TOstill very young – he was born in 1995 – however “grown-up” myths: his idols are «Dire Straits to Genesis, from Pearl Jam to Kiss, Paolo Nutini, Bob Marley, Sting».
Yuri Santos Tavares Carloia – known by all as Yuman, from the fusion of his real name Yuri and of the word human – born in Rome 26 years ago to a Cape Verdean father and a Roman mother – this year he will participate for the first time in the Sanremo Festival with the song Now and here.
Yuman, very ready for Sanremo 2022 (Instagram)
The song tells of a difficult time, which however, it is exceeded and brings those who lived it to enjoy every moment, the “here and now” that gives the title to the piece. “Must live here and now, do not allow yourself to be suffocated by the weight of what has been or by the prediction of what will be », the artist explained. «To feel good is to live in the space of possibilities that arise“.
Sanremo «is the most important step that I could imagine today for me, ”Yuman said. «And paradoxically it is a beginning, inside and out. I will find myself on the most coveted stage in Italy without fear. I will sing all my emotions without reserve, because I am like that. I am simply a dreamer“.
Yuman’s album, out on February 11th
He arrived on the stage of the Ariston thanks to the victory in Sanremo Giovani – together with Tananai And Matteo Romano – with A thousand nights, who ferried him among the Big. Following participation in the festival, theFebruary 11, 2022 the disc will come out Here which will contain seven tracks, including the Sanremo piece and the reinterpretation of My way by Frank Sinatra, a song that Yuman will sing on the evening of the covers.
The winners of Sanremo Giovani: from left Yuman, Tananai and Matteo Romano (LaPresse)
The album «represents for me a important step, my passion and my life, ”he explained. Realizing this recording project «I started a glimpse a larger design, the confluence of thoughts, energies and lives. Inside there is all this, there is a great team effort and the awareness that life is everything“, has explained.
And by “everything” he means “a constellation of great emotions and subtle sensations, punctual frustrations but also flashes of joy. Life is all of this, all that is here now“.
The period in London and Berlin
Music for him is immediately “a need and a mission“. Not yet of age, he began to write his first songs. In 2015 he first moved to London and then to Berlin, to continue his artistic – but also human – path in what are, for him, the two most inspiring cities in Europe.
«I have always found it easier to write in English, in fact this is the first experiment in Italian. In English you can shape the words, you can also change the pronunciations ». In reverse, “Italian is difficult to adapt, even if today artists like Mahmood And Tha Supreme they have made it much more fluid as a language, ”he said. “It will not be the only project in Italian that I will do: I will certainly carry on the two languages in parallel,” he said.
In Sanremo he brings a piece in Italian, «and he agreed to do so because, if approached lightly, a simple but effective Italian text makes it much more of a thousand big words, a thousand things “.
In concert on Rai Radio 2 (Instagram)
He explained that he had never considered Italian before, “because English has a different phonetics, there are many more vowels, you can lengthen a word,”scrape“As you want and no one will ever tell you anything”. In Italian, however, «you have to be very careful, especially the meaning of the lyrics, so it’s something I’m only trying now ».
The sense of self-criticism
In reality, in this discourse between the two languages, the shyness. “I have always been more successful in expressing my thoughts and speeches in English rather than in Italian,” he reiterated.
More than shyness, «I think to self-criticism because, in Italian, you are self-critical to a thousand per thousand, it is rightly your language, you know everything “. If you sing in English, however, in a language that is not your own, “you cannot understand all the mechanisms well. It takes training in both, this is certain ».
The return to Rome
In 2016 he returned to Rome and came into contact with Leave Music, which immediately appreciated him and decided to produce it, alongside Francesco Cataldo as an artistic producer. New songs are born and in 2017 the artist signs for Universal Music.
Several highly successful singles come out in bursts: in November 2018 it comes out Twelve, the first single, mixed by Chris Lord Alge, who also dealt with some songs of the Green Day, by Muse and of Joe Cocker, in March 2019 it is the turn of Run, which enters by right in Vevo’s “New Music Italia”, or the playlist dedicated to new artists to keep an eye on.
Run is also successful in Germany, where it does a summer tour, but it has no less fame in our country, where MTV proclaims it. Artist of the month and YouTube puts it between 10 most promising artists of 2019.
«There are in my songs many genres that mix with each other “, said Yaman,” I like to change, to experiment. At the base, however, there is always the soul, because that’s my heart, and then r’n’b, pop, reggae, rock ».
Yuman’s debut album, Naked Thoughts
His first real album comes out in September, Naked Thoughts, which leads him – among the few Italian artists – to be invited by the prestigious South By Southwest festival, which takes place every year in Austin, Texas.
In mid-2021, he releases his new single, I am, which also met with good success abroad. And yet it is divided between the outside – where it seeks simplicity of language, immediacy – and our country, where it stands for get on the most important stage. And who knows that, just for that night, his two opposing natures, as in an eclipse, coincide. Even just for the tempo of a song, for a “Here and Now”.
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