award “Salvatore Quasimodo”. An intense work of poetic-literary value and at the same time a powerful weapon of self-healing to continue to fight the dark evil, as the author herself defines depression. And of this Anna Dari wants to give a strong testimony.
A testimony of life and an artistic project started on July 10, 2007 when, gripped by a deep moral pain, Anna Sfregola, aka Anna Dari, in memory of the artistic branch of her mother’s family (Scordari), approaches the piano
after eighteen years of silence, despite a diploma from the conservatory “Antonio Vivaldi” of Alessandria remained hanging on the wall, starting to improvise and compose her music. It’s like a gash, new horizons open up in his mind trapped in the tunnel of depression. From there a creative succession of songs that, starting from a classical matrix, arrive with refined elegance to pop, blues, jazz, depending on the inspiration of the moment and the mood, in a varied and versatile as suggestive compositional style.
On August 6, 2021 sees the light of “Oltre la nebbia” (Beyond the fog, Blue Spiral Records), an album as a human and artistic metaphor, in which the piano is the protagonist in its intimate and suggestive dialogue, in some
cases, with other instrumental timbres wisely sought in the incorruptible will to go continuously beyond, “to remind us to always turn our gaze upwards, towards beauty, towards harmony, towards love, towards everything
that smacks of true life. Beyond appearance, beyond indifference, beyond fear, beyond the wall of fog that envelops our small, anxious lives in harsh misery”. This is the deep meaning of the first album of the Piedmontese
artist, although many other compositions still unpublished have preceded from 2007 to today the release of “Oltre la nebbia” (Beyond the fog). The tracklist finds its epilogue in “Terre di mezzo” (Middle-earth), a song of poignant actuality with sound inserts of fights and explosions. Tragically topical, from East to West, it is dedicated to all the peoples who suffer, torn apart by the barbarity of war and fear that bites the heart. Among words that dig deep, adamantine verses and refined musical suggestions that became the soundtrack of the film “Il rumore del mare” (The sound of the sea) by director Enza Lasalandra, seducing the mind and heart of those
who read and listen, this is just her awakening. The story of Anna Dari does not end here.
Biography
In memory of the maternal family artistic branch Scordari, Anna Sfregola, aka Anna Dari, approaches the piano after eighteen years of silence, despite a diploma from the Conservatory “Antonio Vivaldi” of Alessandria remained hanging on the wall, beginning to improvise and compose her music: thus was born “Broken heart”, a composition with an obvious blues flavor. From there, mysteriously, in less than a year come all the other songs composed in mind, without the help of the score, and performed in Asti, Turin, Alessandria, Perugia, Trieste, Piacenza, Lake Como Festival, with great acclaim from the public and critics. Also in Turin, at the Orpheus Theatre, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, she participates in the concert “Mozart and women”, during which she presents the first national performance of “La forza della vita” (The power of life), in the version for piano and string orchestra, and “Una carezza per Chiara” (A caress for Chiara), for cello and piano, a piece dedicated to all the children and women victims of sexual violence. At the same time he writes a collection of poems entitled “Suoni e colori dell’anima” (Sounds and colors of the soul), from which the verses connected to the single compositions are taken. Through music and lyrics Anna Dari tells, not only of her life in particular but of the female universe in general, declined in its many and precious nuances; she speaks of children victims of violence, of the deep sense of loneliness and pain inherent to the dark evil of depression; she also tells of the power of music and poetry and of the miraculous cathartic power of artistic creation, of the sense of universal love to which her soul yearns and of how art and life have become for her two sides of the same coin. From 2015 to summer 2017 a long period of crisis and compositional silence.
Then again the urgency to transform into music her own emotions. The new songs “Assolo” (Solo, winner on January 11, 2020 at the Cet of Mogol of the International Literary Award “Salvatore Quasimodo” Music section) and “Sognando il mare” (Dreaming of the sea) are born, marking for Anna Dari a new compositional vein, more pop, intimate and minimal. In March 2018 she resumes playing live with a concert in Azeglio on Viverone Lake and in June of the same year with a recital during the Music Festival in Turin. At the same time she starts the project “Dreams and hopes” with the fellow singer-songwriter Alessandro Fantino, whose songs Anna Dari takes care of the piano arrangements, and on August 6, 2021 sees the light “Oltre la nebbia” (Beyond the fog, Blue Spiral Records), an album as a human and artistic metaphor. Anna Dari’s musical activity is flanked by her literary one, publishing in May 2019 “Prigioniera libera” (Free prisoner) with the Asti-based publishing house Letteratura Alternativa and participating in the International Book Fair of Turin, receiving a mention at the International Literary Award “Salvatore Quasimodo”. Between narration and poetry, the extraordinary autobiographical text recounts twelve years of the writer-musician’s human and artistic journey linked to the tunnel of major depression and the possibility of its overcoming through the inscrutable process of artistic creation. The brave editorial project, published by Pubme as “Prigioniera libera 2.0” (Free prisoner 2.0), with the preface of the psychiatrist
Giuseppre Tavormina, secretary of Eda Italia Onlus (Italian Association on Depression), becomes a renewed and more complete version of the previous edition, to continue to fight the dark evil of depression. And of this Anna
Dari wants to give strong testimony.
Follow Anna Dari on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anna.dari2008
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna_dari_pianist_composer_/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0lY0agOKdoiJEgFirHzKPY
Web: https://www.annadari.it/
