Giovanni Edgar Charles Galletto Savoretti, known as Jack Savoretti, we saw him sing during the duets evening of Sanremo with Ex-Otago, confirming that his internationally renowned success has finally been embraced in Italy too. He was born in London to a Ligurian father and an English mother, but retains an extroverted, decidedly Mediterranean temperament. Tuttoitalia interviewed him on the occasion of the promotion of his upcoming concert in Zurich, scheduled for Sunday 20 March 2022 at the Volkshaus.
Jack, your roots are Genoese: how much DNA of the Ligurian musical school, whose exponents include De André, Paoli and Tenco, is there in you? “I think I have taken on the typically Ligurian melancholy of those who look at the sea and feel troubled, but with a curious, broad, often imaginative gaze of those who want to understand what lies beyond. I am a melancholic romantic.”
A few days ago you performed on the Sanremo stage: what are your impressions as a guest? “Being on the Ariston stage was moving, I really felt the weight of it. Then the controversies about the victory that arose, clearly, sadden me a lot because they do no good either to music or to the record industry itself.”
Let's close the Sanremo parenthesis and talk instead about you and your album “Singing to strangers”: who are these strangers for an Italian-Englishman? “It all started from a conversation my seven-year-old daughter had with her peers, which I managed to overhear, where she specified that her father travels the world ‘singing to strangers’. And it is a simple and truly apt description. My job is to entertain people who pay for a concert ticket or pay a price to listen to the album. They are the fans I do not know, but for whom I give my utmost to satisfy them. That is why I wrote songs that have character, that want to be noticed; I owe it to the audience.”
You recorded this album in the studio where Ennio Morricone records, duets with Kylie Minogue and you had the collaboration of Bob Dylan: excellent references! “ ”
“These are important parts of my work that increase my desire to keep going and give me the confidence that I have taken the right path. The European Tour will begin in Italy in Padua and then arrive in Lugano and Zurich, where I have always felt at ease; I cannot wait to perform.”
Your résumé also includes taking part in the video for “Queenie Eye” by Paul McCartney in the historic Abbey Road studios. “It was an incredible experience to be part of that video. During rehearsals I found myself arguing with him about which of the pianos there the Beatles had used to compose one of their songs that I love most. Paul McCartney took me over to another piano, showing me the songs they had created by playing it… and from his fingers came the notes of Lady Madonna. I lived a piece of incredible history! And I lived it with one of the most humble people I have ever met. I saw young people at Sanremo who did not know what humility was!”
In your repertoire, on the other hand, there is “Candlelight”, the flagship song of this album. It is said to be a track “typically fit for a James Bond soundtrack”, is that true? “Yes, these are impressions that come from England where, indeed, they have catalogued this song according to a theme particularly dear to them; the sounds seem to lend themselves well to that type of filmography that made James Bond typically mysterious, perhaps a bit more international. The Candlelight video was shot in Rome in a typically 1970s atmosphere in which, for a few hours, I tried to be Marcello Mastroianni, because this album is a tribute to romantic singer-songwriter music produced in those years. It is a dedication to that atmosphere that could be created through the use of the voice and of some sounds unique of their kind, which I feel suit me. Unfortunately, on the radio there are not many romantic songs, perhaps they only play them at Christmas…” Meanwhile, in the background, in the lobby of the hotel where we are doing the interview, a track is playing with the voice of Alberto Lupo (the male voice of Parole Parole by Mina). Jack Savoretti stops, listens to the voice and, with a “Wow, what's that?”, is enchanted as he listens to Lupo's warm modulation: “This is what I mean when I say that Italian music creates the atmosphere. How romantic and unique is this voice?” How could one disagree, knowing that Alberto Lupo too was born in Genoa?
Jack Savoretti
Sunday 20 March 2022, 8.00 pm
Volkshaus, Zurich
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