Mariella Nava
Condivisioni (disc 1)

Good performance by the unfortunately underrated singer-songwriter (more the latter than the former) from Taranto. The beautiful Mariella Nava, perhaps known by few for what she has produced, gathers, also enjoying effective duets, what has made others great but was written by her.

In this double album, paraphrasing a well-known column of the incomparable "Settimana enigmistica", perhaps not everyone knows that Mariella Nava contributed to the rise of Gianni Morandi with the significant motherly heart "Questi figli", given to him on an old tape, and upon realizing her talent, he reciprocated by shining a useful spotlight on the still little active stage of her artistic life.

She contributed significantly to the umpteenth consecration of the already renowned Renato Zero, gifting him "Spalle al muro", a song that, of course, the obtuse critics, too inclined to the overly clichéd love songs, preferred to place, at Sanremo 1991, behind the convincingly winning "Se stiamo insieme" by Cocciante.

She contributed by writing sentimental and non-sentimental love songs, "different" from the cliché anticipated by the overly repetitive catalog of national compositions. She wrote songs for Syria, Mietta, Andrea Bocelli, Tosca, and Amii Stewart, reintroducing them in a sharp, lashing manner, with a voice that sometimes seems choked but reaches the peak of passion when love for music and dialectic becomes fiery, biting, sincere.

She even contributed to casting a shining beam of light on the obscure and somehow multi-awarded commercial rubbish of Gigi D'Alessio, hinting at him with "Verrà il tempo", a song that possesses a tone very different and qualitatively far more excellent than the banal yet horrendous lyrics of his loyal lyricist D'Agostino.

An excellent artist, humble, courageous, sociable (having had the brief fortune to meet her personally), sometimes relegated or even attacked by censorship (Dentro di me). When one has the courage to sing or transcribe in the form of notes, topics that not everyone can or wants to expose, even at the risk of being struck by sometimes friendly censorial arrows, all one can do is applaud for the arduous mission.

In the second disc, there is a refined duet with Dionne Warwick and other songs that primarily sing the joys and sorrows claimed by women, effusions of sentimental love, and gentle declarations of affection that perhaps slide a bit into the commonality of compositions in the genre. Noteworthy is the interesting "Polvere di palco" and "Adesso canto", to which, I don't know whether in good or bad faith, Laura Pausini has furtively copied some passages for her recent success. It's up to those who have the competence to judge. As far as I'm concerned: "Well done Mariella, let these too many unfortunate ears hear who you are and what you've been capable of..."