Mina
Mina Quasi Jannacci

A few years ago, knowing my father's passion for Mina, I decided to gift him one of her CDs; having to choose almost blindly, I picked this album partly because Jannacci never really bothered me, partly because of the cover, with that intense portrait which became an icon for the singer, and partly because the first track was named after my father. "Rino" ended up surprising me and represented the first reason I became deeply passionate about this work by Mina, probably her most coherent and successful collection of reinterpretations. The song in question, a brief monologue describing the thoughts of a man who mentally returns to the moment of leaving his maternal home (yes, maternal, and those who know "Rino" will perfectly understand why this attribute), is a masterpiece in itself: from a nervous whisper, Mina's voice extends to more dreamy tones, reaching a wonderful crescendo where the singer loudly proclaims the mother's recommendation, "Rino, make them love you as much as they didn't love me." Extraordinary is also Gianni Ferrio's orchestral arrangement, which underscores this climax with great participation, fading out on that "Mama, I salute you" which Mina hints at almost with an insecure voice.

It is undoubtedly one of the expressive peaks reached by the singer, also due to the fact that Mina and Jannacci share their musical growth (it's no coincidence that both started with Italian rock'n'roll) and, most importantly, their geographical/cultural origins. It is, indeed, an expressiveness with a distinct Lombard character, with that reserved quality, said only between the lines, that is elsewhere always misunderstood as coldness. And the album confirms this quality of Mina, the profound harmony formed with the material of its author, drawing interpretations that Jannacci himself recognized as superior to his own. This happens, for example, in "Vincenzina e la Fabbrica", depicting the Italy of the boom and its likely protagonist, the factory worker in Milan's outskirts. The song is gifted with a rather subtle jazz arrangement, where Mina's voice and that sensation that she is singing slightly out of time perfectly render Vincenzina's ecstatic awe in front of the factory (yes, a usage imposed by the singer on Jannacci where the original would have been "Vincenzina davanti alla fabbrica"). It also happens that "La sera che partì mio padre" is enveloped in such calm drama that one would need a heart of stone not to be moved.

Then there are the stories of the "poor souls," sketched (it really is the case to say) with realism and mastery, as in the versions of "Tira a campà" (already in the soundtrack of "Pasqualino Seven Beauties"), "Vita vita" and "E l'era tardi", a melancholy waltz where Rino's figure returns, this time pursued by a drunk friend looking for an easy loan, the only episode where Mina and Jannacci duet, the former singing wearily in Milanese dialect, the latter with a true-to-life spoken intervention, giving the impression of being in one of those courtyards that represented the true popular architecture of the Milan area until the '60s-'70s. And always with an eye on popular culture, the collection includes "E sa ve'" and "Sfiorisci bel fiore", which in the almost bare interpretation given by the singer evoke reminiscences that strangely remind of certain things on Nico's "Desertshore".

Not everything, however, remains on dramatic tones, as a versatile Mina also launches into the hilarious interpretation of "Saxophone", with vocals somewhere between sexy and ditzy and the famous liberating and appropriately raucous chorus. Curious is also the choice to end such a delicate album with an energetic piece like "Ecco tutto qui", complete with a guitar solo and an interpretation in line with Mina's vocal style at the end of the seventies (in this sense, a comparison could be made with the recordings of her last live performance, dating back to the year following this album).

"Mina quasi Jannacci" is the testimony of perhaps the most mature and intense period of Ms. Mazzini's long career; certainly a work where her soul is laid bare, rendering a precious homage to one of Milan's most talented singer-songwriters.