Simone Cristicchi
Ti regalerò una rosa

THE REVIEW

The young Simone Cristicchi is the winner of the 2007 edition of the Sanremo festival. The piece titled "Ti regalerò una rosa" tells the story of a letter that a madman writes to a woman before making a desperate act to find a freedom never had.

Simone raises a "social" issue and insists on not forgetting these marginalized figures in our society. The piece is not demanding and is built with simple chords, it does not require particular singing skills, because it is a lullaby almost spoken over not too many harmonic rounds. The song has won in every sense: the golden palm and the best lyrics for television critique, with good appreciation from the public. The young Cristicchi rewrites himself as a committed singer-songwriter, and it is not the first time (last year at the festival he presented a piece on self-righteousness), after the bawdy beginnings of the catchy tune "Biagio Antonacci."

However, I am not convinced by the singer-songwriter's choice to stand on a chair at the end of the piece to mimic the flight-suicide gesture of the madman. The piece is written on the basis of a real experience, in a mental hygiene center, which must have triggered Simone's sensitivity and creative audacity, who, it should be said, will support a hybrid national tour, a bit music, a bit theater. His official CD will be accompanied by a one-and-a-half-hour documentary DVD to highlight social issues and marginalized individuals. How much of this choice is instrumental? How credible is the Roman singer as a committed author? Can his image already distance itself from the circus-like beginnings? And then, is this truly the "new" Italian music? Has Sanremo illuminated the direction of a new path, a return to committed singer-songwriting? Clowns, flash in the pan, or is it serious? Future generations will judge. For now, well done Cristicchi.