Paola & Chiara
Per te

MEMORY OF A LIFE

The announcement of Paola & Chiara's participation in the last Sanremo Festival did not leave me indifferent. It was a period of personal nostalgia for the 25th anniversary of their debut on the Sanremo stage (now 26) with 'Amici come prima' and the slow birth of my passion for them, which ended a year before the appearance of the dance breakthrough track 'Vamos a bailar (Esta vida nueva)' in 2000.

The nostalgia was born indirectly on a beautiful late October day when I was passing by some condominiums on a country road where a dear friend from my early high school years lived, who was a fan of the Spice Girls. After the end of our last school year together, I went there to copy the lyrics of the hits from the tapes he had (I would discover the internet a few months later).

Just at the beginning of the previous school year, there was an indirect 'rivalry' between his passion and that of another dear classmate for some of them (specifically Victoria, 'Posh Spice', and Emma, 'Baby Spice') and mine for the sisters (as they were often called on TV and in newspapers).

A few days later, one evening, as I stepped onto a wide sidewalk in an area near where I live in Genoa, a song from the sisters' early period, 'Bella,' about anorexia, came to my heart. And the nostalgia began.

But it was nothing compared to the 10 years since the sisters' second participation with 'Per te' at the Festival (1998), where with a new song, not for the sound (still pop-rock), but for the lyrics (about the fragility of love) and look (shorter hair and casual clothes), they abandoned the adolescent air and attitude that had characterized them the year before with the songs from the album 'Ci chiamano bambine' and their TV appearances.

After the Festival, I waited a long time before buying the single (considering the limited availability time in stores), desperately doing so the Saturday before Easter, in April, at a music store in the city center and returning home happy with a copy in hand.

But an even greater joy was listening to it on my home radio while my parents were still out running errands, feeling the song now mine.

However, a particular experience the next day would make 'Per te' special in the memories of all the new music I purchased during the hotelier school years: while sitting at my desk in my room with the single cover open to the lyrics, I got the idea to translate the words into the languages I was studying, English and French, to feel the sentiment.

I managed to do so with French, even with the limitations and mistakes of a student, and sang the words to the music, noticing how well they sounded with it.

Not content with this, one morning after the holidays, I hummed a part of the song to a classmate, sparking curiosity in the whole class and in nearby ones, leading to an immense success at a school talent show the following year.

But by the end of that school year, I sold the two albums of theirs I had (the second was 'Giornata storica'), perhaps tired of their music, and during their turning point years (up to 'Kamasutra' in 2003), my indifference was not total, seeing them often on TV and remembering the early years.

The nostalgia of 2008 was born from a department store appointment board in the city center with their image (from the album 'Win the game').

With the thought of their presence in Genoa, one night returning from work, I gazed at their image.

And, overwhelmed with emotion, I decided to redo part of the route to the music store where I bought the 'Per te' single.

Arriving at the shop window where I had seen the copies of the single, with a strip of artists' faces still hanging, including theirs from 1998, I stood in 'religious silence' recalling the Festival days.

Then, even more immersed in thoughts of them, I continued walking to a distant bus terminal to go home.

Except for having to miss the meeting with them due to a commitment with my evangelical church, for me, Paola & Chiara remain dear for the high school period, despite recently opening up to the danceable tracks from the mentioned period.

(Then, the last song presented at the Festival reminded me of 'It's raining man' by Geri Halliwell [2001]. I'm not sure why I mentioned the Spice Girls quite a bit here.)