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Antonello Venditti

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Antonello Venditti
Antonello Venditti in 2008
Background information
Born (1949-03-08) 8 Mairch 1949 (age 75)
Rome, Italy
GenresPop, Pop rock
ThriftSangster-sangwriter
Years active1971–present
LabelsIt, RCA Italiana,
Philips, Heinz Music
Wabsteidwww.antonellovenditti.it

Antonello Venditti (born 8 Mairch 1949) is an Italian sangster-sangwriter who became famous in the 1970s for the social themes o his sangs.

Biography

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Antonello Venditti wis born in Roum, the son o Vincenzino Italo frae Campolieto Molise, deputy-prefect in Roum.

He studiet piano in his youth an made his debut in the muisic warld in the early 1970s at the Folkstudio o Roum, thegither wi sangsters lik Francesco De Gregori an Giorgio Lo Cascio. In duo wi the umwhile he released in 1972 his first LP, Theorius Campus. The LP scored little success, but Venditti at least made hissel notit for the strenth o his vocal qualities an for his attention tae social issues, evidencit bi pieces lik Sora Rosa which is sung in Roman dialect. An aw in dialect wis Roma Capoccia, a declaration o luve for his ceety, which later became ane o his maist famous sangs. Curiously, Venditti refused tae sing it for several years, as he considered it no poleetically or socially "engagit" eneuch.

Venditti subsequently muivit tae Milan an released L'orso bruno (1973), made in collaboration wi muisicker Vince Tempera; this album includit anither sang in dialect, E li ponti so' soli, but itherwise wis markit bi a even stranger attention tae social themes. His next wirk, Le cose della vita ("Things of Our Life"), released the same year for the colossus RCA Music, confirmit this tendency. The follaein LP Quando verrà Natale ("When Christmas Comes") wis seemilar; its even mair nakit arrangements emphasize the strenth o Venditti's denunciation. Efter a live performance o the sang "A Cristo" ("To Christ"), he wis denooncit bi a Italian polis officer for blasphemy. Venditti, housomeivver, wis later totally acquittit.

Awtho Venditti's uise o releegious leid wis no teepical o the cultur o the left, his manner o life in the late '60s an the '70s wis, as he later tauld the jurnalist Giampaolo Mattei, a "secular" ane: "They wur years in which the influence o the left wis really strang an the life o us young fowk then wis somewha orphaned o God. A think it wis the iveryday life o the time that led me tae pairticipate in an embrace certain things. I emergit frae that when A realisit it wis a deid end acause it teuk away people's happiness. Maybe it did give thaim social growthe, but aboot happiness it haed naething tae say. Too hintle materialism an ower little spirituality. A whole generation grew up wi that materialism, wi certain slogans."[1]

Venditti's fortunes grew an peakit in 1975, wi the LP Lilly. The yearnin title-track wis anither strang accusation, this time against drugs, but it achievit an ootstaundin success onywey. Ither famous pieces in the album war "Compagno di scuola" ("Schuilmate") an the lang ballad "Lo stambecco ferito" ("The Woondit Ibex"), the story o a corrupt Northren Italian tycoon. Venditti continued tae deal wi front-page matters in his next LP, Ullalà (1976), whose "Canzone per Seveso" wis aboot the industrial accident in Julie that year.

Poleetical involvement, housomeivver, haed side-effects on Venditti's inspiration in the late 1970s, markit in Italy bi the growin menace o terrorism an bi the strategia della tensione: some events (lik the public booin o his friend De Gregori bi politicisit fans durin a show) forcit him tae rethink his wey o bein a public personality. Sotto il segno dei pesci ("(Born) Unner Pisces", 1978) contained mair personal an intimate themes. The eponymous track scored a great success, but wis lairgely misinterpretit as a sang aboot a wumman: it actually referred tae Venditti's career, as he wis in fact born "unner the Pisces sign".

Success wis, housomeivver, marred bi his divorce frae his wife Simona Izzo. She wan custody o Venditti's son, Francesco Saverio. The follaein LP, Buona domenica (1979), wis strangly markit bi this difficult period. It contained, housomeivver, several classics, lik the title-track an the ballad Modena, which featurt Gato Barbieri on saxophone an is considered ane o Venditt's feenest wirks.

In 1982 the bitter Sotto la pioggia markit Venditti's passage tae his awn label, Heinz Music, an the beginnin o the lang-lastin collaboration wi producer Alessandro Colombini. The follaein year A.S. Roma, his ceety's fitbaa team, wan its lang-awaitit seicont scudetto: Venditti wis tharefore cried upon tae tak pairt in the offeecial celebration show, an the sang that he componit for the occasion, "Grazie Roma" ("Thank You Roma"), turned intae a great success, surprisingly nae juist in Roum. Venditti haed awready componit several sangs aboot his favourite fitbaa team; some fowk creeticisit thaim harshly, maistly acause o the strang contrast wi the poleetical-social themes o his ither sangs.

In the follaein years, an notably in the 1990s, Venditti's inspiration seemit tae acome mair mainstream an commercial. His LPs (Cuore, In questo mondo di ladri, Benvenuti in Paradiso, Prendilo tu questo frutto amaro) wur vera successfu, but his umwhile themes wur absent, or generally less stressed. Pieces lik "Notte prima degli esami" or "Ma che bella giornata di sole" (aboot the Italian Leeberation Day o September 1943) wur onywey praised bi creetics. Amang the sangs o this period, "Dolce Enrico", frae the LP Benvenuti in Paradiso (1991), wis dedicatit tae the umwhile leader o the Partito Comunista Italiano, Enrico Berlinguer, who dee'd in 1984.

Antonello nel Paese delle Meraviglie ("Antonello in Wonderland") o 1997 featurt his greatest hits accompaniet bi the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra o Sofia, directit bi Renato Serio. Goodbye Novecento (1999) gae increasin attention tae social an historical themes, but haed a sub-par success bi Venditti's staundarts. In 2001 A.S. Roma again wan a scudetto, an Venditti played again in a free concert in the Circo Massimo for an immense audience o tifosi an luvers o his sangs. His next release wis Che fantastica storia è la vita ("Wha a Fantastic Story Life Is", October 2003). Gato Barbieri played wi Venditti in this release. Efter resolvin the difficulties in his friendship wi Venditti, tauld in the latter's 1979 sang "Scusa Francesco" ("Sorry Francesco"), De Gregori is present as sangster in "Io e mio fratello" ("Me an Ma Brither") an aw. The album conteens a satire o Italian Prime Meenister an aw, Silvio Berlusconi ("Il Sosia").

In Apryle 2008, in an interview wi a Catholic wabsteid, Venditti spoke o his faith in Christ, his devotion tae Padre Pio an his respect for Pape Benedict XVI, an mentioned haein been assaultit when he wis saxteen bi a malevolent entity which he identifee'd wi Satan an aw.[2] This led the media tae cless Venditti wi ither heich-profile show-business converts lik Claudia Koll (who wis attackit bi a malevolent entity an aw) an Giovanni Lindo Ferretti,[3] awtho actually his conversion lang predates theirs.[1][4]

In October 2009 Venditti wis creeticisit for askin, durin a concert in Sicily, "Wha did God create Calabrie?" an declarin that "thare is really naething" in Calabria. Calabrie is a region in Sooth Italy. In the past it wis colonisit bi the auncient Greeks an became the cradle o Magna Graecia, but nou it is the base o the modren creeme organisation 'ndrangheta. Venditti later made peace wi Calabrie ower a cup o guid coffee at his hoose in Roum wi the mayor o Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Scopelliti.[5]

Soondtracks

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Venditti released the soondtrack for the 1985 movie Troppo forte bi his friend, the Roman director Carlo Verdone. Verdone occasionally played drums in Venditti's concerts an aw.

Discografie

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References

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  1. ↑ a b Stefano Solegemello. "Antonello: politica e religione" (in Italian).
  2. ↑ Bruno Volpi. "Intervista con Antonello Venditti", Petrus, 26 April 2008 (in Italian).
  3. ↑ "Posseduto dal demonio", Libero, 28 April 2008 (in Italian).
  4. ↑ Antonio Lodetti. Venditti: "La fede l'ho cantata per primo" Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, Il Giornale, 17 December 2008 (in Italian).
  5. ↑ Domenico Malara. "Venditti, la Calabria e il caffè... corretto!", 15 October 2009 (in Italian)

Freemit airtins

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