Antonello Venditti wants pop music in the Constitution. The singer-songwriter guest today, May 7, on Mic for the presentation of his tour celebrating 40 years of ‘Night before exams’ launches the proposal. “There is a long way to go for contemporary popular music to enter the Constitution. It is the only art not recognized by the government. We need this, to be recognized, to give dignity to De André and Geolier, because Without this music this country would not have been as it is, despite everything being united”.
“This dream – says Venditti sitting next to the Undersecretary of Culture Gianmarco Mazzi – should become reality: I would prefer to be remembered for what will become a state law rather than for the songs I wrote. Because the songs are there, but the laws still have to be written.”
From the Roman singer-songwriter then comes a small jab at the recent David di Donatello: “When you see the David di Donatello you feel bad because you see that music has nothing of a social nature, that it concerns the state of our life – Venditti states – But not for me, for many who will not have ‘a fantastic story that is life’ if the support of culture is missing”.
The opening of the government
The proposal is accepted by Undersecretary Mazzi: “I really liked the idea of a constitutional garrison, I said ‘look and see, Antonello is ahead of his time’. So called the lawyer Bardo who gave a legal outline to this idea and I thought it was right to follow up on this proposal and support it”.
A bill is ready
The legislative process to include pop music in the Constitution is “complicated but up to a certain point – explains Venditti to the press – Because once the principle is recognised, as it was for sport, the same director takes us straight there. We have drawn up a bill brought forward by the lawyer Luca Pardo – he continues – Studying the principles that will lead us to include so-called pop music in the Constitution. Then all that’s needed is for the political forces to approve it.”
The pressure of talent and the protection of talent
And when asked if he has tried to talk about it with other colleagues, the artist replies dryly: “Impossible. Unfortunately, the Italy of talent and multinationals does not allow you to have an in-depth dialogue. Many don’t even know what we’re talking about, they don’t feel this problem. By now the conditioning is profound.” Venditti cites the Sangiovanni case, which established a temporary stop due to too much mental pressure: “Just think about talents like Sangiovanni, these people are gambling with their lives. Unfortunately they already have the idea that they are expiring, that they will be overtaken by the new, it’s a intellectual, moral and spiritual precariousness that leads to suicide and anguish”.
His project could therefore also be useful in this sense: “There are kids who have been forced to change, born one way and find themselves another. Why there is no constitutional network that defends these kids and their sanity, which leads them to see music in another way, that is, as an occasion. Today the occasion is Sanremo and a talent show. Can it ever be?”. For this “we also need funding. Today concert tickets cost 100 euros. You create a huge disparity, there are classes, this is unacceptable.” Because it is not at all true that, as someone said, “you can’t eat with music – says Venditti – Popular contemporary music feeds all other worlds. Cinema has all the honors and we have all the burdens,” she attacks.
Curtain with Minister Sangiuliano: “Just to listen to him I went to the Festa dell’Unità”
Great compliments to the Roman singer-songwriter from the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, who arrived – with a slight delay – at Mic: “In order to listen to his songs when I was young I even went to the Unity party in Naples”, he reveals. “He is an intellectually honest artist, he has written songs that bear great values,” adds the minister. Venditti goes to meet him, a brief exchange begins between the two. “Why do you speak in the past tense?”, says the artist, addressing him in the informal way. “There is a great future ahead,” says Sangiuliano to applause.
“Italy must be free,” adds Venditti. “Absolutely – replies Sangiuliano – Free, democratic and plural”. Venditti replied: “I’m happy to have met you”, because “we must be able to find our strength in smiling, you can’t get anywhere with toughness. The continuous clash, the parties, are superstructures. We are born free to choose our friends, our gender, our religion.” And he concludes: “I hope today I have overcome all the superstructures between me and you. I’ve done my part, now it’s your turn.”
Venditti and the world at war
Then answering the students’ questions, Antonello Venditti also talks about current affairs. “It’s not a good look to sing about a world full of wars. My generation was interested in what was happening to others too, but here it seems to me that we talk about war or peace depending on whether it affects our interests or not. We had an internationalist, globalist idea of the world.” Antonello Venditti says so while answering students’ questions this morning at the presentation of the tour celebrating 40 years of ‘Night before exams’ at Mic.
“Also because – says Venditti – all states are terrorists, it is a failure of all international institutions, starting with the UN and we are unable to bring order. It will be difficult to summarize but it takes good will, therefore whoever makes peace first wins. Because he marks a principle: he starts shaking hands instead of punching and you see that things change,” says the singer-songwriter.
The marches and the police
The author of ‘Qui’ also talks about the students’ marches. “The police must accompany the demonstrations instead of opposing them. In a democratic country – he says – this is a border that must not exist. The police must not be anywhere, they must accompany freedom, if the demonstration is authorized they must accompany and defend it.”
“Any freedom must be defended – recalls Venditti – In the end there is always someone who decides how things should go, many times there are external powers that create a series of obstacles. But democracy is not a clash”. to understand it – he concludes – But it takes a lot to apply these little rules”.
