Two years ago, I wrote a story about the history of music in Naples in order for the fans to understand why the guys sing Opera, in their case Operatic pop or popera and Neapolitan songs and why their Bel Canto worked!
This story was really two stories in one. It was about Il Volo and their music, and it was about where their music came from and the people who made this music famous.
I am going to give you a small portion of that story so that we can follow this journey that will lead us Beyond Bel Canto.
Italy is an emotion and in the center of that emotion is a passion and that passion is Naples. Naples is like no other place in Italy or, for that matter, no other place in the world. Neapolitans are the most diversified people in all of Italy. Naples is a feeling you can never shake but, above all…
Naples is music!
The first Neapolitan songs as we know them, date back to 1835 but the golden age of song, in Naples, was from 1890 – 1910 when immigration to America began. Men left with the dream of a better life but what they found was even harder than what they left. They left their homes and families, and, in some cases, they never went home again. They found themselves alone with nothing but their music.
Many Neapolitan songs were written about these times. Most of these immigrants lived in New York City in lower Manhattan in an area which became known as Little Italy. Small music companies would put on one act plays. Little vignettes. The stories were always the same, they were about home and family. They were about the mother they would never see again.
In 1903, Enrico Caruso made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Caruso’s debut on November 23, 1903, was in a new production of Rigoletto. A few months later, he began his lifelong association with the Victor Talking Machine Company. He made his first American record on February 1st, 1904, having signed a lucrative financial deal with Victor. Thereafter, his recording career ran in tandem with his Met career, both bolstering each other, until his death in 1921.
Torna A Surriento ~ Not Caruso! Actually, the version I prefer!
Caruso was the first international singer to come to America. He introduced America to Italian Music. He loved to sing Neapolitan songs and they were so popular that when he performed at the MET at the end of the show he would come out and sing these songs. Among these songs were “’O sole Mio,” “Torna Sorrento” and “Santa Lucia.” As a result, Neapolitan songs became a part of an opera singer’s repertoire and every opera singer after Caruso would sing opera and Neapolitan songs.
Music in Naples remained the same until after World War I. At one-point singers were taxed for singing but that’s a story for another time!
With the arrival of US troops in World War II, Naples woke up to a new beat. The US troops introduced them to the buzz and rhythm of jazz and boogie, and Naples immediately liked it. It took little time for performers and songwriters to understand how these new US imports could benefit them.
Now it was time for a new name to appear in Neapolitan music. Enter, Renato Carosone. Carosone introduced Naples to music they could dance to and so Naples got up and danced and never looked back until the late 1970s when a new movement was started in Naples.
I would not do Neapolitan Music or Il Volo justice if I didn’t mention Pino Daniele.
Pino Daniele was an Italian singer-songwriter, and guitarist, whose influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music.
Daniele made his debut in the Italian music world in 1977 with the album Terra mia, which was a successful mix of Neapolitan tradition and Blues. Daniele defined his music with the term “tarumbò”, which indicated a mix of tarantella, blues and rumba.
Daniele’s talent is evident in albums like Pino Daniele (1979) but, he scored his greatest success in 1980, with “Nero a metà,” which was noted by some authorities as the hallmark of the rebirth of Neapolitan song.
Daniele wrote and sang his own music, and this music was known in America.
I started this piece by saying Italy is an emotion and Naples a passion. If Naples is a passion, that passion was Pino Daniele. Songs like Napulè, Quando and Quando Chiove are just a few examples of his songs. Examples I chose because I know you know these songs. They are very deep passionate songs. Many artists have sung Daniele’s songs but in order to do justice to a Pino Daniele song you have to bring passion, emotion and Neapolitan dialect to the song.
Enter Ignazio Boschetto….
Ignazio’s tribute to Daniele is amazing and emotional.
Ignazio’s rendition of Alleria is one of the most beautiful expressions of this song I have ever heard.
Daniele’s songs are very deep and very emotional, and you can feel the depth of the song because of the presentation of the song. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it’s as if Daniele wrote his songs for Ignazio.
So now let’s move on to 2009 when three Italian teenage boys revolutionized the music industry and brought life back to Opera and Neapolitan music. They were the first Italian artists in history to sign a contract with a major American music label. This was unheard of! No international artist or group ever captured the ear of an American music label before even stepping foot in America! When they came to America, they had a signed Universal Music contract in hand!
They presented Operatic pop or popera to America. What is this movement? It’s singing Opera in a more classical style. While opera is very strict and regimented, popera is more ethereal it has a lighter feeling, and it moves freely. It takes away the hard edges of opera and replaces it with a more ethereal feel while still presenting the drama and the high notes of the opera. It has a more popular appeal. This along with the classical Neapolitan songs become a big draw. Why did it work? One reason is three amazing voices! If the voice wasn’t there the song wasn’t going to sell.
Over the years the guys continue to change and evolve finding new directions and taking lots of risks! With their win at Sanremo, they finally opened the last door, their front door ~ Italy. For Il Volo this was a very important win because it brought their music home!
We stop along this amazing journey to see departure points.
In 2018, it was time to crossover!
The albums keep coming, the success keeps coming and the boys have grown into very attractive young men. And now they’re ready for a new experience. The music evolves and they are ready to crossover.
In 2018 they released one of the most exciting Latin albums to come out in years. I would go so far as to say Amame is the most exciting Latin album that was ever produced. It’s opera, its rock, it’s classical, it’s pop and it never stops giving. The rhythm in songs like Noche Sin Dia is amazing. You have to move with the music. You can’t sit still.
Maldito Amor is a phenomenal experience for your ears. The delivery is smooth and beautiful. It’s one of those songs that stays with you forever.
This album is so exciting that I will not play it while I’m working because from the first note you have to get up and dance. Exciting! Exciting! Exciting!I thought about this album and how I would write about it. These three amazing guys absolutely floored me. The beat is so intense and they are spot on. I think the guys knocked it out of the box with Noche Sin Dia. With Latin music you don’t just sing it, you feel it and if you don’t feel it, you don’t cut it. This album cuts it! Good move!
As if that wasn’t enough, they follow up with Musica!
This is the album that proved that great can get greater. This album is representative of where these young men are now. It’s beautiful, it’s sensitive, it’s romantic. It’s about love. It’s about them being ready for love. It comes from deep within them. All the sweetness and humility of these guys is in this album. It moves your senses. What I am saying is they have evolved, and their voices have evolved. They’ve grown into their voices. Their voices are mature and have expanded in such an amazing way. There’s an intriguing balance in their voices. To experience this amazing evolution in voice and song you need go no further than “Be My Love.” Gianluca’s voice vibrates and expands to realms I’ve never heard before. Ignazio makes your heart stop as you journey along his notes which lead to absolute ecstasy. Piero fills all your senses and brings you to such heights that you have to stop and breathe. This is Musica che resta!
And then it’s time for a new direction! A new risk! Il Volo sings Morricone was that new direction. No, they didn’t leave Bel Canto behind, instead, they moved forward and added Morricone’s music to their repertoire.
This project started with their desire to pay tribute to Ennio Morricone. What better way than to present an album of his Academy Award winning songs.
Morricone died at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and because of this, it gave the guys the opportunity to go through his songs and compile a list of songs that would give a true representation of who Morricone was. In the beginning of their career, the guys sang E Più Ti Penso accompanied by Ennio Morricone.
Most of Morricone songs where movie theme songs like The Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, the Bad and, the Ugly. The guys along with the Morricone’s family and in particular Andrea Morricone put words to music to form an album which has become the theme of their new World Tour, IL Volo Sings Morricone.
There are so many wonderful songs in this album that it is hard to single one out. The Ecstasy of Gold is Gianluca’s favorite. Se from Cinema Paradiso is Piero’s favorite and Here’s to You from Sacco & Venzetti is Ignazio’s favorite.
And so, we move forward.
This year the guys recorded a new album Tres Voce Un Alma. This album like Amame is phenomenal. It includes some very beautiful Spanish songs like Abrazame and Tan Enamorados. And let’s not forget the Portuguese song, Come Vai Voce. The tour that followed in South America proved that they are phenomenal entertainers whether singing in Italian, English or Spanish!
So, I touched on the different directions they’ve gone in over the last 14 years, but now we must look to the future!
A New Direction!
Almost 15 years have passed since they came together and what they’ve done in those years is amazing. When they began they were unique. There was no one else like them. And they began to grow first musically by leaps and bounds. And they were constantly changing. They were always ready to try something new! From Bel Canto they formed relationships and feelings more musically than personally. They started to climb, not to stardom, that they always had, they climbed the ladder of success. Over the years they grew together in their relationship, and they grew apart in their music. They began to feel their music in their bones. They began to understand how their music works together but also how it works apart. In music you need freedom. In Bel Canto they have freedom because they feel it in their blood, and no one can separate them from it. But now they are ready. Each man has found themselves Beyond Bel Canto. They are now expressing who they are in relationship to their music.
It’s the dawn of a new day. It’s the beginning of finding a new way of keeping all that you treasure in place while exploring the road ahead. So, on the dawn of this new day, we find a new idea. An unsual idea. A new approach. Staying together while being apart. And even in this they are successful. Most of the time when a group comes to this awareness they part ways. Buy no not our guys, they are coming together in music, in life and in their relationship with a new approach to concerts. A sharing of ideas and feelings and a sincere support for one another’s music and talent. An amazing feat that only three totally phenomenal guys could accomplish.
They have been together as long as they have been apart.They know only one life, for good or for bad, it’s the life they’ve shared for 15 years. The important thing is it’s been very good for them.
Is it risky? For some yes, but for them no. They’ve taken so many risks in their career and they always succeeded. Ignazio might say but there was “Eurovision.” To me Eurovision was a win. A success. If the rules had changed one year earlier instead of one year later, they would have won.
Anything good is worth fighting for. And fighters they are. Consider how they mulled over Sanremo to go or not to go. That’s who they are. They are risk takers, but they think everything through. They don’t need managers or producers they know how to handle everything. They consider every possibility and then move ahead when they find the right fit.
While they were on tour in South America I was touring South America and I listened to their concerts whenever I was able to get them on board the cruise ship. I was reading everything that everyone was posting and what I noticed was every night after their concerts and on their free days, they were in Ignazio’s room recording. I couldn’t understand why they were doing this while traveling from city to city and concert to concert. What were they recording? New songs? Maybe there was going to be a new album. If so, why not wait until you get home and record it in the studio. But they weren’t recording songs, they were recording sounds. New sounds! Their new sounds! A new way of presenting their voices to us. They took the songs we were familiar with, and they recorded them with their sound. We already know what the voices are about, but they wanted us to hear their personal sound. They were preparing for their new concerts! They wanted us to hear what they hear when they sing! They wanted us to feel what they feel when they sing! They took songs like Grenada, broke it into pieces and presented it in a new way! Classical, Soul and Pop! Suddenly a voice that we know and a song that we know becomes a new song with a new expression.
Right out the gate we have Piero our beautiful spinto tenor singing Granada as we know it as we are used to it but with just a little more feeling and a lot more voice!
Gianluca stuns us with his version of Granada. He brings back visions of Sinatra singing Granada. I’ve included Sinatra’s version here so you can understand what I’m saying. At point 1:00 in the video you can hear Sinatra sing what Gianluca is singing and understand what I’m saying.
Gianluca I know you admire Sinatra and that is well accepted and received but honestly, if Sinatra was alive he would admire you! He never had your range!
And then there is our beautiful lyrical tenor, Ignazio! Ignazio always lets us ride on his notes to ecstasy, but this is different. His voice has that extra punch. His voice is so smooth, so clear, so defined and his range is outrageous! He pierces us with each note and pulls us forward with a rhythm that evades definition! So natural! Such ease! A production in itself. Gianluca said “Ignazio is soulful. He can do anything!” So true! So true!
They’ve taken Bel Canto and turned it into a new sound so you can hear the songs we know and the words we know but with a fresh new approach. In their voices we feel, and we understand who they are and their new direction. They wanted to show us who they are individually. Not that we never heard them sing alone before, but they wanted us to feel the song in a new way.
What does it mean and where are they coming from with this new sound. It is three amazing men showing us they are more than three amazing men, with three phenomenal voices. They show us collectively and individually who they are with an amazing new sound.
I’m sure much of this new direction took shape during Covid when the guys had lots of time to think about their future and where their music would fit in it!
Let’s look at each guys new sound.
Which one of the three has stayed closest to his voice over the years. No doubt, it’s Piero because Piero always had a direction. It was always about his love of opera, and since Covid if anything good came out of it for Piero, it was the opportunity to study more. We find Piero ready to step on the stage of any opera house in the world.
Ignazio spent his time during Covid studying sound, how it works in a recording studio and all the elements of producing a song. This is how he was able to do the recording in his room during the South American Tour. His voice is a new sound in itself! He’s taking all that’s inside him, all that he feels and he’s laying it on the table for us to experience. He opens his heart to us in his music. His expression is from his heart, and he delivers a new sound that is even more phenomenal than before! Very soulful! The sincerity in his music was always there it’s just more apparent now that he has the freedom to express it in his own way!
For Gianluca he was finally able to take piano lessons. We all know that for Gianluca every day is about finding new music. During this time, he found his niche. He wanted to come closer to American music. Elvis and Sinatra. This was always something that was there for Gianluca but now he was really ready to move forward.
What do the guys have to say about all of this. Our Daniela translated the interview from SORRISI E CANZONI TV. In this article the guys talk about where they are and how they got here. I am not including the whole article.
How did the idea of these two evenings come about?
Ignazio: Our personal tastes go beyond what we sing. We are experiencing an evolution in our group.
Gianluca: Il Volo remains the priority, however the lineup of the two evenings has been designed in a coherent way to show who we are.
Piero is the tenor of the group, he studies opera and dreams of one day interpreting for it.
I, on the other hand, love American music like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, John Mayer with his guitars, but also Italian songwriting like Fabrizio De André.
Ignazio has a soulful voice and can do anything.
You will sing both alone and with other artists. Can you give us some examples?
Gianluca: I will sing Geordie with Madame (Italian singer), because we both love De André, with Irama (Italian singer) La Cura by Battiato (Italian singer-songwriter) and with Annalisa (Italian singer) Shallow by Lady Gaga.
Piero: I will sing Miserere with Mario Biondi, and with Gianna Nannini Meravigliosa Creatura.
Ignazio: I will sing with Francesca Michielin (Italian singer). I know her artistically. She is very good at reaching people with her words. We will talk about love.
And then with Mario Biondi I will sing Natural Woman and Sei Bellissima, alone with the guitar. Ah, I will also duet with Orietta Berti! (long career Italian singer).”
Piero: And we will sing with Pooh (Italian group), we will almost be a soccer team!
Gianluca: We would like to say that we are three singers, not just three tenors. But obviously we will also re-propose our classics.
Piero: We will open the show with Granada, but in different versions: classical, soul and pop, us three, like our personalities.
The last time we met was October 2019, to celebrate the collection of THE BEST OF TEN YEARS. In these four years, three of which due to the pandemic, what has happened in your lives?
Piero: We have dedicated ourselves to ourselves. This stop has helped me a lot to clarify my ideas and -set myself up- for the future. I have deepened my studies of opera.
Gianluca: I rediscovered reading and studied the piano, as well as being with my family.
Ignazio: I too started studying, I fell in love with sound, with how a recording studio works, with how a song is produced. I spent time with my loved ones.
For years we have been in the midst of a storm of commitments, emotions and compromises. It was important to stop and understand what we wanted to do.
Gianluca: We are working on a new album. Then in October we will conclude the dates of the world tour that started in May 2022. After three years of standstill, we are back in a big way, without neglecting any continent. We have been everywhere: Australia, Japan, South America, USA, Europe and now we have added a date in Petra, Jordan. We have done more than 100 concerts. It is our longest tour ever. We had so much fun. We returned to the stage with a new awareness, enjoying every moment.
Piero: The public waited for our return for four years, they didn’t abandon us. This is a further confirmation of the people’s affection.
So, the guys have told us what their new direction is. Now, I must change direction and follow a new idea with three amazing guys who are always changing yet always remaining the same. Bel Canto will always be their MO but from here on in, they will also share their personal musical journey with us. Their unique voices will now be unique new sounds that will draw us in in a whole new way! Next week I will present the new concerts and the new sound Beyond Bel Canto.
For you listening pleasure….
The Concert at Verona Arena
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
To read more Il Volo stories visit us at www.ilvoloflightcrw.com.
This has been an amazing week. How often over the last year have we said we missed the guys. Well they sure made up for it this week. One spectacular event after another.
So let’s start in the beautiful region of Apulia, Italy.
“La Notte della Taranta”, is one of the largest Festivals in Italy and one of the most significant manifestations of popular culture in Europe. The final concert of La Notte della Taranta, has had as many as one hundred and fifty thousand spectators in the past. It takes place in Salento, in the municipality of Melpignano, at the esplanade of the former Augustinian Convent specifically for the rediscovery and the enhancement of traditional Salento music. It is not limited to traditional music. It also allows for rock, jazz and symphonic music. This year’s host was Albano.
Listen to the voices of our guys coming alive backstage! It’s a calling! “Who sells olives.”
Meanwhile Albano awaits their arrival on stage. He tells us about the song. It is from the region of Apulia, the region where he was born. He says, “It reminds me of the autumn song. It is the November song.”
November is the time of the olive harvest and a man would always pass with a cart of olives to sell to the people. Albano and Ignazio sing a phrase in the Apulian dialect (“Who has olives, I have to buy them.”) Albano said when Modugno sang in the Apulian dialect he was very proud of him. Ignazio said, “So let’s hope, with this next song we will sing, to make you even more proud of your land.”
Albano tells the guys, “You know that I am proud to have you here beside me…”
Gianluca responded, “and we are happy ….”
Albano (continues) “…simply because I baptized these two..”
Albano is referring to Ignazio and Piero who he performed with on Ti Lascio Una Canzone. I remember those performances and that Albano was in awe of both of them. Then Albano continues about Gianluca who he didn’t perform with at Ti Lascio una Canzone.
Albano says, “And to you, (Gianluca) you I baptize this evening.”
Gianluca responds, “One day, sooner or later, we will sing together. But it is nice, I can say, that these events make it possible to spread a musical culture like this of the Taranta, and it is right that young people are attached to the roots of these great events. We must not lose this desire to carry on traditions, we too, as young people, are proud to be here tonight.”
Ignazio elaborates on this thought in one of their interviews…
“It is certainly one of the most important cultural events in Italy, and welcome, because I always say that Italy is a nation full of different cultures and traditions and certainly these events give space to make known their own traditions and culture, and therefore we are honored to be part of it, alongside Albano, an Apulian DOC, who has never forgotten his origins and there is also Madame (she is a singer) who is a young woman, like us. Hence the importance of carrying the roots, ALWAYS, in any situation, in any place.”
When the music begins our guys sing the National Anthem of the region in Griko which is a mixture of Italian and Greek. Another language to add to their list!
Griko is unique to this region but there are other regions, in Italy, that speak languages other than Italian. In many Arberesh villages where the people are Italian, Albanian and Greek they have their own languages. My grandfathers’ town Vaccarizzo Albanese is an Aberesh town and they have retained the archaic features of both Gheg and Tosk dialects. Many of the words they spoke at the festival, I understood. It was a beautiful experience for me.
The guys performance was magnificent. From the first larilò larilò lallero to the last, the whole stage was alive with their voices and a rhythm and beat that I can’t get out of mind! You could see how much the guys were enjoying it. Their interpretation of this beautiful song was awesome! Festivals are at the heart of the Italian people. They love them! This song is so full of joy and happiness.
The dancers were wonderful! Through the dance, they told the story of the people, of their labors and, their joys. The hardship of life and the happiness of home and family! Their singing and the dancing was very uplifting. And the guys’ interaction with the dancers and musicians on stage brought the whole story together. They brought the audience into the song and together they presented the history and culture of the people. This was very unique and the guys helped us to see another culture within their Italian culture. A magnificent delivery of the beautiful Anthem of the Griko people! Truly an amazing event!
Next stop Venezia! Talk about an exciting event!
Where do I begin…
In the afternoon the guys attended the award presentations where they were presented as winners of the 78th Film Italy Movie Awards. Upon exiting the building, they were interviewed by an unknown man…
Man: This is not Sanremo, this is the cinema exhibition!
Piero: But it seems a little like Sanremo, we meet, all familiar faces.
Gianluca: We are preparing a very ambitious recording project which is a tribute to maestro Ennio Morricone. We had the opportunity to collaborate with Vittorio Storaro in a music video, so we are here in the company of a great master of cinema, Vittorio Storaro.
Ignazio: He chose our voices for a tribute of the video of “Your Love,” which is shot in the Frasassi Caves, and therefore it is beautiful, this is not the first time we come here. It is always a beautiful atmosphere. Venice is a place that is stupendous.
Later in the day, the guys appeared in their transport to Lido. What do we see here? We see three elegant young men who are on the brink of a new direction in their lives. Not leaving all that they are and all they always will be, we know they will never leave the concert stage, but taking the next step on their road to greatness!
What we’ve been watching these last few months, every time we see the video of the Frasassi Caves, is the guys embarkation on a new and wonderful experience in their lives. They are the stars of this Short Film. They are what makes this film possible. Vittorio Storaro’s genius and the presence and voice of Il Volo have made this movie an award winning production.
To help you understand this better let me tell you what Storaro had to say about this…
The idea actually comes from what we have been through all this last year, the disgrace that has happened to us from the pandemic, which has closed all the arts a little.
But then there was an idea which came from Pirandello, who said: One, Nobody, One Hundred Thousand (the title of a Pirandello novel), and in this case becomes a Once Upon a Time, as the project of Il Volo and the music of Ennio Morricone, start from Once Upon a Time in the West, directed by a great director, Sergio Leone, with the music of Morricone, the subject of Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, so there is a whole series of characters that carry some new message.
A message that also becomes a hope, not only in the present, but also in the future, because if before, once upon a time there was Nobody, where art enters, in this case Music and Singing, which is represented by Il Volo, the song with the music of Ennio Morricone “Your Love,” brings a new energy, energy that practically becomes: Once upon a time there was no one, and now Il Volo ~ over and over!
So we will see that Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio multiply.
When they descend from that blessed rope where the first boys went down here in the caves many years ago (50 years ago), it is a little like entering a seed into mother earth and thus forming a new generation, which is the generation of the future.
Il Volo, in this case becomes a symbol, as, not only does it enter the womb of the earth, it first regenerates the energy of life, but it can do it in all the squares, in all the theaters, in all the places of the world, and that, certainly is what music is, nevertheless it carries a great message of love.
Storaro was so right that carrying their music around the world will revive the music industry through this project. Through it the music will be alive again.
So that also sums up where our guys are headed! A part of their new direction. Presenting this movie throughout the world. It is our guys bringing a message to the world. A message of hope and love for all people and all nations!
So let’s rejoin the guys on the red carpet.
Along with the Storaro family we find Storaro’s newly adopted family Il Volo.
These guys certainly lit up the red carpet. Elegant in their Dolce & Gabbana tuxedos there was no lack of interest in their presence.
How did the guys feel in this moment? Perhaps the words of Ignazio in a Rappler interview sums it up. “It was amazing working with Maestro Vittorio Storaro, remembering all the most beautiful moments that he spent with the Maestro Morricone….It is our dream. The three of us will be on the red carpet with Vittorio Storaro.”
Of course Ignazio was referring to, Vittorio Storaro, their director, the veteran director who won three Oscars, including one for Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece, Apocalypse Now, which he and the director shot in the Philippines.
The new short, dedicated by Storaro to the master composer, Morricone, who passed away in 2020. A clip of the movie was premiered at the fourth edition of Filming Italy Best Movie Award on the occasion of the 78th Venice Film Festival. And as you know Storaro won a Best Italian Film award and so did our guys for their starring role and their song “Your Love.”
Next the cocktail party…
Did you notice where all the women flocked to? Our guys! Who could resist these gorgeous guys. They grace the room with their presence. When they enter a room it lights up.
Italy what have you to say about your guys now. You have got to be so proud of them. Look at how they shine in the world! But there was never a problem in recognition. We in America have always been proud of them and called them our own. I hope this project will allow them to spend more time in the US! Maybe at the Academy Awards. Although we will only see the film for the first time on September 25th at the premier at the Frasassi Caves we already know how important this project is and how beautiful this film is.
Let them lose on the red carpet again! Our red carpet in America!!!
From this project we can see so many more projects like this on the horizon.
We are so proud of the award they won at the 78th Venice Film Festival, but that was only the beginning!
Next stop Verona…
Do you ever feel when they’re in Verona, they are home? I certainly do. To me they own the Verona Arena. Every performance there is phenomenal!
They returned to the Seat Music Awards to sing their beautiful song, “Your Love” and to pick up their second award for the week!
While writing this I remembered a year ago when they were at the SMA. It was to restart the music industry.
I’m going to go back to the story I wrote about the event last year. “Turn on the Lights”
I know we will never forget the night before the performance when the guys went to the Arena to check out the lights. It was beautiful and funny at the same time. Let’s pop in to listen to the guys conversation:
Ignazio to Piero: What are you doing?
Piero: What are you looking at?
Ignazio: The light that is there.
Gianluca: It’s Beautiful.
Ignazio: The gorgeous light. Gorgeous! Gorgeous!
Of course, Piero pulled out his phone and started to video.
But what was it about the lights that got Ignazio’s attention? Well they were as Ignazio said, “La Luce Stupenda! “The lights were gorgeous,” but I think he was thinking about the last lights that he saw on stage. When they turned off the lights at their last performance in the US and went home to a country in pain from a pandemic!
When the guys arrived on stage, they had a message for the world and all people in the industry:
Ignazio: 2020 will be remembered as the year where the world would be constrained to be turned off.
Gianluca: For the music employees the verb “turn off’ means the end of the show, when the curtains close and it is the waiting moment for the next show, but this time the waiting lasted more than expected, the silence was unavoidable.
Piero: Now, the world is getting ready to start again! Now the moment has arrived to raise the curtain! Now, we will turn on the music!”
This beautiful statement was followed by the performance of the evening. Their choice of “Nessun Dorma” sent an even stronger message. It’s says we may have to perform under these new world conditions, but we don’t have to change who we are or why we’re here. In this ancient Arena we look to the past while following the path to the future.
From their first note the whole arena lit up. Their voices were clean and crisp. Their presence was illuminating. Their notes rose above the Arena into the night sky to let the world know music is back! The final note of their song sent the final statement. All three voices rose in unison and their voices sent forth a note that took our breaths away! It said We Have Returned! ”Turn on the Lights.”
Isn’t it ironic that one year later they win an award for the short film Frasassi Caves for which they are represented as regenerating the energy of life? Music is their energy!
They so deserve this award.
So let’s get back to this weeks’ performance at the Arena.
Prior to the guys performance, the stage was set up with multi color lights but when the guys arrived on stage, I think they were even surprised. The stage was lit as it was for last years performance. Very simple, very plain but what was going on in the audience was a totally different story. All phones were lit up. It was magic.
They stepped on stage in their beautiful but informal all black attire. Elegant in its simplicity!
As they come face to face with the audience, I could see the emotion in their faces.
Look at how these people love them and how they love their fans!
And then it begins. …
This song is slowly becoming a signature song! A song that reminds us of sadness but brings us to a new and exciting time in the lives of our guys! It’s as if Vito left them a final gift, a new and exciting adventure in their lives. It is the song that will lead the way in their new tour around the world. Always before them will be this song and the movie which has already and continues to make its mark in history!
At the end of the song, Vanessa Incontrada and Carlo Conti spoke with the guys about the Tribute to Ennio Morricone at the Verona Arena.
Gianluca greets everyone, “Good evening!”
Carlo: “Il Volo, to start these SEAT Music Awards in the best way.”
Vanessa: “And what an atmosphere theycreated for you (the audience), with all the mobile phones on, great emotion I saw in your faces.”
Gianluca: “We are happy to see you again.”
Vanessa: “Us too.”
Carlo: Us too, us too.
Gianluca: Finally in the Arena.
Vanessa: Finally, but it has now become your home.
Carlo: In short, I mean, you did an extraordinary event on RAI1 just dedicated as a tribute to Maestro Morricone.
Piero: We had the honor of paying homage to Maestro Morricone here at the Arena of Verona, for us, the audience, for an artist, for a singer, it is oxygen. It was an evening full of guests, but for us, the biggest guest was the audience. After a year and a half, to see them again, sing for them!
Vanessa: We understand these words well, but will you take this event to the world? I guess so.
Ignazio: Yes, we start in March 2022, we finally start with the world tour and we finish in September – October, from America, we end up in Japan and then New Zealand, so beautiful.
Vanessa: You have many things to do, let’s say.
Ignazio: Yes, but it is wonderful, after almost two years, to start singing again. I remember that a year ago, in this same program, we said …. let’s hope it starts again, the music can’t stop and meet again after a year and see that the music has never stopped, it’s beautiful!
Vanessa: Seeing them (the audience), as you said, involved with you, is nice.
Carlo: A beautiful concert, a beautiful television event, but there is a tribute album to Ennio Morricone, when will this album be released?
Gianluca: Let’s say that it is a very ambitious project, that with great responsibility, right on tiptoe and a lot of humility, we decided to undertake this path which is a musical project that is a tribute to all the most beautiful soundtracks of the maestro Morricone.
Piero: And tonight we announce the date.
Gianluca: Yes, because this record will be released on November 5th, from Cinema Paradiso, to Once Upon a Time in the West, to the Good, the Ugly, the Bad.
Vanessa: His greatest songs, let’s say.
Gianluca: And we can’t wait to start the tour.
Carlo: Well a great album and therefore it will be released on November 5th.
Then Carlo presented the guys with their DIVA award…
Carlo: I seriously read the inscription: Arena di Verona Award for Il Volo, for the tribute project to Ennio Morricone, represented with great success right here at the Verona Arena, live on RAI1, and for the over 10 years of career, which led them to be known and appreciated representatives of Italian music in the world.
And so we come to the end of the events of the last week. But….
We’ve gone from Melpignano to Verona but what about Beyond. I said the end of the events, not the end of the story. So we follow the guys no matter where they go from Melpignano to Verona and Beyond but, where beyond?
Let’s listen to what Gianluca had to say about their future….
“Our dream is to see The Ecstasy of Gold performed at the Academy Awards.”
That works for me! Onward to the Academy Awards! Hope to see you there!
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
And last night, we were able to see the entire duration of the Il Volo performance in La Notte della Taranta.
Here is the video and what was said:
Click image below to view the video.
On stage there are the musicians and Albano who leads the evening.
From behind the stage the voices of Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca can be heard shouting, almost singing, a phrase in the Apulian dialect (they ask who has olives to sell).
ALBANO = What a beautiful song!
PIERO = Hello Master. Good evening
ALBANO = I am still a student and I want to stay that way.
GIANLUCA = Good evening everyone.
IGNAZIO = (asks ALBANO) What do this phrase remind you of: (pronounce the phrase “who sells olives?”)
ALBANO = (I remind you that Albano was born and lives in Puglia)
Meanwhile it reminds me of the autumn song, I called it, the November song.
It was the period of olives, of the olive harvest, a man always passed with a cart and shouted (he sings the phrase in Apulian dialect together with Ignazio)
IGNAZIO = Yes, I remember (Ignazio jokes, he was not yet born)
ALBANO = For non-Apulians, this sentence must be translated: “Who has olives, I have to buy them”, this was the message, and whoever had olives in the house, went and sold them, and that way, people got some money, of course. (peasant people always had at least one olive tree near home, in Puglia, the olive tree is very widespread, and when this man of the cart passed by, people sold him the olives they had picked from their tree)
But the beautiful thing was when I listened to Modugno (he wrote Volare) on the radio, on national radio, and finally he sang in the language, he finally sang in our language (Apulian), and there the pride exploded with all its violence, with all its beauty.
IGNAZIO = So let’s hope, with this next song we will sing, to make you even more proud of your land.
ALBANO = You know that I am proud to have you here beside …..
GIANLUCA = …. and we are happy ….
ALBANO = …. simply because I baptized these two (it refers to Ignazio and Piero, and by saying baptized it means that he has already had the opportunity to sing in pairs with them, during Ti Lascio Una Canzone) and to you (Gianluca) you I baptize this evening.
GIANLUCA = One day, sooner or later, we will sing you and I together.
But it is nice, I can say, that these events make it possible to spread a musical culture like this of the Taranta, and it is right that young people are attached to the roots of these great events.
But we must not lose this desire to carry on traditions, we too, as young people, are proud to be here tonight. (applause)
ALBANO = Do you sing now?
IGNAZIO = Now!
ALBANO = And I listen to you now !!
(Calinitta begins, beautiful song in Grico dialect, mixed between Greek and Apulian)
I found a text translated into Italian by Calinitta (Buonasera), and then, I translated it into English for you, to make you understand the meaning of the beautiful and sweet words sung by our boys with such ardor.
How sweet this night is, how beautiful it is and I don’t sleep thinking about you and here behind your window, my love, of my heart I open my pains to you.
larilò larilò lallero …..
I always think of you, because you, my soul, I love and wherever I go, I will wander, I will stay I will always carry you in my heart.
larilò larilò lallero …..
Yet you never loved me, beautiful, nor did you ever have pity on me; you never opened your beautiful lips to tell me sweet words of love!
larilò larilò lallero …..
The stars from above are watching me and with the moon they whisper in secret and they laugh and tell me: “to the wind throw the songs, they are lost .”
larilò larilò lallero …..
Good night! I leave you and run away you sleep that I left sad But wherever I go, I will wander, I will stay, I will always carry you in my heart.
larilò larilò lallero …..
Really very good Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca to interpret this beautiful song.
Elegant in Dolce & Gabbana suits. I know well that many of you do not approve of sneakers, but you must understand, that here in Italy, Il Volo is accused of always dressing too much in a formal way and therefore sneakers are needed to give a youthful touch.
Ignazio has a long beard, I am not in favor of a beard in general, I prefer a barely hinted beard.
Their voices, that is, always magnificent.
Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero were then interviewed by the official page of La Notte della Taranta.
Here they are :
WOMAN = Let’s start from the basics, how do you say goodnight in Greek?
PIERO = Calinitta
GIANLUCA = Calinitta.
WOMAN = And then, how does this song go on ??? (Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero sing a verse from the song)
GIANLUCA = Right?
WOMAN = Quite right !!
GIANLUCA = So you (inhabitants of Puglia) all speak Grico?
WOMAN = In Greece-Salento yes!
IGNAZIO =(explains to Piero) When the Greeks come here on vacation, the local elders understand them, because the older ones still speak the Grico dialect.
PIERO = Great.
WOMAN = What do you think of La Notte della Taranta?
IGNAZIO = It is certainly one of the most important cultural events in Italy, and welcome, because I always say that Italy is a nation full of different cultures and traditions and certainly these events give space to make known their own traditions and culture, and therefore we are honored to be part of it, alongside ALBANO, an Apulian DOC, which has never forgotten its origins and there is also MADAME (young singer) who is a young woman, like us.
Hence the importance of carrying the roots, ALWAYS, in any situation, in any place.
WOMAN = It will be a rock Calinitta, according to Melozzi (the orchestra master)
GIANLUCA= It is a symphonic rock, which is also the secret of Queen (rock group), if we want to talk also musically about the history of the great artists who have always brought symphonic rock all over the world.
IGNAZIO = Calinitta Queeniana.
GIANLUCA = Melozzi is a great musician, moreover from Abruzzo, I am also from Abruzzo, I always speak of my land, sorry, and therefore it is nice that there is also a little of Abruzzo in this Taranta and I am proud of it.
WOMAN = Calinitta !!
PIERO = Ah, Calinitta ciao everyone!
GIANLUCA = Calinitta.
Only one song, unfortunately, but really beautiful and full of meaning and our young people gave a very beautiful and traditional version.
Furthermore, Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca certainly do not hide their attachment to traditions and origins. Well done.
But we have to run, let’s leave Puglia, Venice is waiting for us !!
Daniela
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
