The singer-songwriter: «I never joined a party. Music entered my life thanks to a bass drum stolen from the oratory ». Giorgio Verdelli’s biopic on Thursday 17 February on Rai3
Paolo Contewhat is your first private memory?
“An aria from Giuseppe Verdi who, enchanting me, made me fall off the rocking horse, half-unconscious.”
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And your first public memory?
«The night the lights returned to the cities after the war. I tell it in a song, “Nottegiorno” ».
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What memory do you have of the war?
“A young maid of ours, from Boves, had three partisan brothers. Three times a neighbor of hers phoned her at our house to inform her of the shooting. I remember fragments of dialogues: “Where did they hit him”, “Did he suffer?”, “Did he die immediately?”. A terrible thing ».
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Fenoglio or Pavese?
“Pavese. Even if, as an Asti, I distance myself a little from his language. It is a conversation between natives ».
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Coppi or Bartali?
«The history of sport can only give the palm to Coppi, the very champion. But if Coppi’s nose was futuristic, aerodynamic, Bartali’s was more “human”, shareable “.
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How does music enter your life? In beautiful biopic“Paolo Conte, away with me” by Giorgio Verdelli which will be broadcast on Rai Tre Thursday 17 February at 21.20, with the narration voice of Luca Zingaretti and many testimonies (including Renzo Arbore, Pupi Avati, Roberto Benigni, Vinicio Capossela, Francesco De Gregori, Jovanotti, Isabella Rossellini and Giovanni Veronesi), there is also your brother Giorgio who tells of an orchestra put together piece by piece, with the bass drum stolen from the oratory … did you really play the vibraphone?
“I played the trombone first, then the piano, then the vibraphone. I also represented Italy in the international radio quiz in Oslo in Norway… ».
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How far did it arrive?
“Third”.
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Is it true that he hated the accordion?
«The accordion in those days seemed to me too popular an instrument, linked to ballroom dancing. Only later did I discover its sweet poetry ”
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Is it true that school was a disaster?
«Only in one year: I took six subjects in October. I forgot to go to school to chase music. ”
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Lemon ice cream it is dedicated to his wife Egle: «Woman you are entering my life…». How did you meet?
“At the time we were already in love and married. It is not a song born with a seductive intent ».
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We all thought that Benigni joked when he sang “I like Paolo Conte’s wife”, but from the film it seems that he really liked it …
“My wife’s beauty is irresistible.”
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Where does the image of the Amaranth Mickey come from? Did she really own one?
“Never. But I got on the Topolino. Small and very beautiful ».
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How was Azzurro born? Did he really go to the oratory, as well as to steal the bass drum?
«I used to go to the oratory as an ‘outside’ to play football, not to steal bass drums».
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Is it true what is said in the film? Which she put down the text of Light blue
in his mother’s coffin?
“Yes, it’s true”.
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And that her mother had cried when she read the words?
“Yup. My mother used to say that this song was ancient and modern at the same time. The ancient was above all in music, like a tenderness of other times, and its modernity also lay in this feeling: it was a transgressive song in the beat era in which it was born. We knew immediately that it was a winning song. It remains an important song for me and I have never forgotten it ».
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You also wrote the music de The most beautiful couple in the world. Did he really think about Claudia Mori and Celentano? “True love forever united by heaven” was read as a verse against divorce “…
“But I only wrote the music; I have nothing to do with words. I was in Rome to take the state exam when my brother’s telegram arrived: “Probable Celentano” … I learned, after all, that with that text we celebrated the entry into the Clan of Claudia Mori ».
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How is your relationship with Celentano?
«Celentano was born on January 6, 1938, exactly one year after me. Elective affinities? Who knows?”.
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In the film, Pupi Avanti confesses his envy: “Paolo Conte is handsome, women like him.” Jane Birkin finds her sexy, Patrice Leconte compares her to Mastroianni …
“All lies.”
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Is it true that at the Théatre de la Ville and the Olympia you don’t sing the verse about “French people getting mad”?
“I’ve never sung Bartali in France. They offered me the privilege of inviting me and it was a flattering success, in a way they adopted me. In my songs I never wanted to pass on particular ideas. What has always interested me is to tell the man who rebuilt his life after the war, but also the man of failures. I offered the bankrupts a steaming cup of coffee ».
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Exactly: who is the character that recurs in your songs, the man of Mocambo?
«The man of the Mocambo is the prototype of the post-war man in the frenzy of rebirth, who had dreams greater than his economic possibilities. A very nice loser hero ».
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In one clip we see Monica Vitti who in 1982 in Blitz mentions one of her songs while she plays the piano …
“I remember the song was ‘Come on, blonde’. But I don’t remember anything else… ».
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How was your stage debut?
«My first real concert was perhaps the one in Verona, organized by Enrico De Angelis. We were in the hangar of an old refurbished cable car. During the rehearsals I had placed a bottle of mineral water on the ground. Then entering the scene, in the dark, I gave her a kick and she overturned in the audience ».
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Disaster.
“Great success”.
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How come you never stopped being a lawyer?
“Yes, I stopped for many years.”
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She was pleased or annoyed when Dalla and De Gregori revisited, without warning her, Lemon ice cream?
«Francesco ran up to me to apologize. But no! I was delighted. After all, the performance was in perfect line with the style of their record Banana Republic».
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You claim that Jannacci – for which he composed Mexico and clouds – was our greatest songwriter. Because?
“His verse is enough for me” you could see even from a distance that you didn’t love me anymore. ”
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«Go away with me»Is it an escape of love? Is there a story behind it?
«Behind a song there can be anything. Only the author knows ”
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Can at least solve the yellow of Then they are Then? Did the protagonist slip into the sea from the ship or did they push him?
“I like to let the mystery linger.”
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«In the time made up of moments and enigmatic weeks…». Are you really passionate about the Puzzle Week?
«Since childhood. But no crosswords; only the games that contain the “riddle”, that is, the puzzles and the cryptographs. I also created these games, some published in specialized magazines. What pleasure! ».
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How important is painting instead? Why do you paint?
“How why? Because I like it. It is an old “vice” in my life, older than that of music. I have my own style, my techniques ».
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Popular success came for her in the 1980s. The decade of the ebb, at the time much criticized on the left, is now being re-evaluated. What do you remember about it?
“I was hosted in the group of” songwriters “because I appeared, in my way of writing and interpreting, an” alternative “artist, a word very popular at that time».
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What did you vote in the First Republic?
“I come from a family of liberal views. I remain faithful to one of the great moral teachings that my father left me: do not sign up anywhere, not even the bowling club ».
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Is there a politician you admired?
“I don’t understand anything about politics.”
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How did the pandemic go through?
“In the countryside, isolated and protected.”
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In the film you can hear her singing in Neapolitan, much applauded by the Neapolitans. For a Piedmontese it is not obvious. What is Naples for you?
“Naples is the home of transcendental musical and poetic masterpieces”.
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Did he have a happy life?
“I would say so far that yes, I have had a happy life.”
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How do you imagine the afterlife?
“I hope for a good sleep.”
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February 13, 2022 (change February 13, 2022 | 10:36)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
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