Enzo Del Re

"Le storie cantante. Journey among the Cantastorie of Puglia" is a documentary that forms part of a broader research project developed by the authors, tracing the roots of Apulian musical tradition—both written and oral. The journey begins with the imagined arrival of Aeneas on the shores of Porto Badisco. The path is shaped by the testimonies of singers of Southern identity, from Uccio Aloisi to Tonino Zurlo, from Enzo Del Re to the choral ensemble Cantori di Carpino, concluding with Matteo Salvatore. Alongside these performer-authors—cantastorie who can be seen as forerunners of modern singer-songwriters (as in the case of Salvatore)—stand contributions from ethnomusicologist and musician Antonio Infantino, director, actor and writer Moni Ovadia, Neapolitan jazz musician Daniele Sepe, and director and actor Michele Placido.

Shut away in his home, at the top of a very steep staircase of thirty steps, Enzo Del Re manages—though not without effort—to bend the world to himself rather than be bent by it. A Puglian storyteller of extraordinary evocative power, Enzo Del Re is also a musician of remarkable innovative ability in musical production and in the use of humble, makeshift instruments. An icon of Apulian music, little known yet overwhelming once discovered. Through his story, three important decades of the Italian cultural scene are retraced, from Nanni Ricordi to Dario Fo, all the way to Nuova Scena and the Circoli Ottobre. Then darkness, and today the rediscovery of Del Re at the May Day concert in 2010 alongside Vinicio Capossela. Today he claims that he “did not fight for a pension, but for the revolution.”