Ferrandina (Matera), Basilicata. August 26, 2025. Art that makes noise.

The rain forced a change of plans, but not of spirit. Ferrandina waited, restless, until the lights of the Chiostro di San Domenico finally turned on shortly after nine. The cultural association Lettere Cubitali opened Risonanze Fest with a talk by Plume that tasted like a declaration: no storm will stop us. From then on, Ferrandina began to vibrate.

The main stage immediately hosted the two names from the “Progetti In Risonanza” call, originally scheduled to perform in the afternoon. Noy, a rapper from Basilicata, delivered sharp words, raw stories of reality and experience, an urgency that rarely finds a megaphone in the South. Following her, Danie turned the mood around: an intimate artist, with an intense, steady voice, able to capture the silence of the audience and turn it into deep listening. Two opposing worlds, yet together they embodied the festival’s dual soul: abrasive and vulnerable.

Then came the Synthomatics feat Peps1 & Bruttoforte, a collective blending nu-jazz, afrobeat, and hip hop with ease. Their groove heated up the crowd like an underground current pushing from below, forcing you to move – a flow that grows in layers and sweeps you along. From urban edges, the scene shifted to the Lucanian deserts with Shiny Dust, who brought their “Calank Rock”: a dusty, tense sound halfway between alternative, psychedelia, and indie. It felt like watching a sunset over the badlands, with a burning guitar in place of the sun. Closing the sequence, Kosmosa Club unveiled a dreamlike imagination, filled with synths and reverberations that seemed to come from another era. Psychedelia, dreamy pop, seventies fragments: more than a concert, a collective journey suspended between dream and memory.

Meanwhile, the side activities were far from a sideshow. The free artistic creation led by Marilena Ferrara and Donatella Pennacchietti revealed how eager the public is to take part, not just consume. Children and adults shoulder to shoulder, each leaving a mark: not a didactic workshop, but an instinctive explosion, as if creativity were a contagious heartbeat. And while art lit up, the Taverna del Bradipo – a party game table always active, curated by Giovanni Tardugno and Emiliano Vitucci – kept another kind of energy alive: small communities forming around cards and dice, like a counter-rhythm to the music, yet part of the same beat.

The closing came with the short film “La Crepa” by Laboratorio Inchiostro Nero: raw, stark images that left the echo of a fracture more than a conclusion.

Not to be forgotten, the photo contest, which gathered different gazes, from professionals to amateurs armed with smartphones. It wasn’t just competition: it was another way of reading the festival, a mosaic of perspectives that returned the energy of the night through diverse eyes and sensibilities.

Organizers Enzo Di Stefano, Nicola Antonio Cotugno and Antonio Cirigliano spoke of satisfaction. And the conclusion can only be this: despite the rain, the evening proved that a festival in the provinces is not a fallback, but a political and cultural act. Risonanze Fest does not compete with the big events: it contradicts them, offering another model. Not glossy spectacle, but participation, contamination, the real gesture.

For one night, Ferrandina was not the periphery. It was the epicenter.

The event was produced by Associazione Culturale Under Core, in collaboration with Laboratorio Inchiostro Nero and with the patronage of the Municipality of Ferrandina. Food & beverage area curated by Linea Gotica. Audio-Video service: Be Sound – Creative Entertainment, sound engineer Diego Passaro.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risonanze_fest

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risonanzefest