“Romantic” is the new album by Mario Biondi, a disc dedicated to love in all its forms, from the couple bond to the brotherly one, to the love for parents and children. Twelve tracks on CD and fifteen in digital, cassette and vinyl LP (available from March 25) that make up a new project of which six pieces are unreleased and nine remakes that are particularly dear to the artist, who will leave on March 30 for the his international tour which, as he has already announced in recent days, will no longer pass through Moscow: “Mine – he explains – was in no way a subversive action against my Russian friends. We didn’t think we needed to go to celebrate. And we cannot generalize: not all Russians want war. Putin is not the Russian people “.
Mario Biondi is back with a record he wanted to call “Romantic”: these days it would seem an anachronistic and countertrend choice.
“Yes, I realize that. The word “romantic” is now quite obsolete and does not fit the current period. Often then it is used in a reductive way and today if you use it while making a speech you risk even being laughed at. For my vision of life the word “romantic” is a source of inspiration also because I believe that the artist is a romantic par excellence “.
The tracks were recorded with a take where all the musicians played together in the same room at the same time to recreate the original atmosphere of the songs that were reinterpreted.
“This record reflects the sound and character of the 70s, when the music reminded us that war is only a source of pain. Each of us has a romantic streak and hopes that the problems will be solved with common sense, with love of neighbor, not with violence or hostility “.
Six unpublished, four in English (“Romantic Song”, “If I love you”, “Loneliness”, “Prisoner”), one in Italian, “Until the last breath”, written by Maurizio Fabrizio and one in Neapolitan ” Remember ”with the participation of Lina Sastri: she is the only“ guest ”within the project.
“And you can imagine my happiness having it on the record. And then there are the nine reinterpretations: “The Creator Has a Master Plan” (Leon Thomas and Pharoah Sanders), “Going Out of My Head” (Dionne Warwick’s version of the song from Little Anthony & The Imperials made famous by Frank Sinatra ), “What’s Your Name” (Leon Ware), “What’s Going On (Les McCan’s version of the famous Marvin Gaye song), Never Find Another Like Mine” (Lou Rawls), “Papa You’ll Loves Mambo” ( Perry Como), “Would You Believe in Me” (Jon Lucien), “Take It As It Comes” (the English version of Lucio Battisti’s “Take It Like This”). Finally, one of my gems: the song “Tu Malatia” in Sicilian language to which I am very attached because it was written by my father Stefano Biondi who won the second edition of the Sicilian song festival “.
“Up to the last breath” is signed by Maurizio Fabrizio but listening to it would have been perfect even in the strings of Andrea Bocelli.
“It’s true, for Bocelli it would be perfect, but Claudio Baglioni would also behave very well with such a majestic piece. On the other hand Maurizio wrote for those we have mentioned and I am a huge fan of him; he sent me two or three songs and they are one more beautiful than the other, so much so that I got the idea of doing a project in Italian with him and who knows, maybe one day “
And why did you want to propose Battisti’s “Take it like this” in English?
“In Italian I did it a lot of times with Fiorello and Luca Barbarossa. The concept is to possibly make this song and thus Battisti’s name more international. Abroad when I do it they often ask me who wrote it and this gives me great satisfaction. Who knows if I could be a vehicle for this great artist to be recognized abroad “.
HE TURN
On March 30 Mario Biondi will start with the first part of the international tour that will engage him until April 26 in the UK, Switzerland and Spain, a journey that will then follow in summer and autumn with new dates in Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Germany, Austria and Hungary. From May 5th the Italian tour 2022 will start (for now only theatrical).