“I wrote the song ‘When Gigi Riva will return’ as an act of love towards a legend of world football, a man and a champion who gave the dream to Sardinia and the Sardinians”. Piero Marras, the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Nuoro, singer of Sardinian identity, remembers with emotion the moment in which he composed his homage to the great goalscorer with the song that Riccardo Milani included in the docu-film “In our sky a rumble of thunder”.
An immortal myth
“It was 1982. The epic of Giggirriva’s Cagliari, and in this doubling of consonants there is all the Sardinian pride, was over – Marras tells ANSA – but the myth was more alive than ever and I felt the need to revive it with my music and my words”. The emotion emerges from the singer-songwriter’s words and the esteem towards this “hero of the contemporary world, an important reference for the identity of this people. I focused on a figure who inspired trust, in whom all Sardinians could recognize themselves, someone close to them , who did not betray and returned the affection.”
The surprise in the audience
Piero Marras lets the memories flow and with a hint of pride recalls the “Il Porcino d’oro” event in Arzana, where he performed with this song. “I didn’t know that Nicola, Riva’s son, was in the audiencecame to me with these words that will remain imprinted in my heart: ‘Dad is always moved when he listens to it'”. His thoughts return for a moment to the champion on the playing fields: “He was the author of uncatchable shots, with his left , header, in flight, overhead kick.
The history of this land was written by others, not by the Sardinians. He, reversing the perspective, was also and above all the author of an exciting story written together with the Sardinians who welcomed him like a brother.”
The metaphor in the song
There is the metaphor of the redemption of the marginalized and the vanquished in Marras’ song. “And the desire to dream, what they took away from our land, he, Gigi – clarifies the singer-songwriter – has given it back to us. Someone said ‘Blessed are the people who do not need heroes’. We needed it, to look beyond the sea, broaden the horizon beyond the ‘continent’ and, with optimism and hope, also look within our borders”.