The singer-songwriter will arrive in the country for the first time, where she will perform with Hilda Lizarazu, Lula Bertoldi and Brenda Martín.
The absurd humor highlights the correspondence between Italy and Argentina: a country that until the first half of the 20th century reinvented itself with the children of Jews, Spaniards, Syrian-Lebanese, Russian and, above all, Italians. Even when the migration ended, the cultural correspondence was evident. The Monicelli or Risi cinema reigned in Argentina as an improbable, but real, mix of a catalog of Argentineanisms that took place 12,000 km away. Even the local and current success of the series gomorrah or those directed by Paolo Sorrentino are still far from saying “arrivederci”.
Same with music. The Sanremo festival and the heroes and heroines of Italian song: Nicola Di Bari, Rita Pavone, Gino Paoli, Rafaella Carrá, Mina. A legacy that somehow continues to beat in a diverse way in Argentina with the popular and radiable Eros Ramazzotti, the Tom Waits tano Vincio Caposella or the punk hurricane for teenagers from Manneskin. Today is the turn of carmen consoliwhich will be presented at the Teatro Coliseo at the initiative of the Consulate General of Italy in Buenos Aires.
Consoli is a Sicilian singer-songwriter, with a rock & soul ringtone (the same one who made the best of MTV in the 90s) who has been going strong in his country for decades. Many knew her in Argentina for having composed the main song for the film The Last Kiss, by Gabrielle Muccino, a film that recounted, with the devilish rhythm of a shouted Roman conversation, the instability of love and affections in youth. . Occhio non vede, cuore non duole… The recital, free of charge, will have the special participation of the Italian percussionist Marina Rei together with the locals Hilda Lizarazu, Brenda Martin and Lula Bertoldi as guest artists. It is carried out within the framework of the “Orange The World” campaign, promoted by the United Nations on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Ñ spoke with the Italian artist before arriving in Buenos Aires and on a national tour that will also take her to Bahía Blanca, Rosario and Córdoba.
–What expectations do you have of your first performance in Buenos Aires and a tour of important cities in Argentina?
–Millions of Italians emigrated to Argentina to look for work and change their luck, therefore, being in this land of poems, dreams, extraordinary culture where the connections with the ancestors are very strong, gives me a lot of emotion. Even more, I am already looking forward to meeting new people, with a different culture from mine. Because diversity is wealth for our inner growth. Every day I work with great determination to achieve it. If my key doesn’t open the desired door, I don’t despair, because in the end I know that there will be a key that will open the right door.
–You come to tour in the context of Orange the World, a political campaign that makes violence against women visible. In Argentina, political songs had a boom between the 60s and 70s and then became a kind of “bad word” or mockery. However, since the beginning of the century, already with Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit”, there was politics in music. What do you think?
–Doing politics means taking care of the community, beginning with small groups, such as family and friends. For me a song is political if it talks about managing relationships with others, if it expresses ideas and concepts through music. And at the same time, doing politics means putting the maximum effort into all our daily actions, giving everything, in the best possible way, with passion, responsibility and honesty to add value.
–At a very young age he composed a hit for a film that was also a success, The Last Kiss. How defining was it for his career?
–The last kiss, of course, has been the great beginning of my musical career, a song that talks about a farewell. And also in Sicily we say: “When a porta se chiude, si apre un portone” (If a door closes, a portal opens).
–Could you tell me about the title of your latest album Volevo fare la rockstar? Its premise sounds like something that we Argentines associate a lot with Italian culture: humor, irony. Is there an age to be a rock star?
–“Volevo fare la Rockstar” is the song that closes my last album and it is autobiographical. It has to do with many memories of my childhood and youth that I would like to tell and relate. I remember that at school I wrote with my left hand and they taught me to write with my right hand because “Jesus didn’t like that.” Then one day, walking through the streets of Catania with my father, I saw a man lying on the ground, covered with white sheets while I wondered why a man would sleep in the street. Many years later I understood that it was a man murdered by the mafia. I remember my grandfather, when we were harvesting olives in the fields, he would tell us about the unity of Italy and how the history books did not make any reference to all the sacrifices of the people of southern Italy. And I remember, especially, when I was very little, climbing on a kitchen table with an eighties-style flashlight as if it were a microphone. I wished for those colored lights pointing at me. He wanted to go to America, make music for 4,000 people. That to me meant, and still means, being a rockstar.
carmen consoli
Place: Colosseum Theatre. Marcelo T. de Alvear 1125.
Function: Monday 21 at 21.
Streaming: from November 25 to June 30, 2023.