Sanremo ended recently but as we have yet to see, Il Volo was once again treated badly.

This situation was monitored by Michele Monina, a music critic journalist, who is not part of the Sanremo press jury, but is widely listened to.

In the previous post I attached a video where Monina was having lunch with Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca and where he complimented them on the more pop turn that Il Volo is taking and complimented them a lot on their performance of Queen (I remind you that Monina loves rock more).

Well, the day after lunch Monina published LETTER 43 on the blog, a long consideration which I will now translate for you.

Click Here to view the Lettera 43 article

The exaggerated bullying against Il Volo, guilty only of knowing how to sing

Michele Monina  02/13/2024

You may like their music or not. But a new shitstorm has been unleashed on Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca by journalists, professionals and “left-wing” intelligentsia. Which really doesn’t forgive the trio for having a repertoire that looks to the past, exalting the Italian spirit even abroad. Now, among other things, an album of unreleased songs is also arriving. Leave these guys alone.

Nobody touches Il Volo. Yes maybe. It seems that the three boys are always the object of criticism from almost everyone, despite there being a constant tendency towards political correctness, towards creeping do-goodism which pushes most to put on pink unicorn glasses whenever someone bothers to criticize someone something else, perhaps even harshly. They, however, fall into a separate discussion, where no one talks about media pillorying, shitstorms, bullying. Many music journalists who crowded the Sanremo press room gave off a boorish show of booing when they finally saw them enter the top 10. Yet they hadn’t bothered to fail them in their report cards, even if we’re certainly not discussing the judgment of those who deal with music for work – or rather: for work they deal with music during the Holy Week of the Festival, one might say, given that then in the rest of the year many people talk and write about sewing or flowers and plants.

Moreover, let’s not forget, those of Volo on their previous passage to Sanremo had not only been met with boos but also stadium chants and dances, when instead of going on to win they had found themselves third, in 2019, after Mahmood and Ultimo. Despite this, the three had always remained impassive and professional, unlike their colleague from San Basilio. (refers to Ultimo who had instead responded in kind against the journalists)

(in this video the press room rejoices because Il Volo is third and therefore cannot be first, there are several journalists who say “shit” aimed at Il Volo)

The bizarre idea that reviving the Bel canto tradition is “right-wing”

In addition to the journalists, however, more or less well-known people also joined the chorus, there to mock the project of these three young singers who arrived at Sanremo 2024 to celebrate 15 years of their career. Criticisms came especially from the left, where evidently this bizarre idea persists that re-proposing the tradition of Bel canto is something attributable to the right: who knows what someone like Giovanna Marini thinks, who has sunk the roots of her work in tradition, and is certainly not never been pointed out as something other than itself. Returning to them: Piero Barone, born in 1993, Ignazio Boschetto, born in 1994 and Gianluca Ginoble, born in 1995, had met during the talent show Ti lascio una canzone, hosted by Antonella Clerici, and from there they set off to conquer the world, with the stage of the victory of Sanremo 2015, with Grande Amore, undoubtedly fundamental.

They bring music that is a hallmark of Italianness around the world

You may not like their music: it tends to look to the past, given that up to now they have never published an album of unreleased songs, preferring to direct their singing towards that vast and now consolidated repertoire which goes from Puccini to O sole mio, passing through Granada or Frank Sinatra classics. Personal tastes are all legitimate, let alone, but all that remains is to rage against three very young people who, until proven otherwise, not only are not doing anything wrong, but are actually continuing to bring around the world a music that is Italian figure, is something miserable, as well as extremely vile. Because launching criticism on social media, but also practicing a not too different form of bullying in the press, as if we were talking about something reprehensible, is an operation that leads to nothing interesting.

In the sense: it does not expand a judgment, especially if repeated by machine, it does not analyze or deepen a possible critical point of view; it becomes just a cutting comment, moreover given on those who are undoubtedly capable of singing, a fact which may well appear irrelevant, but which ultimately should be the basis of the profession of a singer.

In the trap era, those who know how to sing almost have to hide

Be careful, we are not here to contrast the three guys from Il Volo with those who use autotune or something like that – these are specious discussions that we will calmly leave to Luca Jurman I (music critic) and other wannabes – but rather to try to indicate how, precisely in a broad discussion that foresees the possibility of making music even for those who cannot play or sing (trap in this provides too many examples) escapes for what anomalous reason precisely those who know the basics of singing and practice them even with excellent results it should be vilified and attacked. It seems – God forgive us for the quote from General Vannacci – a world in reverse, where those who know how to do something that was once considered basic today almost have to hide, or keep the own secret art, because the world would go in another direction. Here too, excluding a priori that there could be multiple directions, given that music can be expressed with rigor and precision, as Il Volo evidently knows how to do and intends to continue to do, it seems that a sort of homologated single thought wants to decide the dish of the day, imposing the same dishes on everyone, to be honest, often quite bland.

Their first album of unreleased songs will soon be on the market

And let’s say, let’s get to today, that Il Volo has been working for over a year on a project that intends to move the trio towards the contemporary, certainly not abandoning the world from which the boys come: they are not self-harming. In doing so they spent months and months in close contact with a team of authors, who on their three different voices – different in texture, colour, timbre, all fundamental characteristics in singing – wrote unpublished songs, soon to be on the market in what will be their first real album. An operation that they had already tested on the last tour, where in addition to performing together on their great classics, that is, on the great classics of the Italian Bel Canto tradition, they expressed themselves individually, distinguishing themselves and in some way characterizing themselves as individuals, all with that rigor we were talking about before, the same rigor they put into interviews, but also in making themselves available for selfies or autographs with their audience.

Political ideas stuck on the three boys

It’s sad to see them targeted, exactly in the same way that it was sad to see Geolier booed at the Ariston when he won the evening of duets: he is even younger (23 years old) and to take it out on those who are young, even more so if to do so he keeps that distance due to mobile phone or computer screens, is in effect comparable to bullying. Then, obviously, the criticism is there, even on the new, more pop turn of Il Volo, but the tones should at least be in the category of good taste, and if desired, also common sense. Because the writer is used to giving rise to even ferocious criticism, but always with irony and never going personal, while here the point seems to be precisely the three of them, Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca, and any form of patriotism confused for something halfway road between a Putinian nationalism and something that could, if desired, be attributable to the ideologies of the Brothers of Italy or the League (these are two Italian political parties)

Ideas stuck on guys who, until proven otherwise, shouldn’t have anything to do with kids (in the sense: maybe they think that way, but it’s not by singing classics or referring to that tradition that they intend to convey messages, and in any case doing so even when they try moving towards something else is wrong in its own right).

In the words of Anna Tatangelo, “when the person is nothing, the offense is zero”

However, if you feed the controversy to the masses who have the opportunity to act undisturbed on social media, you end up offering a sad spectacle that makes you uncomfortable. Every day we accuse others of incorrect attitudes, we defend the indefensible by brandishing like clubs the right not to fall into a shitstorm or be pilloried by the media, and then too often we end up being the creators of these incorrect behaviors.

All for the sole fault of being successful abroad, or maybe even just making music that we don’t like. It would be nice to be able to apply to them to the words of Francesco De Gregori (Italian singer) – who we imagine is appreciated by that segment of the intelligentsia who loves to mock them – paraphrasing the ending of the refrain of La leverage footballistica del ‘68: “The boys will also do if they have narrow shoulders.” But in reality, lucky them, it seems that Il Volo is made up of three bold young men who have already gained broad shoulders by performing on stages all over the world. So let’s opt for the more popular “cantate che vi passa”, because it is really true that the words should be calibrated on the mouth of the person who pronounces them, or to put it with the divine Anna Tatangelo, (Italian singer) “when the person is nothing the offense is zero.”

What can I say, he really “pulled the ear” of his fellow journalists, but let me explain a little about who Monina is.

Let me start by saying that Monina, at the beginning of 2015 but in particular in 2016, was a great detractor of Il Volo, writing very unflattering articles about them.

Then Il Volo presented itself again in Sanremo in 2019 and even then Monina was not accredited in the press room but, like this year, interviewed the singers separately but always within Sanremo.

So it was that in 2019 Monina met Piero, Ignazio and GIanluca for an interview that lasted a long time and in which our boys spoke heart-to-heart with Monina, describing the difficulties they encountered, talking about their musical studies and performing a strong musical culture, in particular from Gianluca,  Monina also noting that they were polite people, they were not at all unpleasant or arrogant, and therefore Monina had a very good impression of Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, so much so that from then on he changed his opinion.

Since then Monina has had the opportunity to write little about Il Volo, but shortly before Sanremo this year he mentioned them in a short article where he warned his colleagues journalists not to make that stupid and rude scene in the press room of 2019, but that if they had something to say to them, to have the courage to say it to their faces.

Now, this new long article seemed to me to be truly heartfelt in defense of Il Volo and I dare say that it is the only voice that has been raised in defense of Il Volo, because believe me, some journalists even in their lists of the various singers in Sanremo, they don’t even mention Il Volo, as if they hadn’t been part of the festival, so much so that I thought they were “the unnamed”.

As you understood by reading, Monina also tries to give a political explanation.

Honestly, I have never thought about this, also because music must be above political ideas, but if Monina writes this, there has certainly been some stance taken by journalists with certain political ideas.

Even more so, I am increasingly of the opinion that journalists should not vote in Sanremo.

Another journalist, Antonella Esposito, published Monina’s article on her page, adding her opinion.

Here it is.

I would like to respond publicly to the many questions I have received privately regarding the article published by Michele Monina. I will try to be impartial, without being “too” biased. (she loves Il Volo)

I won’t talk about politics and this is the important assumption from which I would like to start and I don’t think the political orientation of my colleague is even important. I found your article on bullying, because that’s what it’s about, courageous and also honest. Only fools do not change their minds and, net of past judgments – or worse – prejudices, it seems to me to be a lucid confession from someone who has known the artists and evaluated their technical skills, experience and education.

The conversion, if we want to call it that, must have started from the face-to-face meeting during a lunch at Il Villaggio Del Festival.

A chat beyond the permitted television times which allowed Monina and Il Volo to make a quick analysis of the current recording situation. It was agreed that music is hitting rock bottom, in terms of production, a slave to autotune, up-tempo and catchphrases. It’s no longer the time for songs and reasoned lyrics, but that’s fine too, after all, the market creates the logic of the market and in the end we end up singing songs that are all the same and – maybe we like them? – and we risk forgetting after a few months. Could educating about musical culture make a difference, since many young people don’t know who Prince is and don’t even know Michael Jackson? This is Gianluca’s proposal, but it is also another story and it is not yet the historical moment to address it. In the meantime, I would enjoy the opinion of an expert who has addressed an uncomfortable topic that is still talked about too little.

On Antonella Esposito’s page it was possible to comment and so I did and here is my comment:

I fully agree with what you pointed out and, as you wrote, Monina’s article was certainly courageous, but this is the intelligence of people who, if at first they had a wrong vision, do not continue to follow the herd, but they evaluate with their own knowledge the topic they write about, in this case Il Volo. In recent days I have read assessments and comments that go beyond criticism but are only designed to offend and this is ridiculous but also a sign of great degradation and rudeness, shame on some people.

Patrizia Ciava, who we know well here, also published Monina’s article on her page, with this comment:

“All-out defense of Il Volo by Monina who once called them “bimbiminchia” (a word that means childish and with a limited quotient), struck on the road to Sanremo, thanks to the fateful meeting with the boys in 2019. 😉  (She means that the 2019 meeting struck Monina, like a miracle, and made him change his mind about Il Volo)

Also in this case you could comment and my comment was this:
“And thank goodness there are those who have the courage to admit they were wrong.”

And do you remember Sunday, when Il Volo was a guest at Mara Venier and there were also journalists who couldn’t ask any questions?

At the end of the Il Volo moment, Ignazio said to journalists:  “Singers sing, not scream.”

Some newspapers picked up on this moment saying that Ignazio had said this against Lino Banfi, an elderly actor who was sitting near the journalists, but it’s not true!!!! He was referring to Andrea Laffranchi, a journalist who always writes very badly about Il Volo, in fact here is his report card from Sanremo and you will understand why Ignazio said so.

IL VOLO rating 5.

Il Volo or sung scream? They may have many fans in the world, but we take ourselves out of the club.

Maybe I bored you with this long post, but it was right that you too, on the other side of the ocean, knew exactly how the situation is here and how the press behaves towards Il Volo.

So you might think, but then why did Il Volo participate in Sanremo with these conditions?

As I told you, there was great courage on their part, but the media exposure that Sanremo offers is priceless and I believe that their victory was to reach an audience that otherwise would not have listened to them. Under the video of WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER there are many comments from young Italian males (before there were very few and only to insult) who have changed their minds about them, I’ll transcribe some of them:

@nicbellic9794
The absurd thing is that this cover will probably go around the world, especially in the UK and USA, but here in Italy they didn’t even reach the Top 5. The same goes for Santi Francesi who brought a legend like Skin to Sanremo and they too out of the Top 5. Now Italians want ballet music on TikTok, and covers like these are “boring” in their words.

@giankyclari1309
Italy doesn’t deserve these 3 phenomena, if it then puts other people in first position, and not for racist reasons, but because the 3 of them are worth more.

Singing the Queen song was an act of courage, fully satisfied by those who adored and adore Queen and Freddy.

@lorenzovecchiotti4668
Famous in every corner of the world, they sing magnificently, they really know music and not with a computer and autotune… Italy doesn’t deserve them

@pzunino59
Gives goosebumps, well done for those who loved Queen it was an absolutely unmissable moment. The world envies them and we don’t know how to appreciate them.

@thejontube1504
The only ones who can afford to pay homage to Freddy Mercury..

Il Volo at least deserve the victory with their piece MASTERPIECE, given that they would have deserved to win with this splendid interpretation of Queen!!!

No less important is Stef Burns’ guitar!!! Come on!!!!

@francescoplanb3567
I’m not a fan of theirs but this year I’m really appreciating them, they brought a great song and this cover is really well done, frankly I’m outraged that so much skill is so blatantly ignored!

@lauradesiere7471
I’m a rock “fanatic” and Volo isn’t my thing…usually, but the combination of Vasco’s legendary guitarist and their sublime voices made me want to film it. Touching sacred monsters like Queen and doing the song badly would have been a crime…instead you honored the song. Well done, I will buy your first album of unreleased songs. Damn, what rumors.

@MusicFed
I’m not a fan of theirs but this performance was incredible. Breathtaking. Burns perfect solos and with the usual taste and style. The boys sang like a god and “with intention”, reaching all the difficult notes.

…………………and I could go on like this……..this is definitely the best victory of Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca!! 🥰👏👏👏

And that’s all for now, but last night Il Volo was on Radio Italia, and so in the next article there will be them on Radio Italia and other serene and cheerful moments.

Of course I’m waiting for your comments on the “bullying” against Il Volo, and sorry if I got on your nerves reading this.

See you soon: Daniela 🤗

Credit to owners of all photos and videos.