A few days ago it was announced that IL VOLO would be a guest of VERISSIMO, on Channel 5, an entertainment program conducted by Silvia Toffanin.
And here they are, beautiful and likeable as usual, indeed, more than usual, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca at VERISSIMO.
Silvia = Today is really a fantastic episode, we are about to attend another event, they have chosen VERISSIMO to celebrate their 10 years of career, they are Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero: IL VOLO.
P+I+G = Hello
Silvia= Welcome (kisses and hugs), these applauses for you.
Piero= But they are many.
Silvia= There are so many. Please make yourselves comfortable.
Ignazio= Here we are.
Silvia= Here we are, I did it !!
Piero= We never came here.
Silvia= You never came here, and I discovered some incredible things about you.
Some of you didn’t want to go to school and watched the news at 7 am.(Piero)
Piero= How do you know these things?
Silvia= Someone escaped from the stage, because he no longer remembered the words of the song when he was 11 …
Gianluca= That’s me.
Silvia= Yes, that’s you.
Piero= Can we leave?
Ignazio= (in a deep voice) And what information do you have about me, Miss?
Silvia= I have evidence and documents, we will tell all about you, we will celebrate your world career, really, because you are the Italian representatives of music, you are loved everywhere, Brazil, China, Japan, America …… where? everywhere!
Piero= Now, let’s not exaggerate.
Silvia = But it’s true! (applause) How many languages do you speak?
Ignatius= Four.
Piero = One (at a time).
Ignazio= Quattro (four) – English, Italian, Spanish and Sicilian (laughter). Sicilian is a language!
Gianluca= I am the only Abruzzi in the middle of two Sicilians, so you can imagine what happens …..
Silvia= So in addition to singing lessons, you can also take English, Spanish lessons …..
Gianluca= We have learned traveling, it is the only way to learn to speak it well, probably.
Silvia= (small exchange of Spanish words)
Piero= There is a lady who is watching us, who does not understand ….
Silvia= Let’s talk in Italian, let’s start right from the beginning (addressed to Ignazio) since you were a baby ….
Piero= No, he was two babies (spreading his arms to show the size……..laughter and applause)
Silvia= You understand, we see them all strutting, in reality they are very nice ….. then, he was two babies and you had glasses, already as a child.
Piero= No, it’s that television was born thanks to me. Because when I was born, I had two ears like that (holding hands open, next to the ears, as if they were antennas), I took all the channels, in my house we never paid the TV license.
Silvia= So, are you ready to start our journey?
Gianluca= We can’t wait.
Silvia= Go, let’s start.
(begins a video that covers the career of the boys, with a voice that describes)
Voice = “Destiny always finds you”, has convinced Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, who for all, will become IL VOLO. That fate of artists who would lead them, on stages all over the world. It was written in their DNA, from an early age.
Two Sicilians, Piero and Ignazio, and an Abruzzese, Gianluca, grew up in the countryside and the sea, in their provincial villages, with humble families behind them, very tied to traditional values.
In their eyes, they hope to one day become, like their great music idols, for Piero, Domingo and Pavarotti, for Ignazio, Stevie Wonder and Pino Daniele, for Gianluca, Sinatra and Bocelli. (You see the video with Bocelli telling Gianluca, “If in the book of destiny, it says that you will be a great singer, this is the right way to get there.”)
Piero, sings on the sofa at home, with his grandfather Pietro, Gianluca performs in the church choir, Ignazio, instead he stays all day in front of the karaoke given to him by his father. For each of those kids, music becomes an indispensable passion.
There is no doubt, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, who still walk different paths, have talent to sell.
(plays a phone) “Hello? Hello, we selected your son for the TV program TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, can you come to Rome for the audition?”
It is 2009 when each of them receives this call and immediately afterwards, thanks to an intuition of Roberto Cenci who already imagines them as a trio, they will find themselves for the first time really singing together “O SOLE MIO”.
From that debut, is born: IL TRIO, and destinies are redesigned together by a single talent. (long applause)
Piero= Were we quite unlucky? (He means in the sense of an image, that they weren’t really the best aesthetically speaking.)
Ignazio= I would like to ask a question. Why in the shots, were there always Piero and Gianluca, and I alone? Did I fill the frame by myself? (laughs)
Gianluca= I don’t deny that I was moved.
Silvia= You’re moved .
Gianluca= Yes, because he said a word, which is THE TALENT.
Because unfortunately, sometimes, there are people who are talented, but are not lucky enough to be able to express it, meeting the right people.
We met, there, so everything happened so fast, therefore, we are privileged.
All we want to do though, even if we go against the tide, surely singing a different music, from what our peers sing, is that we want to be an example to young people, to our peers, that is, to try to …… (applause , Gianluca is visibly moved) … ….. try to always be yourself, to believe in your dreams, but above all, it means that perhaps, going against the current at times, can win, and we do everything to try to get there in people’s hearts.
Silvia= And you, you are a very positive example, a good story, yours.
Piero= Look, we don’t do anything in particular, many people tell us “But you are successful abroad, you do so much abroad.” In reality our success is due to the music we sing, the music that is part of the our tradition, of the Italian tradition, and that is what the foreigners of Italy love.
Silvia= You have started to have contact with music, more or less all of them around the age of three, thanks to the grandparents and thanks to a father.
You thanks to grandfather. (Piero).
Piero= Yes, thanks to my grandfather. Little did you say we grew up in the mountains and the sea, I grew up in the countryside with my grandfather, because during the summer season, I used to spend it there.
Ignazio= In a big city.
Piero= A small village, Naro, in the province of Agrigento, to which I am really attached (sorry, he clears its throat).
My grandfather is a blind person, and he discovered my voice, he wrote songs. Then, thanks to the patience of my father, who never gave up … I met them (Ignazio and Gianluca …. Piero has a hoarse voice).
Ignazio= Do you need a little water or are you okay? (applause and laughter)
Ignazio= I discovered by myself what I liked to do, I was born in Bologna, from a Sicilian family …
Piero= You hear the accent that you are from Bologna …. (laughter)
Silvia= You are the one who has the most tattoos of all, or am I wrong?
Ignazio= Why do you think this? (he tries to cover his ankles, which are tattooed)
Silvia= Is it true?
Ignazio= Yes, I’m a bit of a rebellious soul, I’m a little rock and roll.
Silvia= Did you write “BORN TO ROCK” on your body?
Ignazio= Yes.
Silvia= Where?
Ignazio= Would you like to know it !!! (laughter), I wrote it here, on the arm.
Silvia = So you alone, you approached the music.
Ignazio= Yes, because, I explained to you that my family has Sicilian origins, I was born in Bologna, I stayed in the bedroom with the keyboard they had given to my sister, and on that keyboard there was the musical base of “La donna è mobile”and I was in the room singing this opera, inventing the words about Pavarotti.
Silvia= And how did your “La donna è mobile” go by Pavarotti?
Ignazio= (humming) “And Pavarotti, who was sweating, and slipping, in the handkerchief” …. (applause)
Piero= But I’ve never heard this version !!
Silvia= Today we only tell the truth, today new things come out. And you (Gianluca) are the one who left the stage at the age of 11, in a panic, because you didn’t remember the song anymore ….
Gianluca= Yes, because I sang in a choir, I didn’t remember the song, I didn’t remember the text and I ran away. We were in the center of Roseto, on the seafront, there was a lot of people, we were performing with the choir, I was singing with a little girl, I forget the text, I look at her, I start to cry and run away, and I go to hug my mother, who was practically in the crowd. She turned red, I remember very well. I was always a little instinctive, but …….
Ignazio= ….. even a gentleman, who left the girl alone on stage !!!! (laughs)
Piero= It also happened to us to forget the words. In a concert in Locarno, it was the opening of the summer tour, we had to sing “TOUS LES VISAGES DE L’AMOUR”, a French song by C. Aznavour. We haven’t been singing this song for about a year.
He starts (Ignazio, and mentions his part in French)
He continues (Gianluca) with his text and then I ….. Tous les visages de l’amour ….. Tous les visages de l’ amour …. Tous les visages de l’amour…. (everyone laughs) .They start laughing and I said “Help me, sing you.”, we sang 3.15 minutes of song, always saying the title: “Tous les visage de l’amour” …. we all forgot the words !!
Ignazio= No, you forgot the words. He (referring to Gianluca) forgets the words and what does he do? It is not that he is silent or remembers the words …. he says “Ignazio” (and makes the gesture of passing the microphone) ….. to me ???
Gianluca= Now I want to say that there is an artist that I have always appreciated, besides Bocelli, who has been my idol since I was a child, and then we also had the honor of singing with him, right here in Milan. This artist is Alex Baroni (Italian singer, unfortunately died in an accident with his motorbike). His story moves me every time, I remember as a child, I recorded a record at home, with friends, and I always sang his songs: “Cambiare”, “La voce della Luna”, “Onde”, I was 11- 12 years old, I sang his songs, even in the choir, there were some solo parts, and I always sang the songs of Alex Baroni, and every time moved me, even listening to my “white” voice, from when I was little and I sang his songs.
So I wanted to say this thing.
Piero= Great artist.
Silvia= You are the most shy of all, or you have been the shyest.
Gianluca = I still am, I am moved when I do certain interviews ……. apart from that it is a pleasure to be here, because I follow you, we follow you, you manage to get into people’s hearts with these interviews, I want congratulate you, really.
Piero + Ignazio = (they mime the execution of the Love Story music ….. how to say in a joking tone, that Gianluca is making a kind of declaration of love)
Silvia= Okay, we’re leaving ….. they don’t deserve us.
Silvia= Come on, sorry, Gianluca wants to be nice …..
(Piero and Ignazio, continue to make fun of Gianluca’s attitude ….)
Piero= Silvia every time I look at you on Saturday ……
Silvia= Stop it.
Ignazio(with a deep voice) Silvia, your gaze penetrates my mind and makes me feel surreal emotions ….. (Silvia laughs amused) …. I must say that I was struck by how intelligent you are ….
Gianluca= Do you understand what I have to bear?
Silvia= But how can you survive?
Ignazio = No, how can we survive !!
Gianluca= The romantic soul, they don’t understand it.
Silvia= They don’t understand it.
Then 2009, because we are here to celebrate your 10 years, dear Ignazio, 10 years of career flown ….
Ignazio= Fly … why are we IL VOLO (THE FLIGHT)?
Silvia= I made the joke without realizing it, (laughter) no oh well, it’s wonderful this joke I made.
Gianluca = Here it ends badly.
Ignazio = How much do we still have? Half an hour? Let’s do an hour.
Silvia= So, your career has flown in 10 years, and it all started in 2009 with the program TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, with Antonella Clerici and the first song you sang is O SOLE MIO, you want to sing a piece for us ?
Gianluca= But we wanted to make you “GRANDE AMORE”?
Silvia= “GRANDE AMORE” is the one with which you won by returning to that stage, Sanremo 2015.
Piero= Yes, exactly.
Silvia= Which one do you want to give us?
Piero= A piece of “GRANDE AMORE” ….. (they sing, the refrain of GRANDE AMORE)
Silvia= Beautiful, what voices !! (applause)
Silvia= It was 2009, exactly 10 years ago, you called yourself THE TRIO.
Piero = But we didn’t even know what we called ourselves.
Gianluca= Before we were THE TRYO, then IL TRIO, in fact we went to Sanremo in 2010, the presenter was Antonella Clerici and IL TRIO was written there.
Ignazio = In fact, we had changed name, because in America THE TRYO has a pronunciation that in Italy ….. is not the case.
Silvia = And so you became IL VOLO.
Gianluca= Actually few people know it, but it was also to recall VOLARE, which as a word is famous throughout the world, therefore IL VOLO, VOLARE, a metaphorical name.
Piero= The reality is that our first contract was with an American record company, Universal, and they wanted a short and simple name to remember, but above all in Italian, so in the beginning we thought LA SCALA.
Gianluca= No, LA SCALA no.
Ignazio = LA SCALA anti-fire …
Gianluca= Ladies and gentlemen, LA SCALA …
Silvia = And in any case IL VOLO was born.
Success has been resounding.
Voice = No goal is so far away when you have the strength to pursue your dreams.
They start singing together in 2010, going on stage like THE TRYO, but those three boys, with an extraordinary talent, will soon become a phenomenon with a prophetic name, IL VOLO.
IL VOLO, they are also immediately called by the great Quincy Jones, to record, with over 80 international artists, the song “WE ARE THE WORLD” for Haiti, and immediately afterwards their first international tour kicks off.
They sing in the Senate of the Republic, in front of Pope Francis, even in the evocative Basilica of Assisi. They play duets with the greats, from Placido Domingo to Anastasia, from Laura Pausini to Andrea Bocelli. After the success of the 2013 South-American tour, two years later they finally get on the Sanremo stage, and with the track of “GRANDE AMORE”, they win.
The success is unstoppable and after the victory, the albums Sanremo “GRANDE AMORE” and “L’AMORE SI MUOVE”, are published all over the world, in a few days, they will reach the top of all the international rankings.
The three boys, raised with an artistic awareness that consecrates them among the most beautiful voices of Italian music, bring the NOTTE MAGICA tour to the world, a tribute to the three tenors, Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras. They have recently given birth to their sixth album, MUSICA, along with the song “MUSICA CHE RESTA”, arriving on the podium at Sanremo 2019.
Today they are preparing to celebrate their 10-year career with a new tour in Italy and abroad, ready, as always, to fly.
Silvia= This year you have returned to Sanremo. You arrived third, with a beautiful song, written between the authors, also by Gianna Nannini and unfortunately, I don’t know if you feel like talking about it, but I think it is right to say it, the last night, some journalists from the press room, while it was decreeing the winner, they really used words, I don’t even know how to say them, because they really made a bad figure, even compared to the whole category, using expressions, horrendous and unrepeatable insults, the video runs on the internet, we’ll never do it see why it’s really a terrible thing to you. I find it a shameful thing, because journalists are there to judge and not to do these insults.
Piero= Silvia, we, after two days, expressed our opinion. Obviously we read and appreciate all the criticisms, also because the compliments are pleasing, but the criticisms make you grow. We, but I believe any artist, any person, do not tolerate offenses, because there is a clear difference between criticism and offense, if you do not like the musical genre that we propose, listen to another song, listen to another artist, we we do not oblige you to listen, but you respect what we do. Those three or four people, because they were few, have offended the whole category, and we respect to the work of the journalist, they are people capable of what they do, thanks to them the music criticism goes on, thank goodness there is music criticism, but of the incompetent, they must not allow themselves to offend the category of journalists. (applause)
Silvia= So Gianluca, we can say that you have grown a little quickly, you have not known the adolescence of your peers. You became very famous at 14-15 years old.
Gianluca= We lived an anomalous life, we didn’t even expect such a thing. We had to give up things, but we learned languages, we discovered the world and, in any case, travel, it opens the mind. But I always come back home, my friends I’ve never abandoned them, and every time you come back to Montepagano it’s nice that they are always there. Finding the right people, who are always there for you, willing to do anything, family, friends, girl, so I’m happy because ……
Ignazio= Girl or girls?
Silvia= Girl said. He said girl.
Gianluca= It got out of my mouth.
Silvia= Did he say it on purpose Piero?
Piero= I don’t know …..
Gianluca= I also have to tell you that she looks like you ….
(applause….Piero and Ignazio pretend to make a serenade of love)
Silvia = What is the name of this girl.
Gianluca= Now you want to know too much.
Piero= Aureliana
Silvia = Aureliana?
Ignazio= Gertruda.
Silvia = But is it Italian?
Gianluca= Yes, of course.
Piero = If he returns home and the girl is there, of course she is Italian.
Silvia = She is from Abruzzo (Silvia tells Ignazio)
Ignazio= I know it, you don’t know it. (laughs)
Silvia= Your eyes shine when you talk about her.
Gianluca= It’s nice, isn’t it? Being able to sing for someone, and think of someone.
Silvia = So do you sing for her?
Piero= He sings for her, we (Piero and Ignazio) sing for you (for the audience ….. applause)
Silvia= He sings for his girlfriend and also for the audience.
Gianluca= Absolutely, you saw what happened, in an instant I lost a band of audience.
Piero= Fortunately we are three. At IL VOLO concerts ….
Ignazio= At our concerts, not IL VOLO ……
Piero= At our concerts, I find audiences of all ages. Some people catch a slice of the public, some another. Gianluca has more girls, I have mothers …..
Silvia = And you? (addressed to Ignazio)
Ignazio= Wait, I go to rest homes.
Silvia= Grandmothers, you are for grandmothers.
Piero= Why you must know, the most adult people, are the most affectionate and Ignazio greet him like this. (he takes Ignatius’s cheeks and shakes them)
Ignazio= How aggressive you are.
Silvia= So we discovered that among you, there is a girlfriend.
Gianluca = It escaped me, I didn’t want to say it, sometimes they advise not to say everything, in the entertainment world.
Ignazio= They say that engaged people are the most courted, you know?
Gianluca= It will be so, I don’t know.
Ignazio= Inverse psychology.
Silvia= Are you a psychologist today?
Then, for all the grandmothers, for all the mothers, for all your fans, let’s see that IL VOLO, has participated, practically ……
Piero= I worry when you talk like that …
Silvia= You have been to Good Morning America, to American Idol, you have opened 12 Barbra Streisand concerts, you have been in the most important programs of the US and not only that, right? And then I’ll show you this video.
Voice = 2011, IL VOLO conquering America.
They will be the first Italian singers to sign a contract directly with an American record company. First in Miami, then in Los Angeles, they are hosted by the most important TV programs, such as American Idol, which makes them known to the general public. Among the international stars who notice them, there’s Britney Spears who after seeing them on the show, throws a tweet where she writes all her appreciation for the young tenors.
“We would like to embrace, one by one, all the people in front of us, and who have made us become what we are today”.
Their hybrid style, between lyric and pop sounds, conquers the world and in 2012, even Barbra Streisand, calls them on her tour.
They have also recently been chosen to represent Italy at the Friendship Gala between Italy and China.
Three boys, who besides their worldwide success, have kept the simplicity of their soul of timid and simple children, linked to their families.
Always ready to read new scores and live new melodies, because as they say “Music is magic, which can never end.”
(long applause and standing ovation)
Silvia= For you, even. Everyone standing. How beautiful!
Piero= Seeing these images …..
Ignazio= Lady Piero is talking, she can’t call me …. (everyone laughs)
Piero= Seeing all these images, we would like to say something important. All this is not just our merit, our team is behind us, the merit also goes to the record company, but above all to a person who has been with us for 10 years and we can call him our mentor, it’s our manager Michele Torpedine, thanks to him, we managed to do this.
Silvia= You are very humble, and it is a beautiful thing about you, that you have kept humility, you are really sweet, right Ignazio? I think I made a mistake, because you didn’t open Barbra’s concerts, you really sang with her, in her concerts. Have you met the older ones, from Lady Gaga, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, who is it that fascinated you the most?
Piero= Barbra …. no, personally Placido Domingo, sorry.
Gianluca = Have you thought about it?
Piero= I grew up listening to the Three Tenors, to be close to Placido Domindo, I think it was the greatest emotion of my life, besides the one with Pope Francis.
Gianluca = You must know that we, we have three different personalities, three different voices, also thanks to this CD just come out, which is MUSICA, that we can convey what are our single vocalisms, and we are really happy.
For example there is a cover of “A CHI MI DICE”, maybe no one expects it, we made a beautiful version.
Silvia= By Tiziano Ferro.
Gianluca= Yes, of Tiziano Ferro, who also published a post, saying he was very happy with this.
Ignazio= And like magic, here is the CD.
Silvia= Here is the CD, how did you know that ???
MUSICA this is the CD that will take you everywhere and this is Titian’s post “IL VOLO will sing my song ‘A CHI MI DICE’. I’m happy to see my song go around the world again.”
Piero= We give you a dedication.
Silvia = Give me a dedication.
(Begins a series of sentences on which Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca do not agree and so decide to write “A Silvia” which is the beginning of a famous Italian poem).
Silvia= This CD will go around the world.
Gianluca= You are officially invited to a concert, wherever you want, even to more than one, if you want, you can always follow us.
Piero = In July we will sing in Rome, in Taormina, it will be a summer tour of 17 concerts and then there will also be a winter tour.
Gianluca= At the Verona Arena we will close the summer tour in September.
Silvia = This for Italy and then you will be for the world.
Gianluca= In May we will be in Japan.
Ignazio = Write “A Silvia, I enlighten with immense.”
Gianluca = We light up immense.
Piero= Write “To Silvia, with much esteem, IL VOLO.” is enough.
Silvia= Here … but sorry he wanted to be kind.
Piero= But she is married, has two children.
Ignazio= But what does it mean, if she is married you can’t give her a compliment?
Ignazio= A Silvia, the most splendid woman in the world.
Silvia = Enough.
Gianluca= You are special.
Silvia = Let’s finish singing?
Ignazio= We write “A Silvia” is a poem, she is a poem.
Silvia= That is sweet. What do you say, let’s close singing? I would have thought of a song, since you go around the world, I would have thought of the song “IL MONDO”.
Piero= So we close like this?
Ignazio= Are we closing? I just want to tell you one thing, can I? Come closer.
Sometimes for an artist, to show his inner side is very difficult, so from IL VOLO, I want to say thank you, because in this program, you give the opportunity to show the most intimate part of a person. So thank you for inviting us, it was an honor for us.
(collective and final embrace with “IL MONDO”)
Silvia= You are three fantastic guys, see you on tour and you deserve all the success.
Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, in this interview you were wonderful.
We all know what kind of people you are, and in this program, you have given reconfirmation of this, but there was no need, because we all know that you are wonderful boys.
Silvia, you are a very sweet girl, who opened your heart and put our guys at ease.
On one thing Piero, I disagree with you, it is true, at the beginning you had the success thanks to the beautiful Italian melodies, but this, now is just an added value to your skill, because people are also in love with you, with your way of being, as only you can be, IL VOLO.
The interview begins as if Assante were a teacher and Piero. Ignazio and Gianluca, his students.
Assante = Gentlemen, what subjects of study did you bring?
Piero = Mathematics
Ignazio = Physical education (gymnastics)
Gian = I geography.
Assante = None of you brings singing, of course, because IL VOLO, which we have here today with us, does not sing.
You have gathered together, to do something else, tell the truth.
Piero= Today we do something else, he cooks (Gian), he tastes (Ignazio) and I buy the food.
Assante = The new album which is called MUSICA, a challenging title, because “music” means many things.
For you three, for each of you three, music, what is it?
Piero= It’s our life, we chose this name for the CD, without any presumption …..
Ignazio= But it speaks for you, because he has asked, “For each of you, what is it”.
Piero= For me, music is the only thing I can do, maybe I was born and I hope to live all my life for music.
Ignazio= I am sincere, I as a child, I did not pursue the dream of becoming a singer or a musician, I did not have the thought of being born to be a singer. I always enjoyed doing a little bit of everything, playing soccer, tennis, doing everything. I was lucky enough to get interested in music, at a certain point, and to make it the daily bread of my life.
Assante = And so it remained, the daily bread …. and for you (to Gian)
Gian= I’d like to become a musician.
Assante = So I can ask a more specific question, beyond the work you do, beyond the commitment, the music remains your main interest?
P+I+G= Absolutely
Gian= My dream is to start writing music, songs, I do not play an instrument, I’m the only one who does not play an instrument.
Piero = But music is not an interest, we need music.
Assante = Of course, I understand that, you need to sing, above all.
Gian= To sing, absolutely, but I want to learn how to play the piano, and I’ll do it, I’ll have to abandon laziness.
Ignazio= If we do the calculation, that the driving license has taken him six years, we still have time.
Assante = The experience of Sanremo, however, has presented another aspect of your “being a trio”, each with its own personality, a different way of singing, you are a little freed from the scheme of IL VOLO.
Gian= We say that we cannot change what IL VOLO is, but we can bring out the personalities of each of us, who have not yet come out completely, so from this CD MUSICA, this path of slight change has begun towards what are also our personal tastes, to make them reflected also in the songs of IL VOLO.
Assante = The tour that is about to start, as usual, you will be around the world. What experience is at your age, having seen so many different audiences, so many different cultures, and everyone appreciates something very Italian like the one you do?
Piero= Surely, travels, concerts and getting to know many people, makes you grow a lot and understand many things. Each concert is a story to be lived and told, for us that this year we celebrate 10 years, we could not celebrate them without concerts, so it will be two years of tour, of course we will return to the city where we have been several times, but it will always be a new experience, we must repeat ourselves and this is our goal.
Assante = What do you like about Italy that you carry around?
Ignazio= The beautiful melody for sure.
Gian= The classical repertoire. In fact, when we return to Japan, or even to the United States, they require a certain type of repertoire.
We have got a tribute to the three tenors, with Placido Domingo, for example we will soon go to Japan, this year and we will return with that kind of repertoire and we will do about 6/7 concerts throughout the territory of Japan.
Piero= 8
Gian= So, it depends, sometimes you have to travel on two different tracks, maybe in Italy, you can not always do the classic repertoire, here you can allow to record new songs, unpublished, that maybe have a different path, in radio, that in Japan they would not transmit.
Ignazio= It is not to criticize what our colleagues do, but unfortunately in Italy, but a little in the panorama of music in general, we are losing a little, that which is the true melody. In the songs now, there is no real melody, it’s all based on the production, the sounds. Instead it is this that we like to carry around the world, the melody.
Assante = Is there something you missed or miss?
Ignazio= It is normal that we have not made the life of any fifteen year old, or even twenty years old.
But it was nice, because we skipped a few stages, which came back also useful to jump, because we grew up quickly and we see things differently from the boys of our age.
Gian= Take it the other way around, if we had not done this life, we would have lost a lot of things, so in the end we have more earned than lost.
Piero= The only thing that perhaps is missing is the fact of waking up in the morning more carefree, with less responsibility.
Assante = Responsibilities, you certainly have them.
Gian= Even if sooner or later, when you become an adult, your responsibilities are always there.
Still many beautiful questions and answers that make us discover deeper and deeper, who are Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, and what we discover, we do not mind at all !!
During the tour instore in Rome, Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero, had an interview in the headquarters of the newspaper Repubblica, with the journalist Ernesto Assante, who was never very generous in his praise of IL VOLO.
This resulted in an interesting interview that I translate for you. There is only one video, unfortunately not very qualitatively beautiful, but that shows us our guys perfectly at ease.
Assante = It’s 4:15 pm, we’re live from Repubblica, via Cristoforo Colombo 90 Rome, see behind me, I’m not alone, I have a band called IL VOLO
G = A band? An unusual band.
(they sing live an acoustic version of Musica Che Resta, Ignazio plays the guitar)
I= (after the acute) Sorry, sorry.
Assante = He wanted us otherwise they think you are fake.
G = Exactly
Assante = Because they have the big voice, they are not IL VOLO, who knows who they are (he jokes) …. Gentlemen, welcome, it is the first time we meet really, we had only heard once by phone, long ago.
Start by a question, really stupid, stupid, stupid ….. How did you become IL VOLO ? – a band that has a great success with the public, a sequel and a warmth – a love, so great, be of the boys , therefore maintain a “normal” life in a condition that has nothing normal, you grew up in public, you grew up on television, in front of people, you were little, you’re not anymore, you’re soon bigger than me … then, how difficult it is grow this way, and if it did you good or bad.
P = It is not so difficult, I must tell you that we three have the same past in common, and the same adolescence, fortunately we met at the age of 14/15, we live for music, for the greatest passion that we share it. It takes much “group spirit”, but the fundamental thing is that we do not tolerate the teasing and the whims, do not exist in our group, then, we help each other, we support each other.
G = Maybe we sing a kind of music that is close to people, also because they are our traditions, it is our music that is the “bel canto” which is then appreciated above all abroad. So, maybe that’s why we approach the people, we also saw the more than positive result of Sanremo, a podium, after the victory of 2015, we are happy with the result.
Assante = Damn, actually you were first, more than often, during the week.
So, beyond what you’ve just said for the relationship with traditional Italian music, why do they love you so much? What are your strengths?
G = And why do they want us so bad as well? (certainly refers to journalists)
Assante = What do you transmit to people? I’m interested in your point of view.
I = Maybe because ….. I think that the musical genre influences the personality of the person, a person who does rock and roll, influences his personality. We have always maintained what have always been our personalities, always with humility and with passion of what we are doing.
So the key to getting to people’s hearts was that, so they love us so much and follow us.
P= Because there is nothing built.
Assante = That is, the truth is that you are so off the stage ……
I = We are so off stage and on stage, during an interview and during a lunch.
P = And according to you, why?
Assante = I am convinced of the fact …
I = He cannot explain it.
Assante= The thing that has always surprised me, is your passion for traditional music, being very young, this is not normal, if it were so, all the boys of your age would sing romances, or arias.
G = This is true, but ……
Assante= Let’s say that the thing that surprises, in this country, but that has also allowed your success, because you are the only ones to be young, and to do a type of traditional music.
G= It is clear that normality is not even, having so many tattoos and talking about drugs in songs.
Assante= But no, of course.
G= Let’s say that normality does not exist.
I = There are habits
G= Exactly, then everyone tries to express their passion, in the end we do nothing but do what we like best, SING. Then, that this is a musical genre that is heard more by adults ….
P = But it is not true …. Spotify gives us a good answer …. but maybe because we are the only ones to do it, after many years, and we are the only “young”, because our goal, we always have said, is to bring this kind of music, which was born right in our country, and maybe even a little “forgotten”. No young man has EVER proposed it again.
Assante= Let’s start again from the initial question. Before doing IL VOLO, what music were you listening to?
G = Look I tell you what I was listening to: I grew up with Gaber, Guccini, De Andrè, (Italian singer-songwriters) so, you figured, completely different things, my father inculcated this style, then, growing up, I became crazy, completely John Mayer. I love the guitar a lot, even if I do not play it, but I love a more acoustic genre. My greatest idol, however, has always been Andrea Bocelli, that made me really approach this vocal genre.
P = But each of us has different tastes, different personalities, I have always listened to the classical world, I love Elvis, I love Queen, but in the shower, I listen to the classics, Pavarotti, Domingo, this kind of music, I really like Julio Iglesias .
Assante= (indicates Ignatius) and the rocker here? The boy with the tuft ….
I = No, I’ve never listened to so much music, I fell in love with the songs, I love Stevie Wonder, even though I do not know many of his songs, I’m madly in love with “Over Joy”, “You and I”, “Isn’t She Lovely “. Or Brian Mcknight, I really like it, Joe Cocker …
P = Even Lenny Kravitz
I = Yes, Lenny Kravitz
Assante= However, this is noticeable, that is, that your singing styles, especially when growing, have changed, there are those who are more linked to opera (Piero), who has a middle ground (Gianluca) and who, above all in Sanremo it has been noticed more than the other times, I do not say that he has freed himself from lyrical singing, but has sung with greater autonomy (Ignazio).
P = (turned to Ignatius) you could not wait (and gave him a little flip on the head)
I = It’s not, I could not wait, but it’s what I am, so it’s me.
Assante= This allows you to do different things too, are you working on a change, an evolution?
I = It is not so much a change of ours, it is more pulling out what we really are, rather than a change of what we do.
Assante= Castaldo (journalist who always gave very low marks to IL VOLO) in Sanremo did not give you 5 1/2 to make you just a courtesy, but because he saw, that something …
P = But that was the biggest victory.
G = But we have to travel on two different tracks, because what our international public wants, it’s just the Italianness, just the made in Italy, that maybe in Italy, for that, there’s a bit of snob about it , as if sometimes we were ashamed to be Italian.
Assante= But sometimes it’s not like that.
G = Sometimes unfortunately yes.
Assante = But try to think, the French listen to a lot of music, French, but modern.
We Italians, we have a traditional repertoire that for us Italians is old, but for an American, it is not.
P = Excuse me, I want to say this, we do not do anything strange abroad, because we are famous all over the world? Not because we are better than others, but because we sing this kind of music that is famous outside of Italy. If we take a look at the past, the only Italians who have succeeded abroad, and abroad I do not mean South America, which is like Italy, but Europe, North America, Japan, all those countries, were Luciano Pavarotti, Bocelli and vabbè Modugno, but it was a special case. But Pavarotti, Bocelli, Il Volo, have one thing in common abroad, the same kind of music.
There must be a reason.
Assante = I agree with you, it’s like us here, like rock and roll, and true rock and roll, no one plays in Italy. If you feel the real rock and roll, you love the original.
I = What do you think about Achille Lauro? (in Sanremo he sang on a rock and roll rhythm) because there is a bit of rock and roll.
Assante= I confess that I find that the piece of Sanremo is very beautiful. It’s a rock and roll piece and it’s fun.
I = I like it too, I confess that I’m not the type that listens to the text (the song by Achille Lauro has been much disputed because it talks about drugs), I only listen to music, I have to listen to music, for me the text goes into the background.
Assante= I like that too, it’s “reckless life” updated to the times. I found it nice, frankly, but let’s get back to your piece. I too appreciated this piece of yours, more than on other occasions, just because you seem more free, in being each of you three what he wants to be, that is, each of you three is finding his way.
P = Excuse me, but this album MUSICA, crown 10 years of career, is the tenth anniversary of IL VOLO.
If you read the titles, see the three personalities of IL VOLO, because from an “Arrivederci Roma” which is a genre more like an American crooner, it represents more his tastes (of Gianluca) there is a “Be my love” which is a classic, then there is a “A chi mi dice” where the voice of Ignazio prevails more. Let’s say we give vent to our personalities.
G = Even the second single, “Vicinissimo” marks a path of more contemporary sounds, we are no longer linked to the too classic world.
Assante= You want to make me a little mention of “Vicinissimo”, even vaguely, only for 30 seconds
P = You know we never sang it live.
(Piero and Ignazio begin the song but in a low tone)
G = No, so it’s not good and then it’s bad, if it’s done like that you do not like it and then it’s bad.
Assante= Do not be, never. There is something that you could do to me, so at the moment, even if only hinted at, you can also say no.
G = Let’s say “ A chi mi dice”, do you know the chords, Ignazio?
I= Yes, I try …. (they start to sing the song, Piero and Ignazio sing in chorus)
G = It looks like church, you see, it’s difficult.
Assante= It’s okay, you touched the key point, to someone like me, who are a music freak, you can say to me, I’m unpleasant, bad, but I’m a fan of music and what I like is this, the ability to be wrong, to try to play a music, not to think that you are, as you were born, a television product built at the table. I like to discover that you play the guitar, that you sing the pieces that you like.
G = But we want them to come out well.
Assante= On that we agree, but you understand what I mean, you have a matrix of a television program, a talent, which has given you the imprinting, and getting rid of imprinting is not easy.
P = It is clear.
G = We will get there slowly. This CD however marks the beginning of a new IL VOLO, because the other CD’s …
P = It’s not like we do rock.
G = Absolutely, but there is the fact that we begin to have our repertoire, we are not always tied to the “covers”, always things already done and redone, that people say, “Oh well we have understood, now enough”. So there are already three unpublished and for us the beginning of a change, because however we are preparing a new project, for the end of the year, then in 2020, we will do two years of tour, even releases of new albums, we are starting to have a new important path.
Assante= Is it difficult to get along in three? You know that the real bands quarrel a bit, because to be together, they cannot always love each other.
P = But we too, it’s a bit like marriages, cohabitation is not so simple. Also because we have not chosen ourselves, we have been put together, but the important thing of our group, I think is mutual respect. In the end we get along like this.
G = Beautiful the booklet (of the cd) right? It is very elegant.
Assante = Yes very elegant and beautiful.
G = Did you still want to ask a question?
Assante= Yes, the last one. Between making records and singing live, for you, makes the difference, that is the idea, so that someone like me can fall in love with IL VOLO, it’s the concert, go and see you, as it was for Sanremo …..
P = You’ve never been to one of our concerts?
Assante= No, unfortunately not, Danilo (Danilo Ciotti, press office of IL VOLO) has invited me so many times ….
G = Will you come to Cavea della Musica this year? (in Rome)
Assante = It’s the easiest thing.
P = Together with Castaldo, arm in arm, so he will give us a 6 1/2.
Assante= I objectively, on the 6th at Sanremo, I gave it to you, and also for me it was the first time, live, you gave an idea of conviction, of truth, in that song, singing it just as you wanted, that according me, it was not yours before.
I = Look, being in three is sometimes a fortune or misfortune, you know everyone has their own personal idea. I personally, with all due respect, never imported me 5 1/2 or 6, because in the end one must not go chasing the vote.
P = Long life sincerity.
I = I am like that, I think that an artist does not have to chase votes, if an artist likes, likes, if he does not like amen, there are many other artists that can be heard. For us, say 5 1/2, 6, is our way to say that slowly, slowly, we try to make ourselves appreciated by people who are always very susceptible to us (the critical and journalists), also because often, in Italy, but a bit in general, it is used to have prejudices, without knowing people. A little like Castaldo, he did not know us, when he met us, he finally realized that we are three simple guys.
G = As he believed, even worse.
I = Three guys who like to joke, we are not set, as he thought, and that’s the problem, nobody goes chasing the votes, one just wants to be known, to be understood.
Assante = The result of Sanremo was right for you?
G+I+P = Yes, absolutely.
I= For us yes, for someone else maybe not.
Assante = For someone else actually not, but it was the result seemed to me balanced, the three juries were three different juries.
P= Only one thing, in my opinion, maybe I’m wrong to speak, but maybe they had to give a little more recognition to Bertè. Only this, for the rest, was right.
Assante = You’re right, in the end it was fourth.
I = In the end we talked about it. It is not Sanremo that makes the classification, finish first, second, third, fourth, but it’s all week, also because Sanremo, it’s not the end, but the beginning, it’s a little like when we won, that Nek said, “Now you have to show what you can do,” and he was right. Anyway it’s true, everything starts from there.
P = On the contrary, this has also stimulated us, we thought we had to give our best.
I = Start everything from there, the promotion, the CD, the tour. You have to be focused, because in any case on tour, ours is a fairly difficult repertoire, and so you have to always be focused, make a date after another, travel.
G = It is always necessary, in my opinion, to know the managers ……. because fashion, you can make a song that lasts a month, two months, three months, if you do not do another one, it’s trouble.
Assante = The thing that I want to know, if the return of listening to Sanremo, there was, as today there have been here the Zen Circus (other participants of Sanremo) and have said that many people who would not have them never listened to, seeing them in Sanremo, now they listen to them. Certainly there is a part of the public that, looking at Sanremo to see Zen Circus, Achille Lauro, Motta, discovered IL VOLO, beyond your popularity, there was someone besides me, who did not listen to you, and now, yes?
P = There is certainly another person Michele Monina (another very fierce critic with IL VOLO). He did not listen to us, but we had the opportunity to meet him one morning in Sanremo and I must tell you that we did not know him, to me sincerely, he was unpleasant, after I met him and I said: “But you’re an ‘other’ person.”
Assante = But people, people’s reaction? There was much more young audience.
G = Definitely.
Assante = The Spotify effect has been seen.
G = The Spotify effect, yes, certainly more than in the past, because the song is slightly more modern. Our audience is not exactly that of Spotify, which is also listened to by 15-year-olds. But there was a super-positive response also from the younger public, as not.
P = But the answer and the greatest satisfaction for an artist I think is to see the pre-sales of their tour, which are going very well, so I’ll see you at the concerts.
Assante = Before closing the interview, give us another live piece.
I= We do not know what to do, but we do it.
Assante = Meanwhile, do you think about it, the next live event, when?
P = We leave now for Japan in May, but then we come back, in June and July in Italy, then again abroad, and at the end of the year, we are back in Italy again.
Assante = Very good. The dates found on the site of IL VOLO, on the Facebook page of IL VOLO, the album has a very simple title MUSICA…… and then, at this point, I speak, while they decide, they will not take much ….
G = Of the new song or the last one? What do we do?
I = HELP.
G = What can we do?
I = The cool thing of being in a group … the nice thing about being three is that we create harmonies, and we …
G = Then let’s make IL MONDO, the final ….
P = See, three seconds ago I said “Let’s make IL MONDO” and they do not.
G = Wait, let’s make harmony (Piero taps him on the head). He plays the central part (Piero), I play the lower part and he is the tall one (Ignazio).
I = Are you there? We can start?
(the final harmony of IL MONDO begins … beautiful !!)
Assante = Thank you so much, it was a pleasure to have you here, come back when you want …. and thanks to you (to the public) for following us.
I would say that the boys have always been kind and polite.
Assante is a journalist who, together with Castaldo and Monina, have never had good words and good criticisms about IL VOLO, indeed, they often denigrated and wrote badly about them …….. but without ever knowing them personally.
This year in Sanremo the boys have personally met Monina and Castaldo and now, with this interview also Assante.
Undoubtedly the tastes of these three journalists-critics, are deeply distant from the style of our boys, but this does not allow them to denigrate the hard work of these young people and even sometimes to despise them.
But now they have known them and have changed their opinion on them, not on their style, but certainly on their personalities, because these journalists have recognized that Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca are very simple guys and prepared in the music field. Their votes at Sanremo 2015 did not arrive at 4, now they gave 5 1/2 and even 6. The road is long but the journey has begun ….
I noticed in the interview that the boys, always in a polite tone, managed to remove “some pebbles in the shoe”.
Cynthia, from the Philippines, has been kind enough to translate the boys’ interview with Radio Subasio. They had the interview on Friday shortly before the signature party event.THANK YOU, CYNTHIA!! 😘
Il Giorno Milano
Il Volo with the editorial staff of Il Giorno: “Our tricolor song, our signature” / PHOTO
The Italian trio has conquered the international audiences and has sold millions of copies!
by ANDREA SPINELLI
The trio in the editorial office.
Milan, 23 February 2019 – Three unpublished works and eight covers poised between “La voce del silenzio” and “People”, “Be My Love” and “Arrivederci Roma”. In stores since yesterday, the new album MUSICA marks the limit between yesterday’s Il Volo and tomorrow’s. Between what was and what promises to be the new tour at the start on June 22 from Palmanova, after a new concert tour in Japan and a double event in Matera taken by the American PBS. Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto, Gianluca Ginoble spoke about it yesterday in the editorial office of the Day, starting, naturally, from the Sanremo rentrée of “Musica che resta”.
Four years ago, the Festival was a discovery. And this time?
Barone: In 2015 Sanremo offered us the opportunity to let everyone know what we did. It went very well and so, this year, to celebrate our first ten years of career we could not go back on the stage of the Ariston.
You did it in the race while in 2018 you were back on the Riviera as guests.
Barone: We had an important anniversary and a new project to be shared with the public, so it seemed right to do it in the race.
Boschetto: The real winner of the Festival is not so much who arrives first, but the success of the project brought to that stage.
Ginoble: Switching from guests to competitors does not mean taking a step backwards. The belief in the goodness of our new job did not make us feel the spirit of competition. We are very satisfied with the third place because it means that, four years after “Grande Amore”, the public is still there to follow and love our music.
The album was released yesterday.
Ginoble: We are at work on a record entirely unpublished, but MUSICA is already a good step forward compared to those of the past, because for the first time we decided everything ourselves. Since we have completely different voices and musical tastes, everyone has vented as he thought.
You will also engrave a version in Spanish. Bet at the Latin Grammy?
Barone: We smelled the Latin Grammy in 2011, thanks to two nominations. We have not won it, but whoever stops dreaming stops living. So we continue to pursue our dreams.
Among the authors of “Musica che resta” there is Gianna Nannini. Who called it?
Ginoble: Me. And she accepted immediately. I also told her that in the album we would have reinterpreted her “Meravigliosa creatura” and she said she was very happy.
Barone: Gianna has an explosive personality. With her, friendship was born two years ago behind the scenes of a TV show and from the beginning there was a great feeling.
Also the other unpublished will make people talk.
Ginoble: Well, there is “Vicinissimo” written by Davide Petrella and Dario Faini, the producer of “Money” by Mahmood. While “Until it’s good” Tony Maiello wrote it and it’s a pop song in all respects.
Boschetto: Last year we sang just to prepare for two years of touring all over the world. We have also created a “commemorative stamp” that will appear on products related to us.
IL VOLO with the editorial staff of Il Giorno.
What does it mean for you to come back on tour?
Ginoble:MUSICApresents an IL VOLO different from the past, with more contemporary sounds and slightly less voices. So, ours will be a concert under the banner of beautiful singing, because that is our signature, but with different sounds, which are also approaching a slightly younger audience. We are maturing and we are trying to renew ourselves project after project.
Boschetto: The first tour will be summer, in the open spaces, then the we will arrive in the concert halls.
Ten years of career impose the first budgets. Is there a particular exhibit that has remained there?
Barone: For an artist, every concert represents a story to be lived and told. But to us who are Italians and love to sing in Italy, the Arena di Verona transmits a unique tension and vibration. We’ll be back on September 24th and we’re happy: like this, or like that of Ariston, you never get used to it.
At this moment there is much talk of the proposal to play an Italian song on the radio every three. What do you think?
Ginoble: In my opinion, regardless of the origin, on the radio they should play beautiful songs.
Barone: I, on the other hand, agree with the proposal; because there are many quality Italian artists who deserve to be valued.
Ever thought of the musical?
Barone: Not yet. Meanwhile, however, we sang “D’Artagnan” with Cristina D’Avena.
Boschetto: A few years ago we recorded the soundtrack of a Mexican film: “Luna Nascosta”. But in the drawer we have songs that could be good for the cinema. As for the musical, I would very much like to interpret “West Side Story”.
After the experience of four years ago, will you try to bring Eurovision home?
Barone: Of course. The Eurovision week we have the tour in Japan, but in case of victory at Sanremo we would have canceled it. Eurovision remains one of the greatest experiences of our career. I wish good luck to Mahmood and I think that all of us Italians should support him, because participating in a race is not so easy and so people’s proximity helps.
Boschetto: The Eurovision is a manifestation that binds you to the flag, to the tricolor (the Italian flag), and for this very beautiful. With a bit of controversy, however, I say that Italy (and therefore Rai – nda) should participate with the desire to win it ….
Any advice for Mahmood?
Barone: Only one – the Eurovision is not Sanremo, where those in the race are almost all friends but a place where you have to get on that stage convinced that there is nobody better than you.
In the MUSICA booklet the last thanks is for Pope Francis.
Ginoble: We met Papa Francesco in Panama ten days before the Festival and he gave us the right position to face it. At our age have an experience like the World Youth Day in which to represent, by singing to our peers is an extraordinary emotion. Doing it then a meter and a half from the Pope was an experience that leaves its mark.
Credit to IL GIORNO MILANO for all photos and to ANDREA SPINELLI for the interview.
I got to see this old video of an interview of Piero in 2013.
It’s a very nice interview, made by the beautiful and nice Marcella Lattuca for the transmission Agrigentini Bella Gente.
It’s a long interview, made to a very young Piero, but interesting to hear and read his answers.
I noticed that there was the possibility of the automatic translator, but I read some passages and sincerely, there is not much sense in what is automatically translated, so I hope the length does not bore you, but I preferred to translate it for you.
ML = Dear viewers, welcome to this new episode of Agrigentini Bella Gente (Inhabitants of Agrigento, beautiful people).
This episode is very special because I have the privilege to talk with a real star of international music, you think, he has only 19 years, Piero Barone, whom I thank for intervening, has reached goals that perhaps, artists can not reach, over a whole career.
Thanks Piero, for being our guest.
P = It’s a pleasure. We did the chorus together and today we are here to do this fantastic interview.
ML = It’s true, you and me started in parallel, with a fairly considerable age gap, alas.
You start from Naro, you were born in Naro, you have a family from Agrigento, and you start with the Little Cantori di Santa Cecilia. (a choir of Agrigento).
Tell us how you approached music.
P = I have always pursued this dream of music, I grew up in the middle of music with my grandfather, grandfather Pietro and thanks also to my father’s constancy, because you know, sometimes there are moments, when you’re little, you play piano and you want to give up everything, but thanks to the constancy of my father, I always, always pursued this dream, first with the chorus of Santa Cecilia, studying with private teachers, and now fortunately, I’m here.
(Piero with his grandfather Pietro)
ML = Anyway, your career was born a few years ago, when you were really a child.
What was actually this turning point, which made you feel you wanted to do something more? What was the spring?
P = In fact there was not, because I always wanted to sing, but there was luck, thanks to my father, always, thanks to my father, to do a summer festival in Cosenza.
My father called me and told me “Do you want to do this festival? Let’s go and come back in 24 hours (by car), let’s go and come back”.
I replied, “Dad, are you crazy?” and he “Come on, let’s try, I drive and you sleep in the car.”
For that selection they did not take me, but they gave my name to the editorial office of TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, Antonella Clerici’s program.
One day I was returning from the piano school and I found my father on the phone with a lady Isabella Abiuso, and from there it all started, in fact my father asked me if I wanted to do that program and I replied “Why not, let’s try.”
ML = You started as a soloist at TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, and then maybe fate played a special role.
P = Oh yes, we started this program as three singers, and now I, Ignazio and Gianluca are the group IL VOLO, and the fourth episode, the producer Roberto Cenci, had the idea to join our voices, and from there started … the three tenors …. the Tryo, we changed name, but in the end we decided to call ourselves IL VOLO.
Immediately after the program, we signed a program with Universal Music in Los Angeles.
ML = A little thing of nothing…..
P = They wanted a short Italian name.
IL VOLO was a metaphorical name, IL VOLO, to fly
ML = Anyway, what I understood from your words, the one that followed you the most, was your dad, also because, being a minor, you could not go around alone.
P = My father and my grandfather – my grandfather discovered my voice, my father helped me. He is great and he has been a great support.
ML = So immediately after TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, you signed this contract with Universal, and you started your flight.
P = Yes, we signed a contract with Universal, with our producer Tony Renis and Umberto Gattica and our manager Michele Torpedine, and from there, the first TV, the first album, with the first album we sold 1 million copies. And now the new album WE ARE LOVE has been released, where there is also a duet with Eros Ramazzotti and with Placido Domingo.
ML = But when you tell these things, do you realize where you’ve come from and all the way you’ve come in such a short time?
P= This is nothing, we made this new album, but behind this album we have done lots of experiences, like, a tour with Barbra Streisand, 12 dates with her. She was a great teacher for us and we learned so many things from her, like from many other great artists.
(the video is not a good recording, but it’s still fantastic !!!)
ML = I can afford to mention some reviews I read on the internet.
“EL PASO TIMES: Electrifying: the name of the group means the flight in Italian, perfect name for a trio of young tenors who conquers ever higher peaks”, just to name one, another: “Beautiful and intense voices accompanied by beautiful harmonies that enchant the public by giving strong emotions “, this is the enthusiastic comment of the NEW YORK JOURNAL.
You are a trio, so you are dealing with two other guys who are the same age.
P = Ignazio and Gianluca
ML = Perfect. What is the relationship between you three? Is it really difficult to keep united, even if you go in one direction only?
P = This project was born as three friends, you know, living every day together, we have established a great relationship, we are like three brothers, because we share everything ….. not everything. There is a great relationship, a great agreement.
ML = But you also perform individually?
P = No, no, our concert is the concert of IL VOLO.
We have just finished a tour of 48 dates in America, this is the fourth tour. We have done an American tour, a South American, a European and another American just finished and now in 2013 we will do another South American, American and European.
ML = But for a boy of your age, you have spent most of your adolescence ….
P = On the plane
ML = In fact, and what effect does it make, having left your friends, your country, was it tough? Then you had to approach even with a language that was not yours, you had to learn English.
P = English is fundamental and we also had to learn Spanish.
ML = You have learned Spanish because now, however, you will start a tour, if I’m not mistaken in South America.
P = The second tour, and now there are great future projects, but I’ll tell you what we did in the last two months. We started the Rockefeller Center in New York, with the lighting of the Christmas tree, the Christmas season opens all over the world, the Christmas Time. We were there, Michael Buble, Mariah Carey, Tony Bennett, everyone was there.
Immediately after we sang for theNobel Prize presentation in Oslo. We represented Italy, because the Nobel Prize was given to the European Union.
There were Jennifer Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gerald Butler, Sial, it was a great experience.
ML = Informing me on the internet, I read that you have also become a style icon, because your fans have adopted this red eyewear look, is your brand?
P = If you come to our concerts, find all the girls with red glasses, it’s really nice !!
ML = And then you also have some very important fans, like for example …. say you …
P = We were in Panama and a friend called us and told us “Guys, read the interview about LA REPUBBLICA”, we go on the internet and we read that at Placido Domingo, they asked him what music he is listening at the moment, and he replied: “I listen to IL VOLO, they are three jewels that the whole world should know.” And the nephew of Pacido Domingo, is a wild fan, crazy about us, he wears red glasses, the vest, the tie ……. and from there was born the duet with Palcido Domingo.
ML = In fact, because in the last album, in addition to the duet with Ramazzotti, you also have one with Placido Domingo, which is one of the three historical tenors.
P = Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti. We dedicated the song we sang together with Placido Domingo, IL CANTO, to Pavarotti.
ML = It’s an extraordinary thing, and tell me, you said that you met so many famous people and I would like to know if any of these gave you advice, if they made you a “mentor” in addition to your grandfather and your dad.
P = The advice, be yourself, because the key to success is only one, talent and humility, because all the great artists are great people.
ML = The real ones.
P = Real ones, like Barbra Streisand, 70, and every night she entertains 25,000 people in America’s biggest arenas.
Now we have to start the tour with Barbra Streisand, in Europe. (pity that has never been done)
P = American Idol, as jurors were: Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson. Steven Tyler is the singer of Aerosmith and we in our new album we sang “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing”, but we did it in a classic Italian “Questo Amore Splendido”(Piero begins to sing the song), just beautiful.
ML = Nice to even hear it live.
P = We did Jay Leno, it’s the third time, Jay Leno is America’s most watched Tonight Show, Jay Leno and Larry King are the most famous, we sang “Beautiful Day” two weeks ago, which is the cover of U2.
Let’s say that of our album, people ask us, but your kind of music, what is it? We did two duets, one with Ramazzotti which is the top of pop and Placido Domingo, which is the top of classical music.
ML = So you are versatile, you have shown your versatility and even those who gave you a kind of emulation of the TRIO of Tenors, like a bad copy of the trio, in the end it was denied.
P = This problem was, and there is, only in Italy, but you know, Italy is a very, very difficult country, but …. let’s do everything at the time.
But the thing that makes us angry, and I have to say this, we participated in the Nobel Prize, we have represented Italy, the whole world talks about it, who does not talk about it: Italy.
ML = It seems we are a little xenophilous.
P = But we love our country, so we love it as it is.
ML= With the merits and the defects.
You said you spent most of your teenage years on the plane, but how did you stay in touch with your friends and study?
P = I always say that what we do is what we like to do, so if you love what you do, everything becomes easy.
ML = But how did you study?
P = I study again, because I lost a year with my work. But this year I graduate, study in hotels, on airplanes. (in reality, he will only get his diploma this year in 2018).
I took the license. I did the theory in August and the guide in November.
ML = Even if in America? It’s not like you travel by car there.
P = Yes, I do. I drive my producer’s car. Sometimes I hire a Ferrari, or a Porsche, I like driving.
ML = And can you orient yourself? You are now a citizen of the world.
P = But the beautiful thing … “beautiful”, so to speak, because sometimes you lack freedom, especially in South America, we walk with the escort, in South America we have five bodyguards at the baggage claim because at the exit of the airport there are a thousand girls.
ML = They recognize you on the street, it is shocking!
P = We travel with cars darkened and armored because unfortunately South America is a dangerous country but we love it and they love us, the girls chase us with taxis…. and shout, it’s nice !!
ML = Are you afraid of this thing?
P = No, no fear, it fills you with pride and satisfaction because you understand that what you are transmitting reaches people.
ML = But this life is so stressful, how do you recharge? What is your secret to recharging?
P = It’s my family. Many people tell me “you have traveled the world”, and it is true, I miss only Japan and Russia, because they are two very strong markets and we leave them ….. Everyone asks me “What is your favorite city? ? Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London, Paris? “ , my favorite city is Naro, Naro is my world.
ML= What’s your relationship with Naro?? After singing in far away places, with immense crowds, when you arrive at Naro, do you have to re-program again?
P = No, Naro is my homeland, so every time it’s always a party.
ML = What is your relationship with Naro’s inhabitants?
P = Fantastic, I love them!
ML = Welcome you?
P = Yes, I go to buy fruit, I go to the hairdresser … it’s very nice !!
ML = Perhaps paradoxically your country is the only place where you can roam freely.
P = With my little car, now I go around with my friends, I greet everyone, I am a very open type.
(Piero photographed in Naro)
ML = It is a practice of our program, to ask what advice would you give to a person who has become a public figure, like you, to the Agrigentini boys who want to approach the art of singing, in this case.
P = My advice is always to follow your dream, never give up, there will be people who will say, “But come on, change jobs, change profession.” Never believe in them, believe in yourself, but when you arrive, stay where you are. Returning to the previous speech, I learned this from Barbra Streisand, and from all the great artists.
For example, we were on tour with Barbra Streisand, we were in the dressing room and we hear a knock, I go to open and there is Sting, or Michael Buble, David Beckham, Tom Hanks, all these great artists who knock on our dressing room, to have a photo, to greet us.
ML = This proves the fact that these great artists that have such long careers, it means that they remained what they were, it means that goodness of mind pays, beyond talent.
P = And then the humility even if it is really difficult to stay what you are, if you do not have great people behind, like a big family, I am doubly lucky because I am a person that could follow his dream and get there. Yet we have not arrived, but we are working, we study a lot, and my second fortune is my family – a moral support, a daily support, my father travels with me only when there are concerts, because the tour is very stressful. But for promotions, I travel alone, and you know, in the morning, when I call home, they give me the charge to start the day.
ML= As a good Sicilian you have left the roots here, however you continually feed from your family.
P = When someone tell me “You know, when you speak, we hear the Sicilian accent, the Italian accent”….. let it be heard !!
ML = On the other hand your pride, it is this and, I can say, you are also our pride and I believe I also interpret the thought of all the inhabitants of Agrigento who followed you.
Last question, what do you dream of doing “when you grow up?”
P = I’m studying lyric now, because that’s my dream, that world, it’s my dream, the lyric is another dimension, but you have to study … too much … and now I’m studying, thanks to my possibilities, I am studying in Bologna, with my teacher Sergio Bertocchi, a great teacher, and he is a great person. I’m studying an opera setting, however, always with IL VOLO, Il VOLO is always …. the group IL VOLO …. IS IL VOLO. And so my dream is that one day maybe, to do the Premiere to La Scala or in some theater.
ML = And we really wish you to stand out even more in this flight.
P = Before closing I have a gift, I brought you the new album of IL VOLO, WE ARE LOVE, this is the deluxe version, where over eight unpublished songs, including two duets, and four covers, there are five songs of Christmas.
ML = This is the advantage of interviewing these characters, but I accept it only if you sign it.
I wish you all the best.
P = It was really a huge pleasure.
ML = For me too.
P = When my father told me that they had called for this interview, I immediately said yes, let’s do it.
ML = I confirm it, because you have remained what you are.
Piero, thank you very much, AD MAIORA.
Thank you very much for following us and the next installment of AGRIGENTINI BELLA GENTE.
I had not seen this video interview until a few days ago and I must say that I was pleasantly content to hear the really wise and mature responses of a young Piero.
Still I was very happy with this, and you?
I await your impressions.
Daniela
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
(Piero with his grandfather Pietro)
(Piero photographed in Naro)
