Lucio Battisti, 25 years without a genius. That’s why it wasn’t right wing

They will have passed exactly on September 9th 25 years after the death of Lucio Battisti. 25 years was not a short time in the last analogue age, in the last century when records still had a certain weight and music had to be bought and owned through them. Nowadays time passes faster and it does not seem as if a quarter of a century has passed since the death of the most important Italian authors and singers of the 20th century. Also because in recent years his influence, which was already enormous in the past (We can say without fear of contradiction that Battisti/Mogol’s songs significantly influenced the development of songwriting and Italian popular music in general between the 1960s and 1970s.), was very much felt in the music of the younger generations, who did not limit themselves to “memorizing” the songs that Battisti created with Mogol, from Lucio Battisti to Una giorno uggiosa, but also introjected them and made them their own his own albums from the 1980s and 1990s, written with Panella and his wife Grazia Letizia Veronese, from “And Already” to Hegel. We could therefore say that the absence of Lucio Battisti is not felt dramatically, also because Battisti had been deliberately “absent” for a long time before his disappearance.

But that’s not true, because the fact that from 1994 to today we have no longer had the opportunity to know through new songs what Battisti would have invented while remaining, as he always did, completely in tune with the contemporaneity, something has certainly created an emptiness, has deprived us of a point of reference to love, to reject, to discuss, as many, more or less all, have always done.

However, in these 25 years, some “beliefs” have taken root that have no real basis in reality. First, that Battisti was a singer-songwriter (yes, he was a two-headed singer-songwriter with Mogol, but still a singer-songwriter) of a popular nature, if not somehow “light.” even “commercial”.

ANSA (bend)

If one took the trouble to build the playlist by habit, one would very easily discover that Battisti was one of the musicians who most consistently and consistently practiced avant-garde choices in the truest sense of the word and, above all, with absolute dedication and mathematical precision thereafter With an iron will he tries to reconcile the avant-garde itself with the popularity, which he succeeds in the vast majority of cases and never gives up on making his loyal audience hear things that they would otherwise never have heard.

Innovative is the most correct adjective to define it, tirelessly curious, never monotonous, always up to date on trends, technologies, philosophies and current events in music. He was popular by nature, not by choice, he was a wonderful melodist, able to create hooks and choruses that are easy to remember but are never predictable or obvious. He wrote songs that were intended to be heard by as many people as possible in order to excite them, but he did nothing to “hit” the audience, he made no compromises.

Secondly, his records without Mogol are “difficult”, with abstruse and incomprehensible lyrics. Of course the difference to Mogol’s stories and inventions is drastic, One cannot say that Panella’s lyrics had the same communicative power as Mogol’s, the same impact on our popular culture. But it is equally undeniable that many of Mogol’s lyrics for Battisti’s songs were no less “abstruse” or “incomprehensible” than those of Panella. Mogol has often reached unattainable heights of imaginative creativity, It is equally impossible to read texts literally and gain a direct understanding. And at the same time, it is madness to describe the music of Battisti’s electronic records as “difficult”.because in the vast majority of cases it is extremely entertaining electronic pop.

It is certainly the singability of these songs that has become difficult, if not impossible, for those who loved singing Battisti around a campfire on the beach, in the shower, or at full volume in the car. But many of these songs deserve to be rediscovered and listened to, also because Today, much of the consumer music that dominates the charts is far less understandable and complete enchantingAnd.

The final belief that should be questioned is Battisti’s right-wing affiliation. Battisti never took sides politically; his apolitical nature was obvious and clearespecially in the highly politicized 1970s, e.g This certainly led to him being classified as a qualunquista. an attitude that for much of public opinion has essentially meant being conservative, if not outspoken from the right. But beyond the madness of those who believe that Battisti was a fascist or even a financier of subversive movements, the fact remains that in recent times often We witnessed the appropriation of Battisti by the Italian right, as if the singer-songwriter were naturally linked to this political roleTo.

Well, it’s worth getting out of the obvious and trying to say certain things. Firstly, that Battisti never made a political profession of faith in his entire life and that he was closer to a certain rock, libertarian community culture that rejected politics understood as the organization of consensus through parties and institutions, an alternative culture that we believe was fully exemplified by some of his album covers such as “Love and Non Love,” “Our Dear Angel,” and “Latin Soul,” which represent everything but a conservative, reactionary, right-wing culture. And to clear up possible misunderstandings, let us also remember that the cover of Il mio canto libero, which depicts a forest of arms raised to the sky, was created by him Cesare Montalbettinot only a great photographer, but also a communist and “freak”, artistic director of Re Nudo, friend of Andrea Valcarenghi and Franco Berardi Bifoand, in the truest sense of the word, a close friend of Battisti himself (Just to silence the “gliding across a forest with arms outstretched” controversy once and for all…).

But if we also assume that the covers of his albums didn’t want to express anything, that they were just “beautiful photos”, we also assume that Mogol’s texts, in which the libertarian sentiment dominates unchallenged, came solely from Mogol and that (which is obviously impossible) Battisti didn’t agree with what he himself sang, There is a document that makes a lot of things clear. A book was recently published in which the personal, editorial and political adventure of Marcello Baraghini, founder and animator of Alternative Press in all its formsDances with Books: 50 Years of Counterculture Past and Present, written by Daniela Pirettioffers us a document that clears up any misunderstanding about Battisti’s political position: a letter dated February 25, 1992, written by Battisti and addressed to Baraghini himself. letter that not only reveals to us a surprising intimacy between Baraghini (undisputed instigator of the authors at concerts in the seventies, just to remember his place…) and Baptists, introduces us to a musician who is extremely attentive to the political and cultural reality of the country, far from being disinterested, almost “barricadero”, if we may exaggerate a little, anti-system, anti-party, but deep within the topics entangled in the village’s political and cultural debate. And anything but right-wing. Baraghini in 1992, based on his long friendship with Marco Panella Because of his historical proximity to the Radical Party, he had decided to run in the elections on the party lists and had sent Battisti a letter asking for his support.

In a brilliant use of the art of paradox, Battisti responds to Baraghini as follows: “Dear Marcello, you asked to write to you because we should vote for you and express this motivation publicly.” Hurry: voting for Marcello Baraghini is absolutely useless. It does not serve to shift a comma in the overall sclerotic balance of the political system. There’s no point in having even the slightest say in the moldy, pre-arranged debate between the parties. It is not intended to take advantage of any lobby or mafia interests. It does nothing to achieve consensus on the mummified referendum and/or transversal alignments. It does nothing to silence CossigTo. It is not intended to condemn the lethargic Italian left. It is not for politics. It doesn’t do the country any good. It is of no use to Europe. As any member of an Italian political party would say: voting for Marcello Baraghini only means dispersing the vote.” Then the tone changes and Battisti, always with irony, becomes terribly serious and talks about his ideas: “I can tell you say immediately what disastrous consequences could be had in gathering a sufficient number of memberships to send you to Parliament.” Leave the semi-secret status to highlight your past as a freedom activist (137 court cases for crimes of opinion), which is unauthorized and unregulated: Flood the city’s streets and squares with free concerts, shows and exhibitions; expand the culture of the night (rooms, occasions, meetings); affirm the freedom of music (for rock in schools, for free recording studios, against profit and piracy); Cleanse the airwaves of consumerist and stupid garbage; encourage old and new writers to bring their unpublished works, their testimonies, their lives out of the drawers; write a thousand lire book every day”.

And he concluded: “Forget it, Marcello, there are really too few of us who really want to experience such freedoms. Leave me alone in the warmth of my forties, a little disgusted and a little bored. Stop bothering the new generations: they won’t understand! Signed: Lucio Battisti”. But he adds an afterword: “Bloody nuisance, I’ve decided not to vote!” I had to think to write you this letter (and thinking is dangerous these days). To avoid feeling like a worm, I’m forced to vote in this damn election and give you my damn vote“.

25 years after his death, we still hear Lucio Battisti’s songs, find him mentioned in other people’s songs and feel that he is “ours” like no other songwriter. Because Battisti is an integral part of the cultural fabric of our country and will remain so for a long time.