“I'm going to show myself.” This is the promise with which Al Bano Carrisi (Puglia, 1943) faces the “È la mia vita” tour that will take him to several Spanish cities next March. At 80 years old, he assures that “the stupidest question that can be asked” is if he thinks about retirement: “Why do I have to retire? Do you know what it means to sing? Do you know what daily contact with music provokes in you? Retire, why?” The Italian does not know a life away from the stage. After 58 years of career, music has always been his faithful companion: “My blood is liquid, but with notes inside. Both in the fantastic moments and in the worst moments, the music plunged me into a kind of trance. “It has been my most intense therapy.”
Al Bano has been achieving success for decades, although, without a doubt, there is one song that has marked him forever: “Felicità”. The song, released in 1981, went viral a few months ago thanks to its appearance in the series 'Berlin', something that the singer considers "incredible." “I call it 'miracle song'. I don't know if there is a need for happiness, if it is music that has something special that captures it or if it is simply the triumph of simplicity,” he argues when looking for the reason for this triumph on social networks.
Now, the Internet is not a world in which the artist feels comfortable: “I am from the last century, it is a shame. "I'm up to date with everything, but I don't like it too much." And times have changed since Al Bano started in the industry and what once enchanted young people, melodies that spoke of love and romanticism, has been transformed into urban rhythms with more daring lyrics and a clear prominence of sex. “It is a mirror of the times,” he admits with a smile to add that “the best dimension of the human being is when there is sex with love. It has some magic, it goes beyond matter, beyond the body. That's real sex."
Media exposure is something that Al Bano has always lived with. His marriages, the first with Romina Power in 1970, with whom he had four children, and the second with Loredana Lecciso, with two children in common, were always the subject of social gatherings and gossip magazines. “The important thing is to know how to build a bridge between the artist and the journalist, always communicating with respect. Journalists are indispensable,” he says despite the harassment he has suffered at times.
The singer-songwriter's life, very prolific on a professional level, has been shaken by horrible events that led him to question his own beliefs. “The decade of the 90s for me was a tragedy,” he reflects, referring to the mysterious disappearance of his daughter Ylenia, who was only 24 years old, and the subsequent separation from Romina. “I lost faith, I threw her out of my life because, according to my thinking, I did not deserve to lose a daughter in the way I lost her, nor to lose an intense, fantastic marriage. The tragedy of children who have to grow up either only with their father or only with their mother, because at that time Romina was not there…” he recalls with the acceptance that has been given to him over the years. “My daughters went through very bad times, and not only them, but me too. I lived like a little devil, with rage inside that destroyed my life", something that led him to investigate himself until he found answers: "Like Christ, I also had to rise from this cross that had been placed on me. I looked for a way and when I found the strength of faith again, I was happier because I understood everything better. Anti-Christianity led me to a greater awareness of faith.” When asked if he now lives in peace, Al Bano admits with some melancholy that he "more or less."
One of the indispensable loves in Al Bano's life is his children, of whom he feels “too proud.” “When they grow up you have to be more than a parent, a psychologist, to anticipate and understand what they choose for their life. I know I've done a good job. I also know that they have had the negative experience of the loss of a sister, the end of a great love between their parents... but in life not everything can be as you want, you always have to face something that you do not expect," he responds calmly. .
Despite everything, Al Bano faces life and his new tour with enthusiasm. “I dream too much. I like that every day something is born inside me. A dream is like a son,” he says with the twinkle in his eyes and the uncontrollable smile of a twenty-something who has a long way to go.
Full interview here:
