List representative: “In Sanremo with strong text, attention to detail and zero expectations”

“A strong text, theatrical for many aspects; an attention to detail; zero expectations of the competition and ranking but a great desire to participate and have fun”: these are the ‘secret ingredients’ with which the duo The Representative of List, composed by Veronica Lucchesi and Dario Mangiaracina, this year presents itself at the ‘Sanremo Festival’ proposing the song ‘Ciao ciao’ of which they sign text and music. A text that, in some phrases – such as ‘what a fear around, it’s the end of the world’ or ‘the desire to party bursts in my heart, I feel sick and my head explodes’ – almost seems to evoke the pandemic scenario we are in. for some time going through … “No direct reference to Covid – assures Dario Mangiaracina interviewed by AdnKronos, who on the Ariston stage will play the guitar and sax and sing in the choir, leaving room for Veronica Lucchesi’s vocality – but certain sensations that they can also be collected unknowingly describe a state of mind, even if unfortunately the coronavirus is not the only plague that haunts the world, just think of the climate crisis or wars or dramas related to migration. Ours wants to be an apotropaic song , who chases away fears, in the awareness of the problems and in the desire to turn the page “. or Modugno as ‘Piove’ and ‘Vecchio frac’, are they involuntary, sought after, non-existent, desired, random? “Nothing happens just by chance, even if in this case there is no initial desire to quote; but it is inevitable – admits Dario – that some images, including musical ones, come back to mind and that certain references are part of our musical culture, of our artistic background. Through a text, which wants to be more theatrical than melodic and which in fact can recall certain experiences of Modugno, we want to capture the viewer, also thanks to the exceptional and particular vocalism of Veronica “. Franco Battiato will certainly remember, as announced, from Amadeus: do you only have Sicilian origins in common or did he affect your artistic path? “He is absolutely one of the great masters of Italian song – acknowledges Mangiaracina – I didn’t know him from my parents’ records but I wanted to look for him musically later, struck by his ability to innovate even in the use and mixing of Italian with the English language and the Sicilian dialect … “. After all, the duo The Representative of List has defined their musical genre as ‘queer’, that is outside any scheme, a definition still good today? “I would say yes – replies Dario – our ‘queerness’ represents well our being fluid, wanting to take many paths, even different ones. Queer is a label that explains very well our not wanting to be labeled”. At the last Sanremo Festival , with the song ‘Amare’, the List Representative was placed in eleventh place: this year it is enough to simply improve your position and enter the top ten or can you aspire to the podium? “I am honest: we have been preparing for at least a month, even in the attention to the smallest details; I am really satisfied, to the point of having ‘zero expectations’ on the race and on the ranking, but a great desire to participate and have fun: I will play the guitar and the sax and I will also sing at the top of my lungs but only in the choirs, to give space to the exceptional and particular voice of Veronica “. (by Enzo Bonaiuto)