More than thirty years after his debut at the Festival (it was 1994), Andrea Bocelli returns to the stage of the Sanremo Festival as super guest of tomorrow evening's final.
A return that has the weight of memory and the measure of consecration: from the first emotions at the Ariston Theater to the global dimension of a career that has never stopped questioning its point of origin.
THE INTERVIEW
He returns to the Sanremo Festival thirty years after his debut. What effect does it have on her?
Since, I suppose, I will be singing, and since it is an important appointment for me, it is inevitable that strong memories, even romantic ones, will resurface. Thirty years have passed since I first walked this stage. I see my father and mother here at the Ariston Theatre, full of emotion and hope.
My father, shy and silent, stood at the back of the theater, with his back to the wall. It was the last one. My mother, exuberant, occupied the front rows and made herself heard, cheered, encouraged. It was a turning point in my career. I have always remained tied to my origins, to my old friends, to the places where I grew up. Even professionally, my roots are here.
In these thirty years he has had very different experiences: from the opening of an Olympic ceremony to the birth of his foundation. What did they represent for you?
Meanwhile, a clarification: my official career began here, but I have been with music since I was a child. I studied piano, I played whenever I could. When they listened to me they told me: “You should go to Sanremo”. And I, tired of hearing it repeated, replied that I had already been to Sanremo on holiday with friends and my parents. Then I really found myself and everything started from there.
As for the Olympics, I found myself singing at San Siro, in my team's stadium. Beyond the emotion, there was the awareness of representing Italy in an event of global importance. In a sporting context, a singer's contribution may seem marginal, but there is a difference between doing well and doing badly. I tried to do it in the most dignified way possible. The presence of so many personalities, both institutional and artistic, made the atmosphere unique. Even for those accustomed to certain tensions, curiosity was strong.
The foundation was born fifteen years ago, when poverty stopped being distant news and became something that was knocking on everyone's doors. I have always thought that we can do a lot alone, but much more together. This is how the Andrea Bocelli Foundation was born, with the idea of ”sow well”, because those who sow well reap well.
We have built a reality that collaborates with the public while remaining private. In Italy it is not a given. Yet when the public and private sectors dialogue, the results arrive.
His children are now launched into the world of music. If tomorrow they told you “Dad, I'm going to Sanremo”, what would you reply?
Depends. If Matteo, who is almost twenty-eight years old, told me, I would tell him: go ahead. If Virginia tells me, I'd tell her to think about school first. Then we'll see.
If instead they asked me for a duet, I would evaluate the quality of the song and the situation. A priori I certainly wouldn't refuse a duet with my son. I have duetted with many artists in my life. Maybe he would be the one to say no.
His music has always dialogued with distant worlds. We recently saw her alongside Snoop Dogg. How did that meeting come about?
Snoop Dogg is very nice. I must confess that I didn't know him initially. When I said this at home they looked at me as if I came from another planet. I'm not social, I travel a lot, I'm focused on my work. Now I know him and I can say that I perceived sincere respect from him. This struck me more than any background.
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