AND to think that they were called before The Mediumsthey went around a singing of death, sinful women and cursed stories. So dark that they were only allowed to be portrayed at the Verano cemetery. A funeral incipit, an unsuspected triumph ante glitteram. Then, just before opening up to traditional music, they became The end of the world, and finally i Countryside cousinswith the debut song è Beppe’s dancelaunched by High Rating by Gianni Boncompagni and Renzo Arbore. The last song in chronological order is instead Letter 22written by List Representative and in race a San Remo 2023. Pop jewel that enhances their voices very well.
Ivano, can it be said that more than the coin thrown to call for a wish, it was the one stolen from the Trevi Fountain that brought you luck?
With the nylon thread, the magnet, and the long eye we bought the first guitars. When my father noticed it, a tragedy happened: he sent me to be punished among the children’s voices of the Sistine Chapel. I was good at hearing, I became one of the best-known contraltos, in the end I fit right in with that choir.
Do you know Trevi Fountain story?
I repeated it many times to pick up foreign women, I knew only that of English. It worked.
Not far away, in via del Corso, another group has also started playing which will take the stage of the Ariston: don’t cross yourselves, a great pity.
We will duet with Paolo Vallesi. We were the forerunners of Maneskin, we anticipated their originality and desire to make music by fifty years. There is no competition, if not the healthy one. We both have an absolutely personal style and we tell it with all the energy of someone who isn’t afraid.
To arrange your new song, competing at the Festival, you were inspired by Michelangelo’s frescoes.
That beauty has remained in it. We carry it with us to put it everywhere, even between the lines of our music. Letter 22 it is the letter that doesn’t exist, it doesn’t exist, for this reason it remains a blank page ready for interpretation. It bears the name of a 1950s Olivetti, a typewriter that is called just like that. It’s a hermetic text, written by The Representative of Lista, it took us a while to get into it, perhaps due to a generational difference.
Country Cousins. (Gianni Brucculeri)
But then he caught you.
We were enraptured, fascinated by it. As a kid, when they played me a song by someone my age today, I didn’t like it. I am objective and I know that I want to go to Sanremo in dialogue with young people. What struck me were the music and the harmonies, which the conductor in me jumped at. It deserves everything. After fifty years of Anima Mia and the birth of the Cousins, we wanted to introduce ourselves while remaining ourselves, but with a renewed look.
Cousins are Cousins.
And they will never change. Many have tried over the years to do it, but we remain faithful to our “soul”.
Titian, it can be said that Letter 22 is it a search song?
It is. Like when you look for the right word to tell a part of us, our interiority. To say “I love you”. Talk about how to find the best way to expose yourself sincerely, to apologize, to overcome a pain. Active listening is needed, a reading that is profound and attentive is needed. The more you feel it, the more you like it, it can’t be otherwise. It has his charisma, a nice granite refrain that attacks and bites. Go with momentum, reveal intentions.
The intention to participate in Sanremo had already been there, it’s nothing new.
Let’s say that in the 70s it didn’t coincide with our expectations, we had different horizons. Then over time it returned to being what it was, a good singing competition, it gained strength. We waited for the right moment to come. And here we are, rookies after a lifetime. Let’s call it a nice gift to a career spanning more than half a century.
Did a text written by two young guys give you energy?
So much that we want and must hear a very powerful beat. They gave us a new approach that we didn’t have. A challenge within the challenge, a motivation that I can’t explain in words. Let’s go to Sanremo to have fun, bring a breath of joy with the hope that a few notes of our song will remain.
Will you explain it with the much loved falsetto?
We cannot ignore the polyphony, the vocal mixture remains the same.
Like sequins, flared trousers and big hair.
We’ve been on a diet for two months so as not to betray expectations.
Country Cousins. (Getty Images)
And the seams.
Hard work not to enjoy our cuisine.
The public loves you very much, even the kisses thrown with both hands during this walk together show it.
People who love you are sap. The sincere and genuine affection of the public is our foundation. Do not betray them, the first commandment.”
Is it true that Little Tony recommended wedges?
Little Tony was actually quite tall. But he had a trick. He recommended a skilled Roman cobbler who inserted internal, invisible heels. So we all magically became the same height.
Going down the Sanremo staircase with those stilts on your feet would be a great challenge: will you do it?
Maybe.
Anima mia came out in 57 versions. There is no doubt that she is beautiful. How can this unalterable success be explained?
In writing it, the augmented seventh emerged, a dissonance that had never existed before. Let’s say it’s hard to surpass the original, that’s why it stands the test of time. At first we said it was written by Franco Migliacci, to smooth the ground with the record company. It worked. Only later did we reveal who was really behind all that success.
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