Upupayāma - Upupayāma (2020)


Informed by the wonders of nature that surround him high in the Northern Apennine mountains, Ferrari’s songwriting possesses a mystical quality, one that reflects the fantastical and surreal, yet simple, elements of the natural world. His use of imagery is strong and is communicated vividly through his music. This is especially clear in “The Blue Magician’s Fantasy” and “Hello Green Man, I am a Tiger,” both of which are songs in which he sings with his own invented language. True to the sense of magical realism his songs evoke, Ferrari is quick to point out that even the concept of Upupayāma, which means mountain hoopoe,“is surreal because the hoopoe is not a mountain bird.” As he puts it, “I like the fact that a mountain hoopoe and an invented language can live in an imaginative world.” That imaginative world is the five songs in front of you right now.