«Sing to the Naples Pride it’s a joy. Of course, if you still have to demonstrate to have sacrosanct rights on paper, it means that something is still missing. We must therefore continue to fight and be strong.” The words of Bianca Atzei, in concert on Saturday 29th in Piazza Dante as part of «Napoli Pride», they embrace the battles of the LGBTQ+ community at the center of Saturday’s event, which will begin at 4pm with a procession that will arrive in Piazza Municipio in the evening to Piazza Dante. This year the rainbow event has as its godmother Malika Ayane. While Bianca Atzei will be the protagonist on stage with her successes and the songs from «1987», the latest album just released by the Milanese singer-songwriter. The bond between Bianca Atzei and the city is strong. Starting from the artistic relationship with Gigi D’Alessio, inaugurated in 2015 duetting on the notes of «Torna a Surriento», cover contained in D’Alessio’s album «Malaterra», and continued this year in the song «Una cometa blu», ballad which addresses the theme of interrupted motherhood that the Neapolitan singer-songwriter wrote specifically for Atzei. In fact, the musician suffered a miscarriage in the past. An episode that marked her and that in the song D’Alessio touches with delicacy and depth.
What are your feelings a few days after the concert as part of an event as heartfelt in the city as Pride?
«I am very excited, both because I am returning to Naples, with which I have a special bond, and because I have always been very close to Pride and the battles of the LGBTQ+ community. Unfortunately there is still a lot to do in this regard and therefore we must insist.”
The lyrics of the song A blue comet, which Gigi D’Alessio wrote for her, talks about interrupted motherhood. How did this new collaboration come about?
«Gigi is a special person for me. He was beside me in the most complicated moments of my life. I also learned a lot from him, humanly and artistically, both when we shared the studio and important stages. When Una cometa blu arrived I immediately thought that it was a song that I could never write, because it concerns something that happened to me and that hurt me.”
D’Alessio therefore translated her state of mind as an interrupted mother into music.
«Yes, he managed to delicately touch on a very difficult topic, such as spontaneous abortion. Being a man he surprised me twice, also because I didn’t know what he was talking about in the text. I had no idea about the topic. The first time I listened to it I was therefore very moved.”
It’s a song that your son Noa, who is just over a year old, also likes, right?
«Noa, every time he listens to it he stops. He is captivated by the melody. Probably because I sang it while he was in my belly. He will therefore have felt a very strong energy, which resurfaces when he listens to it again. It’s as if he felt a deep connection with the music and the words. It’s a kind of magic.”
In the single «Discoteca» he invites you to dance and sings lines like “I want myself, everything else stresses me out”. Is it an appeal also addressed to young people who are increasingly connected and therefore far from the fun of the past?
«It’s an invitation that Max Pezzali also made in the past. Unfortunately many nightclubs have closed. Young people today are very different. We miss out on so many things. For example, the memories of the beautiful things we experienced as teenagers are within us and will remain there forever. While now they are stuck in the memory of a smartphone and could even be lost. It would be nice to go back to having that sincere desire to put on makeup, just go out to be together and truly experience the emotions, like those conveyed by an evening at the disco.”
In All the love I have inside at a certain point he exclaims: “I no longer look back if this sky in front of me is splendid”. But if, paradoxically, she managed to return, what would she say to Bianca from the past?
«I would tell her not to do many things that unfortunately I have done in my past. In particular, two very big mistakes” (she smiles, ed).
Like going to Sanremo?
«No, Sanremo has nothing to do with it. In fact it was a wonderful experience.”
So would you like to return to Ariston?
«I’ve thought about it a lot over the years. A blue comet it was initially designed for Sanremo. I would definitely stay here again. But with an idea for that stage, which however isn’t there now. Maybe it will come out when I least expect it. Who knows.”
