Mina is increasingly unattainable but remains an icon of Italian music

When you approach Mina, it is inevitable to do so on tiptoe, like when you spot a unicorn in the thick of the forest. Absent from TV for half a century, but at the same time present with his inimitable voice and his hits that serve as our soundtrack every year, he has made invisibility a life discipline “that has resisted every form of flattery”, as his son Massimiliano Pani tells it – photo | video

“PLEASE NOT” – An excellently read woman, we like to think that in some way she was inspired by Bartleby the scribe, Melville’s character who throughout the 96 pages of the book, at every request simply replies, suave and immovable, “I’d rather not” , stubbornly building an enigmatic and subdued hymn to freedom. By disappearing, Mina escaped the humiliation (which she had experienced) of having to account for every extra kilo, every paparazzi incident, every decision, every “yes”, every “no”. Massimiliano Pani, who heads PDU, the family label, says: «Mum decided to move away from TV because she first understood what it would become: she worked with a team of champions such as Walter Chiari, Raffaella Carrà, Antonello Falqui, Mario Soldiers, Amurri and Verde. Those were the standards she was used to and she had no intention of lowering her standards. They made incredible offers to bring her back in front of the cameras, to no avail.” Adriano Aragozzini, the prince of impresarios of the time, says: «No one expected her to retire from the stage at less than 40 years of age. Even Sergio Bernardini, the patron of La Bussola who was a friend of hers, was taken aback.” In fact, her last public appearance was her great concert at the Bussola Domani in Marina di Pietrasanta, broadcast on TV in 1978, but her television farewell occurred before her: MilleluciMay 11, 1974, half a century ago.

Mina, here is the video for “Abband-dono” created with artificial intelligence – Look

NO EVEN TO THE BIG APPLE – Aragozzini again: «I made her a monstrous offer to organize concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York but I received an outright no». Perhaps Mina had already discovered that her choice had been perfectly understood by the public and she preferred to remain on that cutting edge of someone who manages to be present and absent at the same time. Every year thousands of her songs are sent to her: she listens to all of them, “even though”, admits her son, “we have now accumulated a considerable delay”.
Mina has always acted with the utmost independence: in an Italy without divorce, her story with Corrado Pani divided Italy, and she found herself embodying that part of the country that wanted change. She paid the bill for everyone. What makes her a legend is not her voice, or rather, it is not just her voice but her head. She is the only artist in the world who has not done self-promotion for 50 years but when she releases a song she goes to the top of the charts. She also understood well in advance that, with the decline of the recording industry, to support the costs, the 2 thousand seats of the Bussola would not be sufficient and stadiums would be needed, but her performance is not suitable for one stadium. So every now and then she thinks of an almost casual performance in a small jazz club, perhaps with Danilo Rea, but then she would get the whole bandwagon of flattery and pressure that she has already escaped once again in motion. And the most formidable aspect is that, in this era of neurasthenic presenteeism, even today the most beloved singer does not have social networks and does not speak except through her art. «She was also the first singer who played with her own image», underlines Pani. «She On the covers she appeared as an alien, a tourist, a duck, a man: twenty years before Madonna and anticipating Lady Gaga by 30; among other things
Lady Gaga saw my mother’s evolutions and was enthusiastic about them.”

Blanco, that’s why Mina chose him for her latest song – Look

THE FIRST MINA FANS CLUB – Among the few people who have had the privilege of accessing the “palazzo”, in Lugano, in the Paradiso area, there is Mauro Coruzzi, who in 1981, as a die-hard fan, founded the first Mina fans Club approved by the singer. «I was invited to dinner because I was a friend of my daughter Benedetta, who I wanted in a TV program of which I was the author. I was struck by Mina’s innate ability to take center stage even at that family table, touching up her lipstick after each course to be perfect, and the innate irony with which she supported the conversation. I remember that she was fascinated by Madonna. She said, “That one isn’t good at anything and she’s good at everything.” She liked the Canadian composer Gino Vannelli: she went to one of his concerts, in disguise, with a curly wig on her head… When they called her on the phone, she often pretended to be the housekeeper by modifying her voice. As I understand it, she’s the one looking for artists to duet with and even if they’re of lesser caliber she doesn’t care; for example with Blanco I know that she was the one who picked up the phone. Legend has it that the only refusal was received from Patty Pravo, who couldn’t be found: the proposal had Paolo Conte behind it, who proposed to the two singers a series of pieces to share, plus an unreleased song to sing together. Pausini, on the other hand, seems to have looked for her to duet but they didn’t do anything about it.”

Mina, always one step ahead: the singer opens an online channel – Look

YOUR HAIRDRESSER – Dina Azzolini, hairdresser from Milan and author of Mina’s short cut which was copied by many Italians, remembers her with sincere affection: «In the Seventies I had 32 employees and a salon in Via della Spiga where they already avoided using chemical products and it also offered customers a vegetarian restaurant. Mina liked it a lot and she came to visit me often also because the journalists stayed outside the door with me and she, feeling free, often answered the phone. My clients looked at her in amazement.”
Cristiano Malgioglio is the author of Still still still, the unreleased song sung in concert at the Bussola in 1978. «In reality I proposed another one to Mina, but she rejected it. I arrived home depressed. While I was cooking myself a couple of eggs, she called me an ex with whom I had had a great love story. He asked me if I still loved him: the song was inspired by that phone call and in five minutes I wrote it. I had met Mina by chance while walking around Milan: at Porta Venezia there was a group of people, out of curiosity I approached and in the center of her there was her. I introduced myself and asked her for an appointment: she set it up for the next morning, at 9. I showed up at 9.05 and that was an opportunity to receive my first lesson. She told me: if you want to be taken seriously you have to be on time.” Mina never expressed a desire to retire. But the ending theme of Milleluci was I don’t play anymore. Maybe a coincidence, more likely not.

Mina, another hidden birthday: from successes to loves, here’s what you (maybe) don’t know about the Cremona tiger – Look

Andrea Greco