THEThe Sanremo Festival is upon us, but Simone Cristicchi48 years old, has already won. Not the musical event, of course: for that there is still time and the race is more than open. But the Lunezia prizeprestigious recognition dedicated to the musical-literary value of the songs, is already in his hands. As a beginning, it’s not bad at all.
“In the commitment of a single choice we indicate the work of Simone Cristicchi,” said Stefano De Martino on radio, patron of the christened exhibition 30 years ago by Fernanda Pivano and Fabrizio De André, “a humanitarian and family topic he had never thought of anyone for a song. An exciting elaboration between the past and present of the son-family sentiment “.
Born in Rome, boy with a Missed artistic vein – At 16 he was offered a contract as a designer for the Tiramolla of the Comic Art, which he refuses – Simone Cristicchi preferred to graduate from the classical high school. But He has never abandoned the love for drawing: he deepened this art under the guidance of the famous cartoonist Benito Jacovittirefining a technique that would also have influenced its future artistic expressiveness.
“Without creativity I would have been a Violent and closed man in myself“, He said. «I spent two years in a room to draw funny person days. My friends were the colorful characters that I created to keep me company in a perfect world where nothing bad could happen to me. Art and music take care of my deep wounds».
The beginnings of Simone Cristicchi
After serving as conscientious objector and then as a volunteer in a Mental Hygiene Center – as we will see later, this experience will mark him a lot – Simone Cristicchi begins to perform in several Roman clubs, bringing his music on the same stages where they also play Max Gazzè, Nicolò Fabi and Federico Zampaglione.
The real debut in music is at 17 years old, but at 20 he already moves to the cantam: in 1998 he won the National Cantautors Competition thanks to the song The man of the buttonswith which the SIAE prize wins. In 2003 he tried to enter the singers of the Festival through the program Destination Sanremobut does not rank.
It does not stop making music, on the contrary: He believes more and more in the power of this art“Which can be a vehicle for messages, reflections and can put important problems at the center. Furthermore, The songs have a great power by their naturebecause they use both music and words, “he said,” managing to inspire the thought of the people who listen to it. The great artists I listened to – Battiato, De Andrè, Fossati and all the great songwriters – managed to dig deep and show different perspectives. This is the power of music».
The “lucky charm” Biagio Antonacci
The real turning point in his career comes “exploiting” the name of a well -known colleague: thanks to the song I would like to sing like Biagio Antonacci, The artist begins to be familiar to the general public. But what looks like a light and fun song is actually a provocative complaint of the Italian record market And the difficulties, for a Novellino, to achieve success by preserving one’s individuality. He himself wrote it when he was now about to abandon the ambitions to become a songwriter.
The song became a clover And he definitely brought him luck. That single, first extract from the first studio album Song manufacturerlaunched it towards the notoriety to which it was so aspiring. Now, he no longer needed to hide behind the cumbersome figure of Antonacci to be listened to: The public had started to notice him.
Moreover, the “real” Antonacci did not take it very well. “At the time,” says Biagio, “Simone did pianobar and He came to ask me for permission to a concert in Rome. I told him: if you go on stage tonight in front of eight thousand people you can do it. From that moment I have no longer heard a nice gesture on his part, For a song that is still its greatest success. I live on gestures, of human empathy, the recognition that lies in a word. One must say thanks, always. Then I exaggerate, I always say thanks to anyone, even in turn ».
The first Sanremo by Simone Cristicchi
In 2006 he participated in the Festival in the Young category with the song What a beautiful people (second place), but it is 2007 the crucial year in his career. Simone Cristicchi competes at the Sanremo Festival with I will give you a rosea touching imaginary letter written by a psychiatric patient, then inserted in the album On the other side of the gate. The song addresses the delicate theme of mental illness and psychiatric institutionshighlighting the often forgotten stories of those who live on the margins of society.
Simone Cristicchi wins the Sanremo Festival 2007. (Getty Images)
«My second album On the other side of the gate touched the theme of the folly and of the mental health», He said,” with songs like Our Lady of the Navigli Dedicated to Alda Merini, who made the harsh experience of the asylum. Then he became a documentary in which a song was missing for the credits. So I wrote I will give you a rose That liked Pippo Baudo who wanted it to Sanremo in the Big section, and I won the Festival ».
The depth of the text and the intense interpretation are worth the victory of the Festival, in addition to the critics prize Mie Martini and the Radio and TV press room award. “With I will give you a rose I wanted to give voice to those who do not have it, telling stories that deserve to be listened to ».
A taboo theme
The text faces a theme taboo. “I think it was a Unicum in the history of the Festivaland this is important for me. I acquired enormous popularity from that victory and I managed to channel it with lucidity to become a free artistestimated from commercial dynamics. I would not trade my artistic idea with any number of sales, followers or rankings. I want to continue to explore and create, without worries or external forcing». In 2007 he published the book Mental hygiene center – a storyteller between the crazy ones, always on the same theme.
After the Sanremese success, Cristicchi He continues to explore social and historical issues through his music and his artistic projects. In 2010 he still participated in the Festival with the song That’s better (his song was the most voted by the orchestra musicians in the final evening), and releases the album Grand Hotel Cristicchi. In the same year he gave life to the theatrical project My grandfather died at wara journey into collective memory through the stories of Italian grandparents during the Second World War.
Also in 2010, he married the Roman restorer Sara Quattrini. Over the years the couple, very reserved, also had two children: Tommaso, born in 2008, and Stella born in 2011. Simone and Sara, however, over time then took different paths and separated.
Simone Cristicchi and the theater
In the following years, Simone Cristicchi intensifies his theatrical commitment, using the stage as a tool for Telling forgotten or little known stories. Among these Warehouse 18, focused on the exodus of Italians from Istria and Dalmatia after the Second World War.
Subsequently, he bears on stage The second child of Goddedicated to the figure of David Lazzaretti, a Tuscan Mistory of the nineteenth century, demonstrating a profound sensitivity in dealing with historical and social themes.
Simone Cristicchi while he recites the theater in Turin in “The second son of God”. (Getty Images)
“Today Theater is my happy island“, He said. “It allows me every day to experiment, focus on all my talents, from writing to singing or acting, and discovering new ones, such as the direction”.
Simone Cristicchi, still in Sanremo
In 2019, Simone Cristicchi returned to the Ariston stage with the song Take care of mea delicate ballad that invites to love and mutual care. The song, characterized by an orchestral arrangement and a poetic text, is welcomed with enthusiasm, confirming its ability to touch the deepest ropes of the human soul.
Simone Cristicchi in Sanremo 2019. (Getty Images)
The song in the race this year is entitled When you are small And «To introduce you to this song I want to say that it is true life, life lived every day. For this probably I will feel naked on that stage. Because I tell something that happened to me, that happens to me daily ».
The song tells the His mother’s diseaseLuciana, who in 2012 was hit by a cerebral hemorrhage. “That day I was far away, in the north for a concert and I had the terror of losing her forever without greeted her,” he said. Fortunately, his mom is better now, “but it is not the same luciana of before. She has returned to a child, but Luciana smiles, smiles anyway ».
Simone Cristicchi’s new album
The new album, From darkness to light, which also contains the song of Sanremo, will be released on February 14th. «I took 11 years to publish a new album, but it’s not that I have not written songs all this time. Only that I brought them to my theatrical performancesI sang them looking in the eyes of people who came to listen to me. Then, after a bad accident with the chainsaw in which I risked dying I said to myself: it’s time. I want to leave a signature of light in the darkness».
The evening of the duets
In the evening of the duets he will perform with Bitter (real name: Erika Mineo), his partner since 2019, who wrote with him the song with which he is competing. The two will sing Cure by Franco Battiato.
Simone Cristicchi and Amara. (IPA)
«When the time has come to decide the figures who would accompany me to Sanremo in the evening of the duets, The thought immediately went to Amara and Franco Battiato, undisputed master of music and spirituality, “he said. Cure«As far as I know, it was never performed on the evenings of the duets of the Sanremo Festival. The only one who sang it on that stage was the same Battiato in 2007, The year I won the Festival, an incredible coincidence».
On the other hand, that he had a special relationship with “that” stage, was well known. “Whoever looks for me,” he said, “finds me where art happens, not on Spotify».
I woman © RESERVED REPRODUCTION