He doesn’t even think about quitting. Neither physically nor musically. At 78, Gianni Morandi still wears shoes and overalls. “I walk slower than I used to, but I walk further. Once you put the blanket on your knees, you never go back.’ And when it comes to songs, too, retirement is a long way off and careers are full of exclamation marks. Here is a new album, “Evviva!”, out today, and a tour, “Go Gianni Go!”, 9 dates in the arenas from March 10 in Rimini. «I’m not a great author, my most beautiful songs were written by others. I’m a performer and more than just going into the studio to record, I love singing around people,” he says, holding a broomstick next to him, which has now become his symbol after the petal skit took the stage swept away in Sanremo following Blanco’s outburst.
It is the umpteenth restart of a monument that has been erected and dismantled multiple times. Success as a kid, the oblivion of the ’70s when songwriters were in vogue and he fled to the conservatory, returning in the ’80s with Mogol and Dalla, primetime Saturday TV host on Rai1 in the Zero years. When everything seemed to be going in a tiring direction and streaming platforms were changing the recording landscape, tragedy nearly caught fire. “Actually, this record was born on the day of the hand accident, March 11, 2021. I was in the hospital in Cesena when Jovanotti called me and said, among other things, that he would send me a song to make me happy again and that if I liked it, I could sing it». Cooperation with Jova continued. Lorenzo also wrote him the song in the competition of Sanremo 2022 (“Apri tutti le porte”), wanted him as a regular at the Jova Beach Party and in the new album he signs other songs, starting with the title track, which is a hymn to positivity. Jova says in the notes accompanying the album: «If I had to sum up Morandi in one word, that word would be Evviva with an exclamation mark. When he enters a room, the atmosphere is enriched with oxygen and you prepare yourself for a smile. Everyone noticed it in Sanremo as if it were a novelty, although it has been happening for more than 60 years».
He was the protagonist of the festival: the ability to enter at the right moment, without elbows but entering the stage, nationally popular and stylish, ironic and institutional. Positive balance. It precludes a return to leadership. ‘It’s difficult to repeat yourself and Amadeus always has new ideas in his head. You have to be able to take a step back. I would return to the race even if someone could say: “What two chestnuts, he again …”». The trio tour with Ranieri and Al Bano, baptized directly in the Ariston, is still just a hypothesis: “Al Bano called me the other day and told me that he already had contacts in Canada, Kansas City and Turkey, but that’s it “scugnizzo”. busy until October. Well, it’s time, we are young…».
The ballad “A Million Little Storms” is a letter to a growing son. Is it 25-year-old Pietro, a rapper with the stage name Thirteen Pietro? “I speak to him very little, he is nowhere to be found, he calls every now and then to inquire about my health given my age… He has his own path and is trying to break away from being Morandi’s son, but it is difficult because they all know».
When you touch on the issues of politics, you can be diplomatic. “I am pleased that with Elly Schlein’s victory, two women are at the helm of the country’s two most important parties. We met Schlein at a pro-Ukraine concert and sang “There was a boy” together. This song will be one of the essentials in the tour lineup: «It was a song against the war in Vietnam and was awarded a big plaque in Russia at the time. Things have turned and today this text is directed against them who are the aggressor country».
A thought goes to Dalla and Battisti, who would have turned 80 these days: “I had an extraordinary relationship with Dalla. Battisti once sent me a song which I declined. I’m amazed that two with the same name, almost twins, have had such an impact on Italian music».