Singers From Italy

"And then culture is a difficult word to interpret. We are one of those countries that has only thought about stealing."

"‘’Il Gioco dell'Eroe‘’ by Gianluca Magi is a large stone thrown into a still pond. An invitation to inner life and its (inevitable) evolutionary transmutation."

"The bad moments I've had in my life have only been cosmological in nature. Once during the night I got up, came into this room and looked my fear in the face, carefully, and the crisis was resolved. It's not easy, because at that moment you feel like a being thrown into nothingness, you have no ties to anything. It is the dark night of St. John of the Cross, suffering that seems insurmountable, unbearable, and yet you can overcome it in the blink of an eye. Just remember that we are impermanent. We think we are eternal, and that is our misfortune. They don't teach us how to die in school; the ancient Egyptians, on the other hand, built a civilization around death."

"There are storytellers from the island, such as Bufalino, Sgalambro, Tomasi di Lampedusa, who made their debut late in life. It is as if, for years, they had pointed a large telescope at the surrounding world. Then, drawing on their reserves and giving us, as Bufalino does, novels of overflowing sensuality, a Dionysian Sicily, full of flavors and colors."

"Morgan is not a carbon copy of the Americans or the British, but an independent thinker, and it's nice to hear him speak."

"Inner evolution has no party. Those who want me on one side or the other do not appreciate my music, and if they think they do, it is a misunderstanding. In 1982, during a concert in Verona, I sang “Centro di gravita' permanente” and found myself surrounded by four thousand outstretched arms: it was mind-blowing. However, the left has committed crimes as horrible as those of the right throughout the world."

"(Speaking of Giorgio Gaber) In the mid-1970s, we spent wonderful evenings talking and playing poker until morning. Giorgio was an impressive listener. He was extremely intelligent, curious, and open-minded. Being a perfectionist, he could not stand (and in this he was fierce) incivility, incompetence, sloppiness, delinquency as a philosophy of life... And then there was corrupt politics. [...] The passing of such a man in our midst was, for me, yet another proof that life is not a matter of chance."

"The crisis in human beings is decisive, otherwise existence is useless. I have taken refuge in what is called metaphysics because I am someone who believes that human beings are immortal."

"If you are unable to watch something different from yourself, it is because you need an enemy. Italian politics has influenced certain attitudes in this regard. In Venice, it has always been this way since Fellini onwards. Once, the police had to rescue Carmelo Bene because they wanted to kill him. They uprooted the chairs in the cinema."

"I came to understand certain things after many years of study and research, and through my experiences. Afterwards, reintroducing myself to society was not easy. I had trouble recognizing human beings when I was on the street or on the tram. It was strange: I didn't understand if I was crazy or a mystic. But I realized that the journey on this planet is decisive. We must escape the rules of the universe."

"(Speaking of the reality show ‘'L'isola dei famosi’') I don't want to feel intelligent watching idiots, I want to feel like an idiot watching intelligent people."

"Morgan is a very knowledgeable guy, I would say a complete musician because he also has a classical background, and this helps a lot, because as the saying goes, “the more you know, the more you're worth,” and if you also have talent, as in his case, that's it."

"I am naturally a contemplative person. Scents and the air are like a remote control that turns off the world for me."

"Interviewer: What is rock? Piero Pelù: Freedom, positive anger, a naive utopian search for truth and irony. Rock must see the glass as half empty: it must be thirsty. And make few compromises."

"There is a proverb that I heard on “'The Voice”': ‘A Pelù by Litfiba pulls more | than a cart of oxen.’"

"(About Matteo Renzi) A scrapper to be scrapped. He put a tombstone on culture in Florence. He arrived, young and sprightly, and killed everything. A little Berlusconi who takes trips to Arcore."

"We will never get rid of Berlusconism, just like we will never get rid of Fascism. Nothing is more anti-political than our politicians. The PDL, but also the PD. I voted for Di Pietro, tomorrow I don't know. My utopia is to have real experts, not like these who hit pensioners and mock young people (referring to the Monti government)."

"[...] rock is explosion. Not implosion."

"(With the sick in Lourdes) I felt very fragile and also stupid, full of useless vices."

"Having him as a father is a blessing, but at the same time it casts a long shadow that is difficult to escape. He is everywhere."

"Everyone, young and old, still sings ‘'C'era un ragazzo’' (There was a boy), they know all the words. So, I relive my life and there are moments of great emotion, I find them again."

"It's hard for me to talk about him (Lucio Dalla), every corner of Bologna I turn, there's a memory of him. Just think, the last thing he did was Sanremo, he didn't want to, I almost blackmailed him. And then, 15 days later, he died."

"Tognazzi always told me: Germi only made two bad films in his life: mine [‘'L'immotale’'] and yours [‘'Le castagne sono buone’']."

"When we played with Led Zeppelin in Milan, on that disastrous evening, I felt like I was a hundred years old, surrounded by all those shirtless young guys who saw me as a wreck."

"I really like Totti: he is an extraordinary player who deserved the Ballon d'Or. It's also great that he wanted to stay with Roma for his entire career: anyone who loves soccer cannot help but love Totti."

"When I saw the pain of the people who were there in Lourdes, even my rock bottom seemed like paradise, because when you say “I've hit rock bottom,” you don't really realize what rock bottom really is!"

"Every now and then I look at my children and other young people and I feel guilty: we have destroyed the environment and ideals. And even if we try to repair the damage, it remains."

"Mina has gone through these forty years with a soundtrack that has accompanied the changes in customs and history of our country, almost like a continuous reference, like a positive Italy that comes through music."

"I like Renato Zero because he's talented, beyond all appearances, which are only superficial. Behind his slightly crazy persona are beautiful songs, which he sings well. My children are crazy about him, as all children are, and I think that's right, because Renato is ‘real’, he's ‘right’. I've known him for many years and he's always been like that."

"I took a tour of the city. Maybe I've already said this, but I'll say it again: Palermo is magnificent, surprising, full of art and history; it's a city unlike any other in the world."

"He is the man of clean soccer, of soccer where the best player wins and not those who use other means. This is precisely why he arouses so much interest. Celentano causes quite a stir with his outbursts, a bit like Zeman. I don't know which of the two took after the other! Anyway, yes, they are two characters who can be compared, two people who stand out from the crowd, difficult to imitate and match. I'm happy to see Zeman back in Serie A, he plays good soccer: to think that a few years ago they wanted him for the Bologna bench, but then nothing came of it."

"I must say that there, in front of the grotto (of Lourdes), you feel something that I don't quite know how to define, something great, mysterious, indescribable."

"(Speaking of Giorgio Gaber) I could have stolen his place when Mina's manager suggested I do a theater season with her. But he did that tour, and that's where he decided to devote himself to theater. I also tried my hand at theater in the early 1970s with ‘'Jacopone’', a rock opera that turned out to be a bit of a disaster. But Giorgio helped me out on that occasion too, telling me how to streamline the show. However, his shows were something else. I was amazed, noticing that he was growing more and more, becoming a true man of the theater. And watching people go crazy for him, even when he was alone on stage for two hours, was a lesson for me. Because he had clearly found the right key to success: with content, but not only that."

"Biagio Antonacci, Generazioni a confronto (pp. 29 – 30); in Andrea Pedrinelli (editor), Gaber, Giorgio, il Signor G. Raccontato da intellettuali, amici, artisti, Kowalski, Milano, 2008. ISBN 978-88-7496-754-4"

"Biagio Antonacci, Se ami devi amare forte, Mondadori, 2008. ISBN 9788804577737"

"I cannot say that I am a peaceful man; peace does not go hand in hand with the word love. Without torment, passion cannot take off. There is no such thing as polite love; the horse of love cannot be tamed."

"Love is a cage without which I could not live. The time when being called “the singer-songwriter of love” felt restrictive is over. We are no longer in the 1960s and 1970s, the era of red and black. Today, talking about love is like talking about politics."

"Everything that life brings is unexpected. Planned things fail, but when we don't aim and just shoot from the hip, we always hit the target. Magically. Following our instinct leads us to the sun."

"I hope no one ever tells me that eternal love does not exist: I do not want to know. It would be like taking a toy away from a child when there is still light and time before bedtime."

"[Unlike the previous generation] We songwriters who started out in the 1980s, on the other hand, explored reality in a socio-emotional sense. Anyone familiar with my songs can see how I am closer, if anything, to the legacy of Mogol, an artist who always avoided talking about politics in order to put normality in the spotlight instead."

"I carry the Carabinieri in my heart, as well as in my memory. If I hadn't made it big with music, I would have continued to carry out what has always been an essential social mission for me. This does not mean that serving in the Arma is less important than rock music, quite the contrary, but only that I was lucky enough to succeed in what is my passion. Otherwise, you could easily call me Marshal Antonacci now."

"[Giorgio Gaber] He was always “different” from his fellow songwriters. He made courageous choices that he pursued with consistency, singing about his surroundings through completely new physical and musical languages and becoming, I might say, a cultural model. Because, even though he stayed out of the spotlight, he said important things to a great many people."

"[‘After Turin, you were sent to serve in Garlasco. How did that go?’] I would say well, although I must confess that my mind was focused on music. I carried out my duties as a “CC” with the necessary attention and respect for the uniform with the stars, but I felt that my destiny was to play and sing. So much so that, having learned that Ron lived in Garlasco, one day I plucked up all my courage and went to ring his doorbell to leave him some of my songs recorded on a cassette tape'."

"Gaber belonged to a generation for whom the concepts of revolution and protest were not mere slogans. They were something that had been experienced. And it was clear that when Gaber called for change, or tackled sensitive political issues, he did so because it was an inner need that he felt he had to convey to people."

"Then third place Simone Cristicchi, who went to Sanremo with his song about disabled people and blew everyone away! He sang ‘I want to be like Biagio Antonacci’. Guys! What the hell is wrong with us! Oh well, never mind."

"Se stamo qui stasera è pe salutà un amico, | pe ricordà un fratello che se chiamava Rino. | So annato lì al Verano solo pe fa un saluto | perché, lo posso dì, co te so cresciuto. | Ce fosse un monumento, verrebbero in milioni | a rende omaggio ar genio che cantava le canzoni."

"Qui nun c'è Gianna, Aida, né Berta che filava | e quando tramonta il sol, Maria se n'è già andata. | Malgrado i cambiamenti, 'sto cielo è sempre blu, | è sempre der colore che l'hai lasciato tu."

"My father and mother remain a mystery to me. I left home at 18, not because I hated them, but because they were too young to have three children, and artists are too self-absorbed."

"My mother was very authoritarian. A woman of rare beauty. I am a sick aesthete, I fight with Oscar Wilde and this mother who is so beautiful and so distant. My mother is my lost bride."

"I hardly knew my mother. And I will always miss her, even though I can find her again in the eyes of a woman."