Luca Jurman was a guest of SPOT – The Podcastthe format hosted by Michele Monina And Massimiliano Longo which is recorded live, outdoors, at Spot Music Fest of Bareggio, in the Arcadia Park on the outskirts of Milan. Singer, vocal coach, producer and arranger, forty years of career between tours Laura Pausinithe records of Eros Ramazzotti and international collaborations with Alejandro SanzJurman is today one of the most uncomfortable voices in the Italian music system.
A conversation that touches on the issues that made him a divisive figure: how the talent business was born, what is said and what is kept secret from the kids who enter it, who really has the right to judge a talent. And the legal case that, he says, he is facing precisely because of his criticisms.
The calculation of 50,000 euros: how the talent business was born
The episode opens with the most concrete passage of the entire conversation, the one in which Jurman reconstructs the economic reasoning that, in his opinion, changed everything. When the Italian music industry began to have economic problems, she explains, she realized that bringing an artist on a television show to promote a single had very high costs.
Hence the calculation: if bringing an artist on television costs fifty thousand euros, hiring one who is locked in a program for six months, who in the meantime builds a fan base and media attention, means not only saving that amount but earning in advance sales. “And there was business there”he says. The starting point, according to him, of everything that came after.
Talent in Italy and abroad: two opposite paths
Jurman does not ask for the closure of the talents, and he clarifies this several times. His point is different: that in Italy the talents do the talents as they are done abroad. He recalls that when the first programs were born they took inspiration from what was happening outside, but that after over twenty years abroad we continue to work on a real idea of talent, while in Italy, he maintains, a structure has been created in which easy-to-consume musical products are fished for.
It's not important that they are talented, he says, the important thing is that they are easily consumable. A mechanism which, in its reconstruction, ended up rewarding those who are more manageable over those who are better, because the true artist is hypersensitive, has an ethical and cultural part that he cannot give up, and this makes him difficult to deal with.
What kids aren't told
The hardest step concerns what in his opinion the talents don't explain to their competitors. Jurman says he asked the question from the inside: if you say you want to explain to kids how things are, why don't you actually do it? Why don't you say that being in a talent show is lucky, but that outside the talent show life is completely different?
And above all, he adds, “don't even explain to them that they aren't working their way up, that this isn't studying, it's not like if you study for three months, six months, it's studying”. An illusion which, in its reading, also involved parents, pushed to believe that if anyone could do it, anyone could do it, and which ended up erasing the value of study and the long journey.
In this regard, Jurman also recounts an episode concerning one of his most famous students who came out of that school, Alessandra Amorosoand what happened while he was working on recording his album as soon as he finished the program. An anecdote that is best heard directly from his voice, in the video.
Judges without expertise and the comparison with the surgeon
On the topic of those who judge, Jurman uses a strong image. If a person who does another job in life takes on the role of music professor in front of millions of viewers, he says, the message that gets across is that tomorrow anyone can be a teacher, a record producer, an arranger. And this, for him, is shocking.
The comparison he brings is that of medicine: it would be as if he decided to become a thoracic surgeon because he has seen all the episodes of a television series. The same goes, he claims, for many of those who are defined as judges, often without training in how to make a record, how to produce it, how to accompany a singer for years. The criterion ends up being opinion, whether you get it or you don't get it, without any basis. On who fills those roles today and what he thinks about them, Jurman doesn't mince words in the video.
The legal case and the right to criticism
On the judicial matter, Jurman speaks openly. He defines what he is facing as a SLAPP, a type of legal action born abroad, he explains, with which large companies demand very high sums from those who criticize them, so high that just having to defend themselves is enough to silence the person. The lawsuit, which we have already dealt with, comes from the Amici production company and the Mediaset networks, for defamation and unauthorized use of the programme's videos.
To the question of what would have to happen for it to stop, the answer is clear: stop from what, from cultural criticism? For him it is a constitutional right, and his is educational criticism, because in life he is a teacher. He adds that stopping using the images wouldn't solve anything, because in his opinion they would find another way anyway. And remember to do the same type of analysis on international programs and on Sanremo without anyone ever reacting in the same way.
Artist United and the implosion of the system
Regarding the future, Jurman launches an appeal. He says he wrote Artist Unitedthe idea that all the great artists, the great professors and the great Italian producers come together to change things, not only in talent but in the world of recording and concerts. The belief is that there are a lot of talents in Italy, and that this situation has been getting worse for decades.
The conclusion is clear: either that system implodes, or something must be done to change it. A reading that even the hosts agree with, convinced that we are reaching a saturation point and a possible reset.
“The public is not stupid”
The closing is entrusted to an image that summarizes his position. Jurman says he's tired of hearing that TV audiences are stupid and stupid. For him the opposite is true: if you give people something terrible and then someone comes along and offers them something good, they know the difference and understand the difference.
The public is not stupid, he repeats. And this, in his vision, is the reason why sooner or later the mechanism will break on its own. One last joke, addressed to Maria De Filippicloses the episode: the desire, he says, would be to be able to speak to her directly, without intermediaries, to explain to her how in his opinion good could really be done for the music and the kids of this country.
