singer-songwriters-from-italy

"Naples is not a city, it is a world. Naples is not only in Naples, you can find it everywhere, even in Germany. The ‘Neapolitan spirit’ is unique. It is clear that every city has its own warmth, Naples has it but in a different way, this city experiences things passionately, with a love that is different from all others. I cannot say whether it is better or worse than other places, but Naples is certainly different."

"(About Mango) I started out in the 1980s singing Lei Verrà in piano bars. It was one of the songs that gave me the chance to start my musical career. The news of his death is shocking. Mango will always be remembered as a great artist, because death cannot silence a voice and a song."

"I have always respected Mango, a virtuoso and respectable singer, always on stage performing his art, right up to the end."

"(Talking to Red Ronnie about choosing vegetarianism) At first, as I told you, I tried it out of curiosity, to see if what you had been telling me so emphatically for a month was true. I tried it and saw that it was true. Continuing with this choice is a personal matter, but in my opinion, you have to see things for yourself before you can choose, right? We are not given the opportunity to choose; we are brought up to eat meat, so I advise everyone to try it and then choose, because in reality you feel – I don't want to say better or worse – but different."

"C'è un proverbio che ho sentito a The Voice: | «Tira più un Pelù di Litfiba | che un carro di buoi»."

"For years, bullies made me believe that I was worthless and that my soul was insignificant until I defeated them with music. I want to convey this message to young people who are bullied because they are gay or for other reasons: persevere and you too will defeat them. And to the friends of those who are bullied: be good allies and help your friends. Your soul is at stake."

"Rino mi piaci un casino | tanto quanto mi piacevi da bambino, | mamma dice che eri quello che preferivo | perché eri il solo colorato in un cantautorato grigio."

"In Italy, it seems that the Rome are always to blame for everything. And the most unforgivable thing is the rise of Matteo Salvini. Explain to me why if an Italian goes abroad, it's a brain drain, but if a young person comes to us, they're a black person stealing our jobs, even if they have two degrees."

"J-Ax, Dalla strada al palco (pp. 31-32); in Andrea Pedrinelli (editor), Gaber, Giorgio, il Signor G. Raccontato da intellettuali, amici, artisti, Kowalski, Milano, 2008. ISBN 978-88-7496-754-4 (in Italian)."

"(In memory of his cat) […] you saved my life. Perhaps it may seem strange to some to talk about a cat in this way […]. But then again, you always understood me. Perhaps not my words, but my soul — yes, that always. […] No matter what happened to me during the day, whether I came home a winner or a loser — you were there. You were always there. […] You were there even when I thought that the only way to forget, to numb the pain, was alcohol. You helped me quit. Without you, I wouldn't be here today. That's why, the day I found out you were ill, I was so scared. […] Almost everyone told me you wouldn't make it. But I knew you wouldn't give up. All it took was giving you back 1/10 of what you gave me over the years to see you come back to life. Some people told me that the treatment was “exaggerated”. That you're not a person, but “just a cat”. They're right, you're just a cat. In fact, no person has ever given me what I got from you. Because that's how cats are. And I know you would have taken care of me as I did with you. I know, because you already did. And now that you've lost the battle, I miss you every day."

"You're like a beautiful song by a band you hate, you confuse me but I can't help listening to you."

"(About Matteo Salvini) He always makes people laugh, like a fart. I imagine Salvini in government in six years' time: he will have reintroduced the racial laws of Fascism. [About the failure to grant a visa for Nigeria] He's lucky, if someone translates what he says to the Nigerians, I don't know if he'll get back from Nigeria."

"Il tempo è giustiziere Rino | ora i tuoi dischi suonano come se fossero appena usciti. | Rino, hai vinto tu."

"When we first heard Giorgio Gaber's songs, it was electrifying. What we are trying to do in our career, he was already doing perfectly in the early 1970s. Playing rock, we could say. Not rock misunderstood as self-destruction, but rock as a language. A language that allows you to respond deeply to anyone who prevents the individual from being free: practically, culturally, intellectually."

"Gaber didn't say “I'm a singer-songwriter”, he didn't take sides. He took what he heard on the street and gave it back to the people honestly, with his own personal touch. Which was a cool touch, from someone who knew how to tell the truth to those in power."

"“'Time is the avenger Rino | now your records sound as if they had just been released. | Rino, you won.”'"

"Mi serve sentirti Rino | presto al mattino | per non sentirmi solo e per sentire un po' di orgoglio per il posto dove sono nato, vivo e scrivo.'"

"Rino still gives me energy and anger. He had a rock attitude and a hoarse voice, he was an outsider even in terms of composition. :*Quoted in Luigi Bolognini, “”Rap' n' roll J-Ax: Now I want to understand if I'm really a rebel“”, “'la Repubblica”', 12 June 2012."

"The unifying theme of the songs is that of the marginalized, but not so much those traditionally recognized as such, such as the underclass, alcoholics, and drug addicts, but rather ourselves. Few people care about so-called normal people. Just think of an accident on the street, with people running away for fear that the police will waste their time. This is Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico, a person who is, all things considered, perfectly normal. I like to exaggerate things, I love paradoxes. After all, Ionesco, one of my favorite playwrights, is all about paradoxes. To say that my brother is an only child because he is convinced that there are still exploited, underpaid, and frustrated people is not demagoguery."

"After three days in captivity, he is released, pictured here with his wife and children, and the Hanoi government declares a state of emergency in the areas affected by American bombing."

"(In the album ‘'My Brother Is an Only Child’') I analyze the situation of the excluded, the marginalized in society, and I conclude that, deep down, we are all only children: relationships of coexistence are dictated solely by duty and not by the pleasure of meeting and collaborating humanely. (p. 25)"

"Interviewer: Who is ‘Gianna’? Gaetano: Gianna is a girl, a fifteen-year-old who faces a serious problem, that is, she says, “What should I do, get involved in politics right away or wait until I become a prima donna and then do it? Gaetano: In the end, this tough struggle is never resolved because she does both things at the same time."

"It feels like I'm at the Capannelle racecourse! But let me understand... Am I a winning horse or a placed horse?:*During 1978 Sanremo Festival, quoted in Silvia D'Ortenzi, Rare tracce, p. 93."

"The next piece I'm doing [Aida] is the story of the last 50 years in Italy, told through the loves and moods of a woman named Aida."

"Interviewer: Don't you think that by saying ‘'Nuntereggae più'’ you risk being accused of populism? Gaetano: You risk populism when you attribute the effect of a political rally to a song, not when you think you're writing a song about happy times, evasive [...] My songs are love songs for society."

"Interviewer: Why do you talk about various social issues in songs that you then describe as ‘evasive’? Gaetano: In my opinion, there are social periods. That is, there was a period of economic boom in Italy, which we all remember, there was Paul Anka who sang ‘'Diana'’, that other guy who sang another funny song, Morandi who sang ‘'Fatti mandare dalla mamma a prendere il latte'’ (Have your mother send you to get the milk), today milk costs too much so you can't talk about these things here. And people talked about love. Instead, since the economic boom is over, there are problems, and clearly I, as a man, am not blind. However, at the same time, I try to write evasive songs, but since I am not blind, I am unfortunately forced to write and sing songs like “Fabbricando Case,” “Stoccolma,” “Dans le château,” and “Gianna.”"

"Interviewer: So the car is a kind of womb from which you give birth to your songs? Gaetano: Yes, I used to write them on foot, now I write them in the car... They are songs for drivers, much richer in fact."

"Who throws the bomb and who hides their hand."

"Jannacci was a master, for me he is a true poet, I feel very close to his sensibility. As an author and entertainer, he is truly great. He is someone who knows how to have fun, take things in the right way, and say very interesting things. Take ‘'Giovanni il telegrafista’' (Giovanni the Telegraph Operator), where he comes across as pathetic with extreme elegance. (p. 19)"

"(Talking about ‘'Ma il cielo è sempre più blu’') There are sad or useless images, but never happy ones, because I wanted to emphasize that nowadays there are few happy things, and that is why I consider those who die at work and those who want a raise. Even the line “those who play in Sanremo” is sad and negative, because those who play in Sanremo do not think about those who “live in shacks.”"

"Old songs don't exist."

"Interviewer: How do your songs come about? Gaetano: Let's say I'm in the car, I think of a melody, an aria, and then I try to remember it, to sing it until I'm exhausted, otherwise I'll forget it right away, because, among other things, I have a poor memory. When I get home, I record it, and then this aria will obviously inspire me to write lyrics. [...] Sometimes, however, I'm in the car, I see a beautiful seascape [...] and I decide to describe it in a song. I try to describe the yellow leaves falling and whistling as they fall. And they whistle and go ‘Cip cip’ because they try to imitate the sound of birds. Once I've found these very beautiful, very bucolic phrases, I try to reread them at home with my guitar, looking for musical inspiration in them."

"(About ‘'Berta filava’') It is perhaps the only song that does not fit into the general context of ‘'Mio fratello è figlio unico’'. It is against heroes, saints, novellas, and false myths: deliberately irreverent, the figure of Berta stands out, morally unsavory. In ‘'Berta filava’', the woman is chosen as a symbol: Berta is a bit like all of us who have discovered the tricks, the sleight of hand, the saints who dress in asbestos, the heroes. It helped me to demystify national myths, such as the homeland and the family. (p. 27)"

"(Presenting the song ‘'E io ci sto’') Let's say it's a journey that's a bit rock, a bit rhythmic through Italy, in this Italy that perhaps we want to change, there are good intentions around, bad intentions. It is certainly an intention to change Italy, and I am in favor of this intention."

"The life of the solitary and tormented singer-songwriter (who died in a car accident) was short but intense in terms of the creativity of his compositions, which ranged from paradox to sarcasm. An exuberant and satirical artist with a captivating musical vein, Rino Gaetano played a witty and irreverent role that was unusual in the Italian music scene."

"I will say right away that Rino Gaetano was an artist, and I would add that this cannot be said of everyone. He was an artist, with all the fragility of artists, with a presence and an often decisive desire to provoke. Nuntereggae più is more than a song, it is a manifesto, a chorus of protest."

"We're here tonight to say goodbye to a friend, | to remember a brother named Rino. | I went to Verano just to say goodbye | because, I can say, I grew up with you. | If there were a monument, millions would come | to pay homage to the genius who sang the songs.‘’"

"The dog has a lot to do with it! The new LP is called ‘'Mio fratello è figlio unico’' (My Brother Is an Only Child), and I think nothing expresses the concept of being marginalized and excluded better than a dog. That is, the dog is the epitome of loneliness. The point is basically that we are all poor dogs, quite detached from human contact and quite lonely... That is, we are basically quite isolated from each other."

"(About the miniseries “Rino Gaetano - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu” (Rino Gaetano - But the sky is always bluer) that he produced) I had had the subject in mind for some time. I knew Rino Gaetano well because, as a girl, I was friends with his sister Anna, and we used to hang out in Rome. I liked his music and I liked him, a deeply intelligent guy. His is the story of a modern-day hero, as relevant today as his songs are. Stories about young people are rarely told on TV: this one aims to be."

"His biography is emblematic, beautiful, interesting to tell. Everything about him deserves attention. Even the car accident that caused his death."

"Claudia Mori, quoted in Emilia Costantini, Rino Gaetano, fiction su un cantautore-eroe, Corriere della Sera, 20 January 2007."

"(Referring to some of his songs) “Here there is no Gianna, Aida, or Berta spinning | and when the sun sets, Maria is already gone. | Despite the changes, this sky is always blue, | it is always the color you left it.”"

"At this point, I would like to mention an important figure, Aldo Moro, who was born a short distance from here, in Maglie... He is one of the biggest shoe manufacturers, someone who has made shoes for the whole of Italy. [...] I know very well that he uses very clear language, he invented several terms, in fact he is a great philologist, he invented parallel convergences, the economic situation, all these things... Once I heard him make some very strange speeches, such as: “These ferments of dissolution, I would not say iconoclastic but projected towards new hypertrophic temptations that bring me back to a new universal pragmatism and new dimensions yet to be discovered...” and there are all these things that make it impossible to clarify anything at all. It's very distracting, and last year I wrote an even more distracting piece dedicated to these enigmatic figures from the world of politics and other worlds as well. Anyway, tonight I want to dedicate it to this character who has outsmarted the whole of Italy."

"Even when I was singing at Folkstudio, I was at the center of certain discussions... in short, many didn't want me to perform my songs because, they said, it seemed like I was making fun of everyone."

"Ahó, look, songs are not political texts and I don't give speeches. This is just a joke. In short, for me, ‘'Nuntereggae più’' is the lightest song I've ever written."

"There are people who are paid to report news, others to keep it hidden, and others to falsify it. I am not paid to do any of these things."

"I think that Luigi Tenco died of boredom ten years ago because for twenty-eight years Sanremo has always been the same, because there is no real intention to change it."

"The effendi is that gentleman who habitually consumes a cup of petroleum at five in the afternoon."

"But the festival remains a catwalk, and like all catwalks, it gives you three minutes to make a speech that you would normally make in a two-hour show. So you have to find a way. For my part, I chose the path of paradox, a bit like Carmelo Bene."

"In the end, Rino's beautiful songs, almost Battistian in style, work. Not only because they remind us of the atmosphere of the late 1970s, but also because the musical obviousness proposed today makes them even more of a model. “‘'Nuntereggae più’'” is very topical: Costanzo and Bongiorno are still there, you just need to change the name of a few politicians."