How much have your Italian origins and the culture of your country affected your professional career?
I was born in Crotone, in Calabria, a place where I was lucky enough to live up to maturity. At the age of 7 I was already playing the piano and in the summer my family and I moved to a house by the sea. It was there that I first perceived the call of the sound of the waves, the same one that lulled my dreams.
In your opinion, is Italy still a meritocratic country as far as music is concerned? What could be the side effects of not having quality people in show business?
In Italy for at least a decade there has been a deep musical crisis at all levels. The world of communication and the flattening of the artistic proposal did the rest. Many of my Italian jazz musician friends prefer to play in France or Germany, where there is certainly a more prepared and attentive audience to welcome them.
Is Italian music still popular abroad? In your opinion, what peculiarity makes it stand out on the international and global scene?
For the melody, the singability of the verses, certain harmonic constructions, the beautiful songs in the Italian style never die.
Do you dream of taking your music abroad? Why?
Actually my music travels abroad a lot. The latest wrapped on spotify told me that I'm listened to in 176 countries.
You have also performed abroad. Is Italian music still credible outside our country?
Absolutely yes. Especially songwriting, jazz and classical music.
What were the main difficulties you had to overcome to become an established artist in Italy?
I made a long apprenticeship, starting from the south of the peninsula towards the end of the 70s. I have lived in various cities and met many people playing and travelling.
At the age of thirty I made my first record but I only managed to establish myself with the Sanremo Festival, in 2003 at the age of 42.
In your opinion, do the record market, the needs of producers and those of the mass media risk impoverishing, reducing the artist's talent, expressiveness and spontaneity?
The record market follows business logic, the artist's role is to be himself and create emotions.
As an artist, what are your dreams still in the drawer?
I was a lucky man, slowly all my dreams that I had as a boy slowly came true and others I know will come…
If you could duet with an artist from the past, who would you choose and why? (Italian or foreign)
With Chet Baker (American trumpeter and singer of jazz music), for his special talent, his sound and his poetry.
In your opinion, today, are there still Italian authors and/or composers who represent the true "Made in Italy" or are our songs also simply becoming a commercial product for the use and consumption of fashions?
Immortal songs were born in our country in the 60s, from Domenico Modugno's “Volare” to Tony Renis's “ Quando Quando Quando”. I believe that musically speaking Made in Italy no longer exists today. From melodic compositions to harmonic structures, everything became rhythm with nursery rhyme-like refrains. We are children of a globalized world and consequently the melody has disappeared and so has the language, or rather the chanting of words…
Maestro Jonathan Cilia Faro who nominated her has always supported the importance of meritocracy and philanthropy in the music field. Who is the singer you admire the most at the moment and in what do you think he contributes to bringing prestige to Italy?
The only ambassador that comes to mind right now is Andrea Bocelli.
Speaking of meritocracy and philanthropy, in your opinion among the promising young artists, which artist do you believe deserves to be able to emerge? For what reason?
I adore Lizzy McAlpine, a young American singer-songwriter who is not yet known in Italy.
Following your experience, in your opinion, is it easier to collaborate with other Italian artists or is it more stimulating to do it with foreign singers?
I don't think there's a difference when it comes to singers. On the contrary, it is much more stimulating when you meet musicians from other continents, from other ethnic groups. I find contamination essential, in my publications I have collaborated with African, Indian, Brazilian, Cuban musicians... Music is a universal language that transmits sharing. In my artistic experience, twelve albums as a singer-songwriter, twenty soundtracks, two solo piano instrumental albums, I have always tried to involve great musical souls: from Toots Thielemans to Gal Costa, from Gino Paoli to Lucio Dalla, from Samuele Bersani to Ornella Vanoni.
In addition to my songs, I have recorded songs by Charles Trenet, Vinícius de Moraes, Joan Manuel Serrat, Paco Ibáñez, Luigi Tenco, Giorgio Gaber, Bruno Lauzi, Sergio Endrigo, as well as the Italian version for the Disney animated film "The Princess and the Frog ”, “Life in New Orleans” by Randy Newman.
In your opinion, what are the main characteristics that an artist must have in order to establish himself in Italy? Is talent enough?
Talent certainly yes, but fate and character predisposition also play a fundamental role.
What are your plans for the near future?
I'm currently focused on promoting my latest album "Una sola giorno" which contains 13 unreleased tracks with the precious collaboration of Roberto Kunstler who wrote the lyrics. A work that recounts the encounters of a lifetime, the hopes and dreams sometimes shattered by the passage of time but also how, in reality, all of existence can be traced back to a single day: the succession of that eternal moment which is the present.
