Biagio Antonacci is bringing the hits of his thirty-year career to the stages of the most important sports halls tomorrow, Saturday 17th December will be on stage at the Mandela Forum in Florence (www.bitconcerti.it, ticketmaster.it, www.ticketone.it); moreover, new dates are added to the tour in May 2023.
After more than 3 years of silence, the longest period I have ever gone without playing live due to the pandemic, he is back in front of the public. Happy?
“The desire to return to the stage is great, after the pandemic, the wait, the fog. The pandemic for human beings has been thick fog, darkness. On stage, I regained my energy. We are experiencing an incredible energy crisis, from all points of view not only real, material, but also a crisis of the soul and music can alleviate this crisis”.
Central stage tour it is an inclusive, engaging concert: protagonists… everyone. A specific choice of yours?
“I really like the concept of inclusiveness. Everything is the same for everyone. The stage is at the center as the fire is at the center of the tribes, every energy is at the center of every episode, of union and satisfaction in feeling close to someone. Inclusive means making everyone happy equally. Inclusiveness is the buzzword of the hour”.
On social media he defined Free methe turning point record, capable of “giving her some freedom, of living on music”, what’s special about it?
“Free me it is special because it is current. Things haven’t changed. Man always asks this God, who manifests himself in various forms, to be the solver of everything. To seek a tomorrow, eternal life. I am no longer so convinced that eternal life should be sought only through faith. Eternal life is the life we live today. Only in this way can we live a good life”.
Recently in front of the Milan station, on the Island of Elba, where she spends long periods, you happen to see her playing “a few notes in solitude” in a small square in Capoliveri: what takes her on the street?
“Of course, the Island of Elba is certainly one of my lands, the Milan station. Every place with a guitar becomes a special place. A few notes sung on the street become everyone’s notes. Music is born on the street. The old songwriters, the bards, sang outside churches, sang outdoors and lived on music. The artist’s life should be among the people, on the street”.
Antonacci, you have lived in Bertinoro for 15 years now, you were also the artistic director of the initiative Danteinorowhich led to the discovery of Dante’s places in that area in 2021 through the voice of friends such as Giuseppe Fiorello, Milena Gabanelli, Moni Ova: she likes the tercets more than Commedia or the atmosphere of those places?
“The triplets create the atmosphere, that’s why these friends helped me tell Dante with their wonderful voices. I am very proud of Danteinoro. Romagna is a special land. I got to know the land through Romagna. I grew up in Rozzano, in the suburbs, and lived in Bologna; but for me the land is Romagna”.
“We are very far from freedom because we are still imprisoned by prejudices because we still think that everything we do is what others must do,” he said recently. Do you really think that climate and war can lead to the extinction of man?
“The natural extinction of man has been a process that has been going on for years and we understand it through the situations that surround us such as the drama of Ischia, the storms and the violence of the climate. We were convinced that we were managing nature but nature is rebelling. We are guests of this wonderful mechanism and yet we have disfigured the forests and greenery around us”.
In a post on Instagram (And yet you are grown up and you are also the oldest of my children, they called you the professor and you were 5 years old, you already explained love with an inexplicable technique. Today you write songs, and live with music with commitment. You are always little Paolo for me , you are a son and you are also a friend. I often think of your grandfather Paolo and how he would have been proud of you / moreover today you celebrate in his native Bari. Happy Birthday Paolo. With INFINITE LOVE, dad b.) makes a dedication to his eldest son, Paul. You have children of very different ages, with one you collaborate thanks to music, the other (very young) teaches to walk: what has changed in the way of being a father to her?
“Being a father is a wonderful thing. Father equal responsibility, commitment, man. I had children when I was young and a son when I grew up and I like to see that the generations love each other, my older son who loves his brother. My son loves being loved by his brothers and sister. Nature dates back to the times of our lives and becoming a father when I grow up is a huge gift and sharing fatherhood with my children is a huge gift and then I also feel helped because I know that my older children could be educators for the younger one ”.
Still on the subject of parenting, among the many artists who have made their voices heard, your colleague Tiziano Ferro is also fighting to allow homosexual couples or singles to adopt in Italy: what is your thought?
“My thoughts on adoption are open and genderless. Nothing has sex, love has no sex, nature has no sex. We have no sex. We have impulses, we distinguish ourselves because we are a species divided into male and female but we are free and when a man is free and manages to be free and leave behind the absurd prejudices that people still use to denigrate different people we move away from the purpose of our life , that is to live under the banner of noble ideals, those that we have inside and make us free”.
His grandfather was a bersagliere, who left for the Russian front in ’42: on his return he wondered why they had been sent to kill those “good people. People who didn’t want war”: doesn’t this remind you of the position of the Ukrainians today?
“My grandfather went to Russia, to the Don front and stayed there for two years. He told me really amazing things. He killed people, met and faced the Russian people but he always wondered why, why did we go and annoy these poor people. When he returned he brought me a wonderful icon that he took from a country house and that accompanies me over time in my homes. It’s incredible why man still bombs man“.
Inevitable… the tour is over, do you have any plans?
“In 2023 the new album will be released, then there will be maybe another tour, and then who knows maybe a book or a screenplay”.