In the absence of any news, requests for translations continue.
Albertine, sent me a video of a small interview with Il Volo and Billboard, during the presentation of the 10 years CD.
During that time there were many interviews and I had not seen this one, I enjoyed listening to it and I think you will enjoy it too when you read the translation.
Good fun!
B = Music has been, is, and will be your life.
In 10 YEARS The Best Of, there are 19 tracks that you have selected, what were the criteria that made you decide to include these tracks, and, now, there were some tracks that were not chosen and that you regretted not to have inserted in the CD?
GIAN = We have chosen very carefully, what is our repertoire, it was not so difficult to choose the most famous songs in Italy and abroad, such as “Caruso” or an aria like “Nessun Dorma”, even unreleased songs such as “Grande Amore”. It contains our whole story, from “O Sole Mio”, which was our first single, when we were 14/15 years old, up to “Grande Amore” or “Musica Che Resta”. It is a choice of songs that represents us, I would say that it is our presentation, the identity card, even for those who do not know us, this is Il Volo.
B = You are the perfect evolution of what the Italian opera singers who preceded you were: Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, a sort of 3.0 version, pop lyric, which is a little bit what happened to pop music that has winked, to the world INDIE, to then merge together and obtain excellent results.
What do you think of INDIE music? Is there anything you particularly like? Have you ever thought about a further indie-lyric evolution?
IGNAZIO = Indian is good!
PIERO = We are trying to follow the path, the message, that Pavarotti tried to do in the past with the famous “Pavarotti and friends”, to bring the belcanto out of the theaters, and to the general public.
Andrea Bocelli has been doing it for many years. We are three young 24/25 year olds who do something different, we can say UNIQUE, we try to bring this musical genre, which is part of our culture and tradition, to our peers, there are those who do not know it, they may like it or not, however, in our opinion, everyone must know what was born in our country and not.
IGNAZIO = Regardless of whether you like it or not.
PIERO = Absolutely.
We respect all genres of music. As for the INDIE, we listen to all genres of music, respect them and try to learn a little from everyone.
B = Let’s retrace these 10 incredible years, which probably, if, at the beginning of everything, you had been told about the success you could achieve, you would have thought it crazy.
The last crazy thing, in chronological order, you have done is the exhibition in Panama in front of the Pope, on the occasion of World Youth Day, January 26.
Before that experience, can you tell me, each of you, a moment that has left its mark on you?
GIAN = I start because a good moment came to mind: one of the best moments was in 2014 winning the LATIN BILLBOARD, and this is one of the most beautiful things (looks Piero and Ignazio in the face to confirm) or not, or am I wrong ? Nice, or not it?
IGNAZIO = Yes, of course!
PIERO = By the way, we can tell a nice anecdote…… always telling serious things ….. right in that event, all three, which nobody knows, we had broken pants, below (and he marks in the groin).
IGNAZIO = I don’t remember we had broken pants.
PIERO = All three, all three had broken pants.
GIAN = NO, we don’t sing with broken pants.
PIERO = It was a very delicate material. Since before the event, we walked on the “red carpet”, the material was a little worn.
GIAN = It was slightly worn.
PIERO = It was slightly, quite worn out.
IGNAZIO = So what was the anecdote?
PIERO = Receive the prize with the pants with holes in them.
GIAN = But they weren’t holes.
PIERO = They had holes in them, trust me.
GIAN = Yours.
PIERO = No, those of all three.
IGNAZIO = But if you had holes in your pants, why did you have to think that mine were holes too?
PIERO = Because they had holes in them.
IGNAZIO = They were your pants with holes in them!
GIAN = Okay, but tell us what’s your best time?
IGNAZIO + PIERO = The pants with holes!
GIAN = Come on!
PIERO = No, there are many moments, but I believe that the moment lived with naivety, the one that while you are doing it, you do not understand what you are experiencing, is that of WE ARE THE WORLD for Haiti, with Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, and all great American singers.
At that moment, we looked at each other and thought: “What are we doing here in the middle?”, however it was a good experience.
IGNAZIO = I celebrated my 17th birthday, on stage with Barbra Streisand, so …… that !!
PIERO = And at fifteen, you high-fived Steven Tyler on American Idol.
IGNAZIO = Yes
PIERO = And what did you do the day before?
IGNAZIO = What had I done ??
PIERO = It’s very funny, it still makes me laugh.
IGNAZIO = But you are strange, age hurts you.
B = Let’s talk about the tour, after you returned from Brazil, where you performed in front of tens of thousands of people, you are ready, already in 2020, to restart with the North American Tour and you will perform in 11 countries, in places such as RCMH in New York, do you have something different in mind or some surprises to celebrate these 10 years in all these places?
GIAN = Surely we will strive not to repeat ourselves with our shows, and always do something new, it is clear, the repertoire is that, we certainly add some more songs, as we did in the DVD, adding classics, we also sing individually, everyone has the his space, we also sing in duet.
Maybe there will be some guests, as we had Alessandro Quarta guest on our tour this year, a great rock violinist, very strong.
We are working on this, even with the artistic or stage production, to enrich the show a little with many things.
B = During all these years, you have seen and visited many cities, thanks to your European and world dates. Many Italian artists have decided to move abroad, or to live there for several months a year. Is there a city that has aroused this feeling in you, or the love for your country is too much, so, will you want to stay here and have not thought about this thing?
PIERO = It is difficult to choose a city outside of Italy. I could say San Francisco, but after a couple of months, I would definitely want to return.
IGNAZIO = It is difficult, I would never think of going to live outside Italy, I would like it as an idea, ……but I am more and more convinced, that…. I live in Bologna and I love Bologna, today I came to Milan by car and thank you, that I live in Bologna because it is a city where you can move, without taking 40 minutes to cross the city.
GIAN = During the recordings of the first album, also of the second, we can say that we spent two years in Los Angeles, we lived for months in Los Angeles, and going back there wouldn’t be bad, or living in New York for a few months ….
IGNAZIO = You go there, then we meet.
GIAN = ….. to do a full immersion, not only for the language, which we now speak, but to experience New York, to experience a different city.
B = Guys like you, who in 10 years have conquered, and obtained what many artists will never obtain, how do they find new stimuli?
GIAN = Actually it is not true that we do not miss anything, maybe this is coming, but we have many goals, and still many dreams and desires. Also because so many things have happened, our life has allowed us to mature and grow faster, but it is clear that there are still many things, many dreams to be achieved.
PIERO = The desire to make music is great, apart from today we announced our new album, but above all the next events, the next concerts in Italy, we will sing on August 30th at the Verona Arena and September 4th at the Ancient Theater of Taormina (unfortunately both postponed for Covid) and on November 19th, we advise you not to miss our concert on Canale 5, Live from Matera.
B = Perfect, thank you very much and good luck for everything.
G + P + I = Thank you, die the wolf! (it is a way of responding to the phrase good luck)
Have you already seen and read this interview?
I know there is an automatic translator, but the words are often distorted, plus many of you can’t activate it.
I hope you liked it, and made you laugh with the squabble about broken pants!!
These guys are amazing! 😁😁😁
Daniela
Credit to owners of all photos and video.