GORIZIA. Music, for him, was not, had never been just a passion, just a job: for him it was a way of being, it was life. Giuliano Almerigogna, a historic collaborator and music critic of the Messaggero Veneto, died on Sunday, June 30, a few days after turning 70.
A true encyclopedia on the subject – as many remembered him once they learned the news –, forged by years of columns in the printed press and over the years on the radio, hidden behind that aura of a character from another time, always wearing a hat and long hair, head nodding every time a song or a melody reached him.
***
“Let there be music and song before you. Cast away all your sorrows and turn your soul to joy, until that day comes when we shall journey to that land that loves silence.”
May the song of the Egyptian harpist now accompany you, friend of yesterday, today, forever, brother in music, companion in a thousand journalistic battles to tell the concerts of every place. More than 40 years together on the score of the life spent in the beloved Gorizia, with the same age, with the same passions: the records and the shops we frequented, the radio (we met 50 years ago at Onda Est), the newspapers, the music TVs (when there were real ones).
Dear Giuliano, how many friends could tell you better than me: Mauro, Fulvio, Fabrizio, Vincenzo, Giancarlo, Glauco, Luca, Caterina, Andrea, Rita, Moreno, Toni, Paolo…. There are so many because we all loved you, we loved your kind and reserved way, your unrivaled and encyclopedic musical competence (especially in jazz and Italian music), your punctual availability, and the precision of your articles (I never touched even a comma). There is no organizer of festivals, small concerts or mega-events who has not met, known and esteemed you.
I can, and must, tell – very briefly – our long and fruitful journey at Messaggero Veneto. In almost 40 years, never an overlap, never a disagreement or envy, never an argument about the assignment of services, never a piece thrown away, my friend. And many occasions to be together: on the road to concerts, but also in the editorial offices in Gorizia and Udine, on our famous jury for the Sanremo festival (ours is certainly better), in meetings with hundreds and hundreds of artists. Memorable when you arrived with Rita and your Nomadi friends: the editor-in-chief, from Emilia, recognized only one of them and pointed to you!
You have told and helped everyone: Folkest and Folk Club, Canzoni di Confine, Gorizia Jazz and Udine Jazz, the fraternal friends of Controtempo, just to name a few. In our work, your eyesight did not allow you to use the computer (the only battle I lost with you), nor to drive the car, so hundreds of times I saw you arrive at the editorial office with mom Marina or dad Paolo, or with Mauro or with Fulvio. Always happy, with the eternal and proud cap and the backpack crowded with notepads and ballpoint pens, ready for another day of music to tell.
Life has taken us elsewhere and those days together are far away, the (memorable) live broadcasts of concerts are no longer done, the reviews are no longer done. The newspapers have changed, the world has changed, but music will remain forever in our hearts, like you. Wherever you are, Music is grateful to you, we are grateful to you, Giuliano, friend of all.
