Zucchero’s output has its roots in the free and wild African-American sound, just like a cat that, though black, is on the contrary a symbol of good fortune in American culture. At the press meeting in Zurich, he confirmed: “I wanted an album with a soul and blues foundation, one that would come not so much from the audience’s demands as from the desire to free the music that had been trapped inside me after the last albums. I surrounded myself with musicians, in Nashville, masters in the analogue use of instruments, to create that organic sound I had in me. No synthesizers or drum machines were used, and now it will not be easy to find instrumentalists worthy of the task for the world tour.”
The driving force of this new album is the song “Partigiano Reggiano”; the video sets images with an Old Western feel against a title that instead recalls Emilia, like a tribute to two regions dear to him: “There are many similarities,” Zucchero confirms, “between that part of Emilia bathed by the Po and the Mississippi; not only for sharing some glimpses of river landscapes and culinary traditions, but above all for that particular full-blooded and passionate way of life, between the sacred and the profane, that marks the provincial towns where I grew up.”
On this album the collaborations play important roles. First of all with the producer of the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, who supported our Emilian singer by steering him towards the use of various instruments and types of guitars, as in the traditional American musical style. “On this collection,” the artist recounts, “instruments such as the lap steel or the dobro were used, which are unusual in Italy but which gave, thanks also to the excellent musicians, a truly unique sound that I am proud of.”
Black Cat also bears Bono’s signature on the song “Streets of Surrender” accompanied by the extraordinary guitar of Mark Knopfler, in a lyric dedicated to the Paris attack. Zucchero is no stranger to international collaborations and he confides in us: “I went through an extraordinarily creative period during the tour with Clapton, but the decisive turning point was Pavarotti & Friends, which brought together names such as Bono or Elton John in a crossover that united opera music with popular music for the first time. Unrepeatable was the synergy with Sting and Brian May, with whom I shared the event dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Cape Town.”
From the spark, at the start of his career, for the powerful voice of Joe Cocker, Zucchero Fornaciari has come a long way, becoming one of the rare international representatives of Italian music. In this case, the black cat really did bring him luck!
Zucchero’s “Black Cat” tour in Switzerland
Monday 31 October 2016 Hallenstadion, Zurich
Tuesday 1 November 2016 Hallenstadion, Zurich
Wednesday 2 November 2016 Arena, Geneva
All upcoming Italian concerts only at www.tuttoitalia.ch/eventi
