A ballad singer that lives for art

How many people can say they have become acquainted a ballad singer? and how many of them can say they are able to recognize a ballad singer? I, modestly retain to be among those who can perceive an authentic ballad singer with the vibrant intuition of a water diviner. For many years I have dealt with traditional music, not as a scholar, but with the passion of an amateur traveller and the obsessive manner of a pusher who has the impelling urge to “peddle” the goods to others so that they may enjoy the same. In this sense my encounter with Mario De Leo has been one of the most exciting of my life. Hearing him sing his songs was for me an intense experience, that has allowed me access the depths of an ancient culture, that of the powerful peasant roots of the best of Italy’s south.

Mario has a very particular face, a merging of popular traits and the beauty of a Byzantine mosaic.

His voice is warm and rich with resonance and the union of melody, rhythm and lyrics of his songs are without mediation, the epic art of the countryfolk that project themselves infinitely towards future. For a long time Mario has been devoted to the art of the pictorial image and I do not sail in these waters, any attempt on my behalf of a critical approach in this direction would seem awkwardly inappropriate, but I consider that this balled singer who lives for art a person surely worth encountering.

Moni Ovadia