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Al Bano turns 80: My name comes from the Albanians, a tribute from my father to the people who saved him in the war

2023-05-04 18:20:22Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Al Bano turns 80: My name comes from the Albanians, a tribute from my father to
Al Bano

Singer Al Bano turns 80 this month. In an interview for Corriere della Sera, he talks about his father and his connection with Albania, how he got into music, his most successful songs and his relationship with Romina Power.

Al Bano, what's his name?

My father Carmelo was on the Albanian front. A grenade hit his two companions and pulverized them. He pretended to be sick...

How did he do?

He would heat a stone, put it under his armpit, let it fall, and he would catch a fever. He could spit blood, he never understood how. The Albanians opened their houses, fed him corn. He then returned to Cellino on leave.

And what happened?

Then I would conceive. My mother Jolanda was only eighteen years old. An immense love. Father had to return to the front. He was illiterate, he learned to write to write to her: the letters dictated to others, but the father did not want to entrust his feelings to a stranger. And in winter my mother slept without a blanket to feel the same cold that he felt.

What did your father write?

The Albanians saved me and if we have a girl we will call her Alba, if it's a boy Albano. You will see that it will be our fate.

And your name is spelled Al Bano, right?

They took me away when I joined "Clan Celentano". American style. And so it remained.

The father was captured after September 8.

Like six hundred thousand other Italian soldiers, he preferred to stay in the concentration camps, in Wletzar, rather than stay with Hitler. He left when he was a grown man; returned 42 kilos.

Al Bano turns 80: My name comes from the Albanians, a tribute from my father to
Al Bano with his father Carmelo

What is  your earliest memory?

My father returning home from captivity. Mom had a premonitory dream: St. Mark, Cellino's patron saint, told her that Dad would return on his feast day. Sunday, July 29, 1945, on the great feast of San Marco, my father returned. I remember a strange perfume that I smelled for the first time. He took out a dark tablet, “Do you know what this is? Chocolate". The Americans gave it to released prisoners, and he had saved some for his firstborn, whom he had never seen. And he had two other gifts.

What were they?

A clarinet and a small accordion. The prisoners sometimes robbed the houses of the Germans - money, jewelry. He had bought me two musical instruments.

When would you start music?

My idol was Modugno, who grew up in the neighboring village of San Pietro Vernotico. I always sang, even in the fields; and I was already going to the fields when I was six years old. Dad taught me to pick olives, take care of the vines. I worked and studied. But in the second year of my master's degree, I was rejected.

How?

I couldn't stand the professors. I only knew how to draw. I did a drawing for the girl I was in love with, Fiorella: she got 8, I got 4.

Was it your first time?

There was not even a kiss with Fiorella. But when I lacked a thousand lire to buy my first guitar, I asked him in a letter. An envelope arrived: inside was a thousand lire. I could have gotten them in a different way, but I wanted to see if he still remembered me. So I dedicated my first song to her.

You were originally headed to Milan.

It was the second time I left Cellino.

Where was the first time?

In San Giovanni Rotondo, with Padre Pio: he confessed to me, I remember the smell of roses. My mother was against it.

And you changed jobs...

At the Ferrario restaurant, near Piazza Duomo, they were looking for an assistant cook. I thought he was the one putting the wood. I introduced myself. "But do you know how to cook?". "Of course, what does it take to put some wood?". I was assigned to hand out flyers outside the restaurant and then clean up. I learned to prepare pizza, coffee...

What was Milan like in 1960?

Full of poetry.

How long did you work as a waiter?

I had two colleagues. One day they pointed at me as I was walking up the stairs out of breath, full of dishes: "Luckily we have the little boy...". I locked them in a room and beat them. And I changed restaurants.

How did you get into "Clan Celentano"?

I answered an ad, passed the audition. Every day I could go to "Clan". Then I debuted in the selections for Sanremo.

how did it go

Outside Ariston was a small, hairy gentleman, in his hand a large hat, with which he begged for alms. I found it in the race. He won. It was Lucio Dalla.

And how was Celentano?

I talked to his brother Sandro, I didn't dare to look Adriano in the face, when he arrived I hid. I knew he was of Apulian origin, but I was too shy. I will be forever grateful.

Success came with "Nel sole": over a million copies.

The girls started following me, in Rimini I found one in the room, hiding under the bed. With the first money I brought my parents to Milan. Father was very against it.

"Nel Sole" was also made into a movie.

Loretta Goggi, Montesano, Nino Taranto, Franco and Ciccio were there: two extraordinary actors. Ciccio was consecrated with Felini and Franco suffered a little. They tried him for the mafia and he defended himself by saying: "We artists meet with everyone. We don't know who we are facing".

Romina Power was also on the set.

She was wearing a miniskirt; and I had never seen a miniskirt in my life. She was the daughter of two Hollywood stars, but she used to knit on breaks from filming. The last three days of work we loved each other. I felt like I was touching the sky. Then she pushed me away. I called home and he answered with a Puglia accent: "I'm Antonieta, Romina is outside." That is, an American wanted to deceive me. So I let it go. Until one day in a hotel in Rome, the receptionist told me: "Al Bano, Romina Power has called you."

You have become the most famous couple in Italy.

In the summer of 1970 I was in Greece. I sang Theodorakis Smiling Boy under the Acropolis, in front of 90,000 young people who followed me in the choir. The next day, in the waves of the Aegean, Romina told me: I'm pregnant. So we decided to get married.

Al Bano turns 80: My name comes from the Albanians, a tribute from my father to
Al Bano with Romina Power on their wedding day

Communist Al Bano is worth an article.

I believed in Berlusconi: they tried to prevent him in every way and in the end he fell into the trap he had built for himself, that of women. Now I find Meloni interesting. But my father had warned me about both drugs and politics.

What did he tell you?

That politicians use you and abandon you.

Did you have concerts in Russia?

In 1986 I gave eighteen concerts in Moscow and eighteen in St. Petersburg, which was still called Leningrad. One evening a very polite, almost intimidating head of the KGB arrives. He extends his hand and says: “I'm a big fan of yours, I know all your songs. My name is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin."

Did you become friends?

I sang for him when he was prime minister. Only for him, when he became president. But now I wouldn't do it again. It disappointed me. He should not have started the war.

In 1984 you and Romina won Sanremo with "Ci sara".

We should have won more; instead we always finished second or third or even seventh. Envy makes enemies.

Do you always believe that God exists?

It's not that I believe; I know. I have heard it many times. Just as I heard the devil.

the devil?

After the disappearance of Ylenia and the separation with Romina, I have been alone for nine years. The pain was terrible. I thought God had abandoned me. And with the pain grew a voice that said: Al Bano is finished.

What do you think of Pope Francis?

Extraordinary. But my Pope was Wojtyla, for whom I sang seven times.

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