Eighteen years completed a few days ago, a great love for pizza, an even greater love for music. And ten fingers that know how to sing the pianoforte as few know how to do. In addition to one voce who knows how to rain emotion on the listener. She is Frida Bollani Magoni, and if these two surnames make you ring a few bells, you are right. The father is Stefano Bollani, a virtuoso of the piano, at ease with jazz, with classical music but also with pop hits, a thoroughbred improviser and great inventor of musical pastiches. The mother is Petra Magoni, actress and singer. Frida began to love notes and music before she even spoke. Destiny has given her two beautiful eyes which, however, they cannot focus, for a while congenital problem with retina. But she has given her a thrilling musical sensibility, the ability to win hearts and minds as soon as she puts her fingers on the piano, or as soon as she sings. He also won over the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, singing Franco Battiato’s “La cura” in front of him. “But I got confused, at a certain moment I stopped, I had a moment of block. Then I thought that even that moment of pause could bring an emotion, ”she says.
Alone, one note after another, Frida has conquered a prominent place in the Italian music scene. And she is only 18 years old. These days she is in tour, with its covers of pop classics and international songs. Plus an unpublished piece, a composition of her, which we cannot hear except live, with her. We met her in La Maddalena, at the final evening of Solinas Award. Frida played, with calm, mastery and also a desire to play that leave you amazed. On 9 October you will be in Tuscany, al Municipal Theater of Cavrigliaguest of honor of an all-female edition of Arezzo Wave.
Frida. An important name. Frida Kahlo also wears it on her denim jacket …
“Yes, I am honored to bear a name that is that of a great artist. And then, Frida sounds similar to ‘freedom’, which in English means freedom, and to ‘Frieden’, which in German means peace. Freedom and peace are two objectives, two cardinal points that I would like to be present in my life ”.
What are your feelings before going on stage? Great tension or calm?
“Tension is not always bad: it can mean that you are charged, that there is an energy that is about to release. So I would say that before going on stage I am charged ”.
She learned very early on that she was musically gifted. Before speaking, she touched the keys of the piano …
“Almost! The piano was my first friend, my first great passion. I only approached singing later, three or four years ago. In fact, I have always sung, but I started studying for a few years ”.
What is music for you?
“The life. My greatest refuge. My cure. My greatest form of expression ”.
What has being a woman and being a daughter of art brought you into your life?
“I have not felt discrimination, I have not felt distrust of being a woman. And due to the fact of being a daughter of art, I believe that she immediately led me to love sounds and music “.
A delicate question, but I have to ask you. What difficulties, what mountains to climb did being partially sighted bring you from birth?
“It allowed me to focus on the notes. The notes have been my companions: I have perfect pitch, which allows me to assign a musical note to each sound. When I was little, I could make out the sounds of the supermarket checkout, ‘mom, shall we go to the checkout in G or the checkout in Fa?’. If I hear the ferry siren I know what note it is sounding. Seeing less allowed me to focus on the finger! ”. And by saying it, it shows the index finger: the finger. He jokes, plays, just like his father.
What did the relationship with your father bring you? What do they tell you about her mother, her Petra and her father Stefano?
“Maybe my father brought me irony: even in music, the ability to distort the meaning of a song”.
She plays all the scores by heart. What difficulties and what advantages does this bring?
“It brings an advantage: I am not a slave to a score, or to a sheet that flies away, and you no longer find the answers you are looking for”.
Are you more comfortable composing with music or words?
“For now, I consider myself more a composer than a lyricist, rather than an author of lyrics”.
Where would you like to continue your musical journey? Which direction?
“On the one hand, I am very interested in Baroque singing. But I also have a great passion for vocal technology, and therefore for electronic music. I work with the acoustic piano, but also with a loop station and a keyboard, I play games with the voice with a vocoder. Sometimes I try to create something more experimental. I love the music of the past but I am of the future generation ”.
What do you expect from the future?
“I want to do something that satisfies me first, and then we’ll see.”
What does London represent for you?
“The feeling of feeling at home. I come to wonder if I have British origins, or Irish! I feel a strong connection with London and England. The other dream is the United States: another world, beyond the ocean. I’d like to find out ”.
Which musician do you love most?
“Jacob Collier, a true genius who plays all instruments and who has a crazy sensitivity. And if one day I arrive in America, I would like to go to an Adriana Grande concert ”.