TERZO GRADO

BY PETRA BARKHOF

It is the kind of kinship that exists between uncle and nephew. History of an unusual, extravagant and tenacious family that begins with me.

Giacomo & Gabriel

photo Achim Lippoth

The first time I became a mom I was 21. Like me my daughter was born in Germany but she is an Ibicenco fruit and grew up on the island that I still carry in my heart. Her father was Argentinian. It was love at first sight on the stairs leading to the Fortress. We bumped into each other, he turned to look at me, I turned to look at him and some time later Patricia arrived. Living in Ibiza was the dream of my generation because there was the world we were all dreaming about. People who, in the rigid and conservative part of Germany where I came from, would be branded as crazy. In Ibiza, however, everything was color and folklore. There was tolerance, freedom, youth, passion. Patricia grew up in the middle of this, absorbed it. She was always with me, I took her wherever I went. Even today, if I don’t hear or see her for a day I miss her. Then time has passed.

My children and grandchildren

I arrived in Milan in its most amusing period and I fell in love here too: with Italy and with an Italian musician, who after a few years became the father of Giacomo: my second child, a son. Becoming a mother at thirty-seven is different from twenty. The energy is no longer the same but is compensated by increased awareness. You play less but look more. When my children were little they surely knew diferent mothers even if they received the same love. Among them there are sixteen years. Many, practically a generation. And when Patricia became a mom too, because she fell in love with a Dominican boy during a work stay in the Caribbean, my little Giacomo, who was then ten years old, became Gabriel’s uncle and, shortly after, Emma’s.

Giacomo and Gabriel

And from the very first moment he loved his role. Maybe because it made him feel big, or simply because he was a child just like them. But for those nephews the little uncle was, and still is, the coolest guy on planet earth.

Giacomo, Gabriel and Emma

He and Gabriel now live together in Lanzarote. They have a very messy house but right in front of the beach, every morning they put on their wetsuits and go surfing then, in the evening, they perform in the clubs. Together they sing songs they compose four-handed and people like them very much because they are funny, prepared and cute. Every afternoon that God commands they work on their arrangements, never skipping one. It’s kind of strange for me to see Giacomo so responsible. When he was still a boy and told me he wanted to leave Milan and travel around the world, I was very worried. What would he do? How would he survive? He had given me many worries during his adolescence. At one point he even got into trouble and for a few weeks he could not leave the house because of a complaint. But that forced retreat brought him closer to music. Not only because he grew up right in the middle of it because of his dad, but also thanks to me, since I was kind of a fanatic and spent hours next to my record player as a kid. Giacomo is talented but he was too lazy at that time. And then you know, young guys never want to listen to their parents.

There is an age when the more you insist on giving them advice, the more they refuse to listen. Away from home, however, that passion had grown. And he grew up, too. From South Africa, which was his frst destination and made him discover surfng, he moved to New Zealand and then to Lanzarote, where he found a life more suited to him and he began to believe in his dreams. And when it was Gabriel who got into trouble, his uncle few in to rescue him. Literally. He took a plane and brought him back to live with him. He keeps him in line, spends time on him, and has a lot of fun with him. They are a young family that comes from so many diferent cultures and civilizations and ways of thinking that can get along with all the families in the world.

Gabriel

photo Achim Lippoth

@z4_pucho Spotify Pucho

GABRIEL

Nephew

Age: 17 years. Odd number. I like it. Nationality: I am half German (mom) and half Dominican (dad). I would also be Italian if the Italian law recognized citizenship to those born on its territory but for now it is not so. It is being discussed. Who knows, maybe one day... Particular somatic traits: there is a black part in me that I feel very much and I like. Character: Cheerful and agitated. Zodiac sign: Capricorn. Hard head!

GIACOMO VS GABRIEL

We met uncle and nephew on zoom and asked them some questions. That’s what came up. Giacomo is: the tallest, the strongest, the most intonate, the most sportive, the more confident on stage. Gabriel is: the messiest one, the most polemic, the most beautiful, the most successful with girls, the one who says more bad words. Together they: surf, sing, play and compose songs, fight and insult each other very badly (but just for a short while, then it passes and everything goes back to normal), cook pasta or pizza (because you can cook “a lot” of it and they are always hungry). According to Giacomo, Gabriel is: the most prickly (he marks the wrongs he thinks

Giacomo

photo Achim Lippoth

@cristaldi__ Spotify Cristaldi

GIACOMO

Uncle

Age: 27 years. Time goes by fast! Nationality: I am half Italian (dad) and half German (mom) Particular features: I would say the blue eyes I inherited from my grandfather. It was a nice gift. I like them. Character: I’m extroverted like my mother, perfectionist like my father and caring like .... my grandmother maybe? Zodiac sign: Gemini. I heard it is the most intelligent sign of the zodiac.

He has suffered on the calendar), the one who tells more lies (the last lie concerns the time set for this interview to which Gabriel was late), and the most selfish (the world is how he wants to see it). Of course, Gabriel denies all. For Gabriel, however, Giacomo is the most prickly, the one who always forgets to tell him things (as the time of this interview of which he claims to have been warned only a few minutes before), and also the one who does not recognize his (Gabriel’s) courage. Even Giacomo denies all. He claims to have warned him of the interview long before and that being brave does not mean willingly jump with your head on a rock. In conclusion: Here at Scimparello we think they’re super cool guys!

Famara/Lanzarote, March 1st, 2021. Two guys inside the house in front of a computer. Outside the beach beaten by the wind that swells the sea. The same sea that welcomes them every day and tempers them as the most careful parent.