“Good luck”. There is a multiple meaning in the title of the new album by Ermal Meta, out May 3 via Columbia Records/Sony Music. Because that Fortuna is the name of the singer’s first daughter, who will be born soon. «When you are old enough, if you want to know how I saw the world waiting for you, you will be able to listen to these songs», Meta confesses to the «Gazzetta». A record that he defines as “photographic”, to be released in CD, black vinyl and signed colored vinyl formats exclusively for Amazon, which will be presented in an instore tour that will also touch Bari, on Monday 6 May at 6pm, at the Feltrinelli bookshop in via Melo, before dedicating himself to the concert tour that will take him to stages throughout the peninsula. An Apulian stop is also planned, on August 21st in Lecce, in Piazza Libertini, as part of the Oversound Music Festival. On the cover, twelve threads start from a white whale, eleven white and one red, which join the same number of tracks, each of which is associated with a symbol. The red thread leads to the title track «Buona Fortuna», represented by the most important symbol which is that of the compass.
Which came first, the album title or the baby’s name?
«Obviously we decided on the name first. There are several reasons why this album is called that. It is not just a wish to find one’s own place in the world, somehow one creates one’s own luck, one builds the path to follow. I wanted to photograph such an intense period of waiting, and touch on many other themes that caress about the sense of building one’s own experiences. Today there is social anxiety, we only wear our own skin, despite being bombarded by stimuli. Instead we are better than what they say, regardless of what is “cool”, attractive to society. They want us to be afraid, fear is the best tool of control.”
The single accompanying the release is «Mediterraneo», what image does it represent?
«It is not just a place, but also a way of seeing a place/non-place. It is made of water, not only in depth, but also in vastness, it is difficult to imagine its boundaries. It is a sea that has continuously seen stories, dreams, hopes and desperations intersect for many centuries. The Mediterranean depends on which point you look at it, it is a vacation spot for some, a way to hope for a better future for others. And the journey doesn’t always have an end.”
In the album there are collaborations with Jake La Furia and Levante, how important is the synergy with other artists for you?
«I really like to collaborate when there is a meaning behind it. The moment I work on a song and I realize that it is of a certain type, it needs another voice, a soul and a dimension, then I understand that another point of view is needed. It was like this with Jake and Levante: I respect them very much despite being artistically distant, but perhaps it just depends on the genres. Music is all music.”
How is your relationship with Bari today?
«Meanwhile, I’m here right now. I have a house not far from the city, surrounded by greenery. I’ve been in Bari for twenty years, my whole family is here, a closer relationship than that…”.
On May Day he will be on stage at the Concertone di Roma, this time as host together with Noemi. How are you preparing?
«It is an experience of great responsibility, a great honor as well as a burden. For me it’s the first time, I will try to do it in the best possible way: what matters is that it is a free stage, where everyone brings themselves and tells their own vision of things.”
“Good luck”: if you were to imagine saying this phrase to your little one on the way, what situation do you imagine?
«I think I’ll tell her as soon as I see her, it’ll be the first thing I’ll think about. I will try to teach her not to be afraid, because luck is something we build on ourselves. If someone is paralyzed, they don’t build anything, and it’s absolutely terrifying.”
