Stories that should be told (10) Gregorio Gregorio - Uno
I couldn’t possibly end without this one, the story I care about the most.
About ten (or fifteen) years ago, this absurd album appeared: out-of-tune, ungrammatical, painfully banal, so amateurish it seemed fake. In fact, some thought it was a clever joke by Elio e le Storie Tese, given the striking resemblance between Gregorio and Elio.
But no, it’s all true.
On the web, people begin to mock good Gregorio (there’s even a review here on DeB Pagina non trovata lots of laughs, and the album starts to circulate a bit, so much so that you can find it on the bay as well as on discos.
Thus, some begin to wonder who on earth this Gregorio is, popped out of nowhere and seemingly swallowed by nothing.
And then the story comes out.
Giuseppe Gregorio is a young man from Imperia who, between Sunday Mass and a job in a pastry shop, nurtures the dream of becoming a singer, of going to Sanremo, on TV, making records and concerts.
And he believes in it. He started as a child and has continued to chase his dream throughout his life. Between concerts, cameos, public festivals and auditions, he tries every way he can.
And one fine day in 1987, fate leads him to Calabria to sing at a public festival. There he meets Angelina.
It’s love.
Two years later, the two marry and our Giuseppe moves to Rosarno to live with Angelina.
The problem is that Angelina’s last name is Bellocco, and in Rosarno, the Bellocco family is the 'ndrangheta.
Giuseppe is welcomed into the "family" and is put to "work." Giuseppe starts to get entangled, but he struggles; he doesn't stand for it: he wants to be a singer.
So, perhaps to keep him happy, perhaps to please him, the "family" helps him produce his first CD "Insieme a noi" (and indeed on the back of the CD there’s a thank you to a certain C.B. - the only acknowledgment to someone - who should likely be a Bellocco, perhaps Carmelo).
It’s 1996.
The CD ends up in supermarket bins and that might have been the end of it.
But Giuseppe believes, and now that he has his first record, that life becomes unbearable. How can he go to Sanremo with a criminal record? How can he justify to his fans those lyrics full of good intentions and feelings (listen to the track I attached: "corruption and mafias, we don’t need you" sings the inspired Giuseppe)?
So Giuseppe repents.
And he sings, and this time it’s a success: the "family" deals with an epic blow. It’s clear they’ll make him pay for it.
But Giuseppe doesn’t believe it and returns to Rosarno; there are his Angelina and his children Arianna and William. That’s his family.
And then there’s music to protect him.
And instead, they make him pay: Giuseppe disappears without leaving a trace of himself.
A few years later, as we have seen, the album starts circulating on the web.
When someone (or I myself) asks me