Claudio Baglioni turns 70, a life of music

Claudio Baglioni, “a storyteller of our days”, as the title of his second album states, turns 70 next Sunday, May 16th. The singer-songwriter born in 1951 in the Roman district of Montesacro (hence his song “’51 Montesacro”), in his half-century career – 16 original albums, 12 live albums, 3 interpreter albums and numerous collections sold in over 60 million copies – has always been an irregular in the world of pop music. The author’s song, perhaps, has never forgiven him the extraordinary success it has had. A popular success, in which generations – without looking at useless classifications, especially when political commitment and militancy were in fashion – were reflected “along the way” in his love songs, in his stories of youth and in those of his maturity, but also in his ‘narratives’ of the social themes that he felt from time to time and in his constant story of “life is now”. And as a “songwriter of the people”, among serenades, painful memories full of hope, illusions and disappointments, he also coined, thanks to one of his first concerts in stadiums, in 1981 with the “Alè-oò” tour, a song that became the anthem of many fans around the world.Baglioni made a name for himself with the third album “This little big love” (1972), whose eponymous song turned out to be one of the largest and most enduring successes in Italian songwriting: at the Sanremo Festival in 1985 it was elected “Song of the Century”. The aptitude to interpret and express feelings common among adolescents (“That fine T-shirt of hers so tight to the point that I imagined everything …”) has been accompanied, over time, by an increasingly mature and articulated sensitivity music, as evidenced by songs, for example, such as “The old men”, “The girls of the east”, “Avrai”, “Notti”, “Photographs”, “Lost men”, “Give them away”, “A thousand days of me e di te “,” Io sono qui “,” Sono io “. After the first songs like” Signora Lia “and” Interludio “(1968), the debut album by Rca simply titled” Claudio Baglioni “(1970 ) and then the album “A storyteller of our days” (1971), the singer-songwriter recorded the songs from the soundtrack of the film “Brother sun and sister moon” by director Franco Zeffirelli, released in 1972, the same year as the affirmation definitive with the great popular success of the concept album “This little big love”, initially written as a sort of film script. the following years, as well as new albums (“E tu…”, 1974; “Saturday afternoon”, 1975; “Solo”, 1977; “E tu come stai?”, 1978), Baglioni has made recordings and tours in various European countries and has collaborated with musicians and ensembles from different backgrounds, from Montserrat Caballé to Peter Gabriel, from the London Symphony Orchestra to Vangelis. live they had revealed a sometimes difficult relationship with the public, tours and records starting from the Eighties (“Strada fare”, 1981; the 1982 Alé-óó tour; “Life is now”, 1985; “Beyond”, 1990; “I am here”, 1995; “From me to you”, 1998; “Traveler on the queue of time”, 1999; “It is me, the man of the story next door”, 2003) have received ever wider consensus and confirmed the popularity of his style, capable of evolving and interpreting the changes taking place with an original language. In his career he has performed in over 2 000 concerts; has won numerous awards, including the Lunezia Prize, two Festivalbar, eight Vota la voce, eight Wind Music Awards and six Telegatti.In the 90s, hand in hand with the constant success that accompanied him between records, concerts and TV performances , he rediscovered the desire to complete his studies and in 2004 Baglioni obtained a degree in architecture from the “La Sapienza” University of Rome. Two years later he actively took part in the demonstrations of the XX Turin 2006 Winter Olympics as a torchbearer and composing “Va ‘”, the official anthem of the event. Moreover, Baglioni had already composed the anthem of the 1994 World Swimming Championships, the anthem of the 1998 Italian National Football Team and then again he will realize the anthem of the 2009 World Swimming Championships. He was the protagonist of two cult television series, “Anima mia” (1997) and “The Last Waltz” (1999), in the company of Fabio Fazio. Of his most recent production, the albums “Gran Concerto” (2009) should still be remembered; “One world – One world 2010” (2010); “A little extra Christmas” (2012); “ConVoi” (2013); the live “Capitani coraggiosi” (2016), recorded during the homonymous tour with Gianni Morandi. In 2015 he published the book “Inter nos”, in which he collected thoughts and reflections that he wrote on the Internet in five years, while 2017 “Don’t stop transmitting”, a collection of letters written to fans on his Facebook page. Artistic director of the Sanremo Festival 2018 – reconfirmed for 2019 -, in the same year he published “Al centro. With music that beats inside”, a collection of the musical production of fifty years of career, which was followed by the album by unpublished “In this story, which is mine” (2020), released seven years after the previous one. The success of the first of his two San Remo, punctuated by the great hits of Baglioni often performed in duet with the guests of the festival, proved once again how popular his songs are among Italians of at least three generations. (By Paolo Martini)