Music and basketball. That’s what brought, or rather, brought Carl Brave back to New York.
He first had 18 years and a dream: “I had come as a basketball player with the idea of stopping here, enrolling in a college and building a professional career in the meantime.” Then Stella Azzurra, a basketball club in Rome, called him and he returned to the capital: “My first sliding doors moment.”
The second, was the time of the romantic trip, with the girlfriend of the time. And then there’s this, the third one.
“When I set the date for the concert in New York on June 7, I told myself it could be an opportunity to combine my two greatest passions: music and basketball. I arrived a few days before the performance to go to Oklahoma City to watch the NBA Finals between the Thunder and Pacers. Pretty cool, it was my first time seeing a live Finals, a unique thrill.”
Confesses Brave, who-for those who still don’t know-before music took over played at a high level (minor league, national). “My second moment sliding doors.”
The Nba Finals usually sees them at night, on the couch. “This time it was definitely more uncomfortable. Getting to Oklahoma City was crazy, it was pouring, there was a tornado. I took plane, bus, car…with the constant risk of aquaplaning. But it was worth it, you want to put it? It’s a whole other thing. And then getting there gave me the opportunity to see the other side of America, the side of Dallas for example that really struck me, very rough, brutal. But real.”
After the game, Brave returned to New York to perform on McDougal Street, where, despite the rain he managed to engage the audience, transporting them on the notes of his music to Rome, to Italy.
“There were also locals, but most of the people were Italian or Italian-American. Playing, singing, performing for them is different, it has another flavor. Italians who live abroad, for short or long periods, are always a bit nostalgic. Performance with them is transformed, it is closer is warmer. They get involved, they want to sing. For me it’s really a special audience.”
Brave told me with a crinkle in his eyes.
“I would like to do more concerts like that, and New York then is crazy, full of stimulation. Music is everywhere, you breathe and inspire. I definitely need to come back.”
Well, that’s just what I wanted to hear, Perfect, like the title of his collaborative single with Sarah Toscano, out very recently and already a hit, taken from his latest album Notti brave amarcord released last April 25.
“I care so much about this album, it’s very personal, going over many images of life in a kind of throwback. It is like a diary but also a new beginning.”
More fricking.
A new beginning that we hope will include many more stops here in New York.
The article Carl Brave in New York: “Italians abroad are a special audience” comes from TheNewyorker.
