Raphael Gualazzi
Ho un piano

Raphael Gualazzi is my personal revelation of San Remo.

I have never loved either light-hearted songs or contemporary artists, but this singer-songwriter and pianist with blues-jazz sounds has managed to convert me and refresh my musical tastes.

"Ma chi l'avrebbe detto!? Sento solo la musica Carioca! Carioca!"

Days have gone by with this chorus looping in my mind.

But the song presented at San Remo is just a playful introduction to everything that is behind the minimal cover chosen for what is Gualazzi's fifth studio album.

Raphael, from what I know after a not so in-depth approach, but already with an imprint of certain admiration and the desire to continue following and exploring him, seems to be a capable and versatile artist; I speak in a state of semi-stunned amazement, but I would label him as an elegant artist, but not tedious; contemporary, but not banal.

I would even dare to say that this Mr. Gualazzi could be depicted as a redeemer of contemporary music.

Compared to his old works (which I went to listen to on a streaming platform, but have also already added to my collection), perhaps, perhaps, this record has been purposely conceived to have a less international appearance, more aligned with the Italian market.

There is prejudice in what I say: by stating that Raphael wanted to mold his art for the ears of Italians, compared to previous works described as "international," I also want to affirm that if this album seems to cater more to the current popular sounds, losing complexity, it's because most of the fellow countrymen do not know how to properly appreciate a certain type of music.

One thing I feel I can assert with less doubt and with good certainty: whether this record is more or less international; whether it is more or less contemporary (prejudicially meaning something always fragile, ephemeral, and bearer of ever-groundless constructions); I believe Gualazzi represents an alternative glimmer; I find that he is the expression of a "literate elite" and bearer of a subversive movement in Italian music.

Raphael Gualazzi "Has a plan," but perhaps he has two: he has a piano that he plays masterfully and a political-musical plan.

"Nah Nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah...I can't take it anymore with all those fools who want to make me smile in this ignoble world, enough of all those fake dyed divas of TV, in some easy role, enough of all those geniuses ready to make me swallow strawberry mania" [Nah, nah]

You may well open your record in a light-hearted way by giving yourself to the "Nah, nah," dear Gualazzi, but look how much disdain you show for our entire era!

Alright, but I understand you, you know!?

You have come to break the rigid division between popular culture and high culture. You have come to intertwine high and low, to build us levels of reading intelligible in different ways depending on who approaches you.

"Forse passa un vento di libertà..." [Nah, nah]

"What good is freedom of press, of worship, of artistic expression, if the place I live in is only a cultural colony?" [La libertà]