There is all the pride and strength of those who have fought a lifetime in the words of Nino D’Angelo to the press to present his tonight’s concert at Maradona.
“When for Italy I was a southerner”
Son of Naples when for Italy we were only “southerners”, to be denigrated and crushed or, at most, to be “cleared through customs” as the singer says, adding that this “is a word that disgusts me greatly and should disgust the world. We are all the same, we are all people.”
“I am a Neapolitan singer and I am proud of it”
His is a story of emotions, by emotions, a dialogue that retraces the thread of a 52-year career, which began stubbornly out of passion and conducted with humility, in the wake of the great Neapolitan song “but I didn’t want to speak to those who already loved the song Neapolitan, I wanted to address young people”, he explains. And he conquers them, he really conquers those young people whose language he spoke and whose feelings he sang: “I was singing at a wedding in Torre del Greco, they called me and told me to look out of a window of the venue: there was an immense crowd outside, there were so many of them, they were there for me. And then to my father, who didn’t want me to be a singer, I said you are not Nino D’Angelo’s father but Gaetano’s because Nino D’Angelo belongs to the people”.
“Nino D’Angelo is of the people”
Today, as then, Nino D’Angelo remains among the people: those who, like him, came from the humble neighborhoods of Naples and knew hunger and dreamed; that generation born between the 60s and 70s of the last century who proudly wore Neapolitanness on their skin while the rest of Italy assigned it as a stigma; those who, like him, were able to go beyond prejudice; Neapolitans who had the courage to be themselves, without ifs or buts, wherever they were; those who, in any time or place, dream of simple things that should never be denied, like love or work; those for whom “Naples always wins, even when it loses, because it is Naples”; those who recognized the artist that Nino is, even before it was attested – far from Italy and certain circles of Naples itself – by world-class musicians like Miles Davis or the “fifth Beatles” Billy Preston who went to visit Nino in the studio where he recorded.
“Napoli wins today but we need to work on it”
For this reason, tonight’s concert at the Maradona is an event that will go down in history: it is a bit of the consecration of the entire journey made by Nino and Naples. “A Naples that wins today, a Naples that is winning today”, says Nino with his eyes shining with enthusiasm and determination, remembering when artists like Celentano came to our city, before the curtain of the Sanremo Festival was raised and the lights of the Naples Festival. “I’m very happy, but we need to work on it – warns Nino – Naples must take advantage of this. Neapolitan song is becoming very strong again, not that it wasn’t strong before, but since the Naples Festival ended it has been abandoned to itself Let’s fight, help us bring the Naples Festival back to Naples” he says with the same determination and enthusiasm as that boy with the blond bob who fought against the prejudices and racism of Italian music and of Italy as a whole and won and continues to win win every time the world sings Neapolitan today.
