We reach Ghali by phone while he is travelling to Cologne after the concert held in Berlin. The long journey lends itself to a pleasant interview that Tuttoitalia shares with its readers. You have been to London, Munich, Berlin: how does an international audience welcome a singer who, beyond the sound, offers songs in different languages? “Yes, they appreciate it a lot, it feels like the right thing done at the right moment and outside Italy it makes even more sense. I also use a slang that can bring many people in Europe together.”
Also to empathise more with the people who listen to you… “Of course, I grew up in a multilingual environment, so it comes more naturally to me to sing in different languages, but this melting pot that exists in Europe allows me to use a slang taken from different dictionaries, languages and everyday words, and to make something special out of it. A kind of slang like the one used in the USA but which exists less in Europe.”
I read the comments under your video and most of them are enthusiastic about the experimentation that came out of it; some write that more experimentation would be needed in an Italy stuck on certain foundations and marketing rules. “Let us say that I do not feel like being part of the slavery of certain rules. I have been experimenting since nobody knew me and I will go on experimenting because it is the best way to make music, my music. Since 2016 I have seen that this way of mine is liked and that spurs me on to continue.”
Let us talk about “Good -times”: in this song, for me the stroke of genius was the whistling at the beginning, a slightly improvised sound that everyone likes. Whistling is a harmonious sound. Almost intimate, belonging to the person who does it. “It is pleasant, very musical, it gives a sense of light-heartedness but also of LOL, it is shamelessly pop with ironic, slightly popular nuances that recall the classic refrains such as ‘…a far l'amore comincia tu..’. It gets children excited, makes parents dance and makes young people laugh. In any case I made it my own with a lot of humour, both rapped and whistled.”
I come back to the beautiful atmosphere. Could it be that your perfect atmosphere was the one in which you were introduced on a stage with these words?: “There is someone who changes the spirit of the time and through his talent touches everyone's heart, representing something new, contemporary and strong” (Jovanotti's introduction at the Jova Beach Party in Vasto). “That is an interesting key you have found, because at that moment it certainly reflected my way of feeling them, my perfect mood. But I prefer everyone to be free to interpret it as they wish. It can also be walking into a very messy room and joking about it by saying that sentence simply ironically. I prefer to leave interpretation free. Some people made it their own after the covid period, for example, as a sense of liberation from the anguish created by the pandemic.”
On the stage of the Jova Beach I saw you almost intimidated… “Well, I would say so! But he has the ability to make his guests feel at ease and it was moving to sing in front of all those people. And from him you learn things naturally, they get under your skin and you draw great lessons from his professionalism. I absorbed a huge amount. Truly a unique experience!”
The cover of your new album is very interesting and I think it reflects its content. The feeling when looking at your photo is that of a face concentrated in a kind of fluid and far from banal thoughts... “That could indeed be a good interpretation, but there is also a hint of rebirth, of the womb, of a river from which you do not know whether you are coming out or going in. The red light helps to make it interesting and open to different ways of seeing it.”
You will be in Zurich on 25 October: there will be many Italians listening to you, will you change the setlist? “We usually handle the songs to sing quite spontaneously, we think about it during the journey and it is nice to prepare something for this European tour, always something new that does not stay static, improvising a little as well, it is more fun. Sometimes we add tracks that the fans ask us for.”
Among the comments under your video of Sensazioni Ultra someone writes that your music is a “cure-all”. Does that please you? “I am glad to hear it, but when an artist creates a song it is the summary of what they feel at that moment and a part of themselves. If I manage to make it reach someone else's strings too, it is like giving a gift, giving a key of interpretation that everyone then handles and interprets in their own way.”
We leave Ghali to his journey towards his next concert and, as he sings in his song, we wish him not to waste time because time is gold, and to please his fans with new tracks and sensazioni ultra.
Ghali
Tuesday 25 October 2022, 8.00 pm
Komplex 457, Zurich
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