«But it’s… it’s not time for my funeral yet». Francesco Guccini was anything but enthusiastic when they offered him to celebrate then Piazza Maggiore the twenty years of “his first song”: Auschwitz, written in 1964 on the sheet of a notebook. He literally sent his manager to hell: the brilliant and generous Renzo Fantini. Fantini went down from Pavana to Bologna but didn’t give up, without him and others it would never have happened «Between the Via Emilia and the West», the concert of 17 June 1984 that Monday June 17th you go to remember.
Francesco Guccini and the legendary concert of 1984
«The road ran long and straight». The poet began the concert on June 17th 40 years ago with Song for a friend. When she intoned The Locomotive From the back of the square a group of anarchists set off with a black and white banner. Tension for a moment, but that evening Bologna was celebrated. Epic, myth, history. So honor to those who brought it then and created the current appeals.
In addition to him, one of the decisive supporting actors tells it: Nicola Sinisi.
«Between the Via Emilia and the West»: an epic and mythical event for Bologna
Those who are no longer here will remember: Renzo Imbeni, mayor for a year, gave the square free and then two years later he wanted Sinisi as (socialist) councilor for culture and with him “Bologna dreams” was born, museums open at night, parties, comedians who became famous, , crazy. Imbeni was the first mayor to give up the New Year’s speech, in 1988 he had Lucio Dalla sing from Palazzo d’Accursio, then he had Sinisi organize a dance party in the square and in the town hall, with Jimmy Villotti as conductor in a tuxedo.
The musical “climate” of the time and the greats of Emilia
And then Renzo Fantini, he left in 2010, as handsome as Clint Eastwood, with the damned cigarette always in his mouth. Rita Allevato, panther girl, was Fantini’s right hand. «Bologna with her orchestra» he sang Francesco De Gregori. A city became great with its singers and with those who stood behind them. An orchestra that was intelligence and community. Collective wealth. This represented «From the Via Emilia to the West». Homeland history, even more than Lucio Dalla in the same square at the end of the 70s, brought by Zangheri and Bibi Ballandi, “father” of all the organizers and producers in Bologna. Feet on the ground, good nose, good heart. Music, TV, events. Until Guido Elmi of Vasco, Michele Torpedine by Bocelli, the first Sugar etc., Luca Lazzari of Elastica. And the greats of Rai such as Beppe Caschetto and Carlo Degli Esposti. Stories of women and men it becomes the epic of a city, a culture that continues.
The historical homage of the «Maestrone»
For Guccini it was a historic homage. As a lay pope. For Dalla, a consecration as a bearded bishop, after the success of How deep is the sea. «The song I wish I had written. Deep words, unparalleled music »she said a few years ago Guccini, invited on the radio by Sinisi (Rai director) for one of his ideal Hit Parade. Sinisi was also an organizer of orchestras. With Coop Radio Informazione he brought it to Bologna Dire Straits, Simple Reds, Simple Minds, Paolo Conte outside the theaters. Then Luciano Pavarotti at the Palasport. «It was 1983. Sergio Zavoli, president of Rai, got us 50 million lire for the television rights. It occurred to me that 1984 was the twentieth anniversary of Guccini’s first song. And I knocked on the door again… 50 million plus sponsorship Philip Morris… I called Jockeys.”
The legends of songwriters and a still mythical event
Fantini’s becomes a mountain odyssey. «Ex Mito» celebrates it in a floral photo from Vito, the trattoria in via Musolesi. He was everyone’s guardian angel. From Conte in Guccini, to Vinicio Capossela and beyond. The songwriters, the poets of the notes. Guccini appeared to him at the Osteria delle Ladies. Conte in ’77, at the Tenco Prize, San Remo. He had made two unsuccessful records. With Fantini in ’79 he did it Lemon ice-cream. Capossela showed up at Vito’s with a cassette of unreleased songs. Fantini returned to Bologna in 1984 and took Sinisi on board. The skeptic and the enthusiast. The historical emphasis overflows. «To Nicola without whom the crime would never have happened» he later wrote on a poster for Sinisi.
A stage with great artists: the memory 40 years later
On stage that June 17th Conte, Giorgio Gaber, Equipe 84, Bertoli, Dalla, different in everything, sea and mountains, compared to Guccini. Among the 150 thousand who listened was Renzo Cremonini, Dalla’s “mother”, the producer who guided him, his friend super communist, balding, bespectacled, loved in return by Candice Bergen, he knew everyone, he never told them (like Fantini). He died in 2001, the funeral was on September 11th, while the Twin Towers collapsed in New York. Luca Carboni Stellina dei cantautori dedicated it to him. In 2024 he would have turned 88, Fantini 78. On 14 July, the storming of the Bastille, Tobia Righi turns 90Dalla’s “father”, his handyman friend, the president of the Foundation.
