CENTRE STAGE Salvatore Romita

Photo by Eric Algra.Williamstown Library, 2015

Salvatore Romita plays weddings, parties, anything. Since 2014 he’s also been playing at literary festivals.

Salvatore plays the piano-accordion and has been doing so for most of his long life. (He recently turned 94.)

His daughter Lucia’s Stereo Story, based on the World War 2 song Lilli Marlene, is a three-fold love story, encapsulating Salvatore’s love of the piano accordion, his dedication to his late wife, and Lucia’s love of her parents.

My memories of Dad’s music start when I’m about three. We live in a rented post-war, house with scant furnishings, yet somehow there’s a sense of abundance. Dad sits on a kitchen chair, playing a worn Paolo Soprano piano accordion (fisarmonica in Italian— it’s one of the first words I learn). ….

It’s a story that has been part of our concerts since our first gig in 2014. Not all of our 20 or more shows. But many. A dozen at last count. It was performed live on Radio National and has been translated into, and performed in, Italian.

Le mie memorie in relazione alla musica di mio padre, ebbe inizio quando avevo circa tre anni. Abitiamo in una casa in affitto durante il periodo del dopoguerra, scarsamente ammobiliata, ma allo stesso tempo dava un senso d’abbondanza….

There’s hardly a dry eye in the house when the story, and the song, is over.

Thank you, Salvatore.

Original story

Italian translation

Radio National recording

Salvatore Romita passed away on Wednesday 17 November, 2021, aged 95.