‘Adorati Spiriti’ is an album which should be experienced as a narrative, based on the idea of Chayton, an old Cheyenne man at the end of his life, and Tokala, a young member of his tribe who lives in a society very different from the one that his elder is familiar with; the relationship between these two forms the album’s main dramatic element.
The subjects discussed by Chayton in his talks with Tokala include religion and culture as well as social values and politics. Instead of treating these ideas as separate topics, the album brings them together by means of the elder’s effort to explain the way his people see the world; in the story Tokala takes on the role of the listener, illustrating a generation which is facing circumstances very different from those encountered by the previous generations.
The interest in the idea largely comes from the difference between the two characters. Chayton knows that Tokala cannot just step outside the modern world and so he doesn’t ask him to. Rather, his message provides room for freedom, for change, and for a different way of living. The album thus doesn’t present its story as a simple conflict between the old and the new, but instead allows both points of view to exist side by side.
A creative partnership exists behind the project which goes back to Donelli and Rossi’s youth, during which the two of them played in bands before going on to establish careers in journalism and politics. Donelli is in charge of composing, whereas Rossi writes the texts and also co-produces the music, incorporating elements of prog, jazz fusion, and world music; the album “Adorati Spiriti” makes use of this collaboration to produce a concept album in which character, setting, and ideas are kept closely linked.
