The second evening is when a song stops being a surprise and becomes a promise kept. Ermal Meta returned to the Ariston stage with “Stella stellina” and confirmed that this song is not a random choice in his artistic journey: it is an act of gentle resistance, a lullaby that does not let you sleep.
Those who had already seen him last night knew what to expect from a musical point of view: the sounds that intertwine Latin and Balkan influences, the voice that carries the weight of words too big for a nursery rhyme. But everyone’s eyes, once again, went to the cuff of his shirt.
A name. Different from yesterday. Sewn by hand, in his own handwriting, as he himself had said:
I had the names sewn in my handwriting, each name should perhaps be carved.
Tonight on Ermal Meta’s cuff it said Aisha.
Another name for another little girl. Another life that risked remaining invisible.
The gesture is repeated, almost ritualistic, every evening with a different name among those of the Palestinian girls who are no longer here – Aysha, Amal, Layla, Nour, Hind – as he explained after the first performance:
The protagonist is a little girl with no name, but perhaps she has all the names. Daughters of no one, daughters of everyone.
The Ariston audience, amidst lights and applause, once again found themselves dealing with something bigger than a singing competition. “Stella Stellina” does not compete: it testifies. And that name embroidered on the cuff, small and discreet, weighs more than any scenography.
In the next few evenings, there will almost certainly be another one.
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