Interview

Serena-Brancale_ph-Thom-Rever-2026

Four years after her last studio work, Serena Brancale presents “Sacro”, a new album that sounds more like a narrative device than a simple album.

A record that presents an artist who rejects any rigidity of identity and who prefers to inhabit music as a mobile field, crossed by dialects, jazz matrices and popular inspirations.

The album does not limit itself to declaring a return, but questions the very idea of continuity, relying on a writing that feeds on collaborations, geographical gaps and cultural tensions. In this framework, the South is not a perimeter but an extended grammar, while the notion of “sacred” becomes a lexical threshold even before a conceptual one, useful for holding together what normally tends to disperse.

Here is his story.

Let's start with the title: why “Sacred” and what does it represent for you?

I called it this because within this work there are many stratifications, almost chapters of life.
It is a record that was born four years ago, it crosses the search for the vernacular, folklore, roots, but also contaminations.
For me it is sacred because the family is inside, there is a song written with my sister left in its original nakedness, without study mediation. It is sacred because it coexists with jazz, with an idea of music that does not remain confined to a genre but crosses it. It is also sacred in the sound of the word itself, which is short, compact, almost full. It doesn't have to do with religion, but with a form of internal recognition. It is a balance between body and soul, celebration and spirituality.

Is this a balance you have achieved or are you still chasing?

I don't think it's an arrival point. It is a continuous search. This is the fourth album that represents me in a free way, but I already know that the next one will be different. I'd like to go towards soul, R&B. Each record is a chapter, not a definition. I'm interested in staying in a state of permanent curiosity, even creative unconsciousness. That's where I feel I can really take a risk. In this sense “Sacred” is also a gesture of courage: telling myself without building a character.

In your work there is always a tension between the South, language, identity. How does it translate into this album?

It was a risky operation. I wanted to talk about folklore without staying inside my home, but also crossing other people's homes. And I discovered that the stories are all similar. Delia, Claudia, the images of women who sing or talk about their South are different but mirrored. There are clichés that become almost sacred: the woman looking out the window, greeting relatives, domestic rituals. It's as if I opened a story and other voices continued it. It is not a closed idea of Puglia, it is a broader consensus.

In this sense, can we talk about sisterhood in the album?

More than a theme constructed on the table, it is a natural presence. I grew up in a matriarchal family, where music and decisions passed through strong female figures. In this album there are many women: my sister, my friends, collaborations that have an enormous specific weight, like Omara Portuondo, who marked my imagination as a child. It is not a manifesto, it is a constellation of presences. A celebration of female freedom, more than a discussion about women.

Collaborations play a central role. How did you choose them?

They were not designed as strategic operations. They are meetings with people I deeply respect and who could add something real. Gregory Porter, Saif, Alborosie, Omara Portuondo: each brings a different language into the same space. Even when we recorded in New York with Gregory Porter there was the idea of letting each voice maintain its own identity. This is what interests me: not perfect harmony, but the coexistence of differences.

You have often said “less character, more person”. What does today mean to you?

I don't think there really is a character. There is a musician who crosses different genres with curiosity. I have no superstructures. There is only the desire to explore. I'm interested in studying, trying, staying on the move. Even the most imagined stories, like the aunt from Bari Vecchia or the cod, always arise from a sound, from an aesthetic. I don't build masks, I bring who I am into the languages I encounter.

The tour starts from London. Not an obvious choice.

Precisely for this reason. I don't like predictable trajectories. Leaving from London means taking my idea of Italian music outside its natural perimeter. It's a challenge, especially when the audience listens to words that they may not understand but perceive the sound. Then there will be Madrid, Barcelona, and Italy. It is a journey into genres that I love, from flamenco to bulería, but reworked with my own language.

And Bari, at the end of the tour?

That will be a celebration and also a very strong emotional return. It's my house, so there's no need to explain anything there. There will be the people who have accompanied me from the beginning. I think it will be an inevitable emotional moment. But above all it will be a shared celebration.

LISTEN TO THE RECORD

Mary
Serenade feat. Alessandra Amoroso
Anema and Core
Here with me
TO MY COUNTRY feat. Levante, Delia
The Aunt
Only One Hour feat. Sayf, Gregory Porter
Stu Cafe
Fuera
Gitana feat. Richard Bona
Bésame Mucho feat. Gregory Porter & Delia
Capatosta feat. Alborosia
Salted cod
Magic Puglia
That one with Omara Portuondo & Pamela
Bariamore

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VIDEO

INSTORE

10 April – MILAN @ Mondadori Duomo (6.30 pm)
11 April – BARI @ Feltrinelli | Via Melo da Bari 119 (5.30 pm)
12 April – NAPLES @ Mondadori Bookstore MA | Galleria Umberto 1 (5.30 pm)
13 April – ROME @ Discoteca Laziale | Via Giolitti 263 (5.30 pm)
14 April – TARANTO @ Mondadori Bookstore | Via De Cesare (5.30 pm)
15 April – CATANIA @ Feltrinelli | Via Etnea (5.30 pm)
16 April – PALERMO @ Feltrinelli | Via Cavour (5.30pm)
19 April – TURIN @ Feltrinelli | CLN Square (5.30pm)
20 April – BOLOGNA @ SEMM Music Store | Via Oberdan 24F (5.30 pm)

TOURS

30 April – London – Islington Centre
11 May – Madrid – Sala Villanos
12 May – Barcelona – La Nau – Local d'assaig

6 June – Lamezia Terme (CZ) – Palalamezia
12 June – Palermo – Teatro di Verdura
13 June – Rome – Cavea Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone
17 June – Capannori (LU) – “But at night yes!” (Green Area)
3 July 2026 – Poppi (AR) – Mengo Music
11 July – Taormina (ME) – Ancient Theatre
14 July – Naples – Arena Flegrea
16 July – Cervere (CN) – Anima Festival (Anfiteatro dell'Anima)
21 July – Cernobbio (CO) – Lake Sound Park Festival (Villa Erba)
25 July 2026 – La Spezia – La Spezia Estate Festival (Piazza Europa)
26 July – Siena – Siena Fortress
31 July – Ostuni (BR) – Luce Festival (Arena Bianca – Foro Boario)
4 August 2026 – Riccione (RN) – Riccione Music City (Piazzale Roma)
6 August – Roseto degli Abruzzi (TE) – Emotions in Music
8 August – Diamante (CS) – Music facts (Teatro dei Ruderi di Cirella)
4 September – Macerata – Sferisterio
⁠7 September 2026 – Verona – Roman Theatre
3 October – Bari – Palaflorio

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WEB & SOCIAL

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