Adelmo Fornaciari aka Zucchero is full of music, and his life is full of musicians. Which can be kind of a problem. Because when you talk to him it's difficult to stay on track, that is, on the pieces chosen for the second cover album (almost literally: Discover II) and not find himself talking about the club he was admitted to.
Even if you resist the temptation to ask him what Sting has told him lately, what he discussed in Germany with Mick Jagger (or if Peter Gabriel made him feel something, if he managed to meet Dua Lipa, etc.) then we find ourselves talking about the original performers of the pieces, or friends who appear on the album such as Corrado Rustici or Paul Young, Salmo or Russell Crowe. And we start again. Even when you try not to turn the discussion into a red carpet of music, nothing is enough: perhaps to quote someone else who today loves singing other people's songs a lot, it turns out that «the other night I met Robert Plant for the first time And…”.
However, even an interviewer who tends to be disenchanted receives the sensation that he says all these names naturally (in short, we know which league he plays in) but also with the perceptible veil of amazement of someone who, despite everything, continues to be a somewhat incredulous fan. Perhaps he remained by force, after a long career but with an exhausting apprenticeship, with a lot of effort to get even just a little consideration in Italy, in our holy little festival – and then take off and find himself invited to the big ball, the real one , that of Miles Davis and Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and U2.
In the interview for the first Discover we had talked a lot about music. Faced with the second one, I feel like going back to the answers from back then and asking you if you want to update them. For example, at the time you told me that you had a list of 500 potential covers, which you had written down in a notebook. Two years have passed: now it's 600? Thousand?
No, I started from the skimming that had brought them down to 100. Then I evaluated whether there were other titles I felt like doing. And always asking myself if they were songs to which I could give something of my own. But two years ago I didn't think “this thing I'm discarding today, I'll do it in two years”, in the sense that I didn't think about doing this Discover IIwas supposed to be a one-off episode.
How come?
It was born because Covid was involved, and like many I found myself rediscovering old records at home. This second attempt is a mix of challenge, fun and necessity. Precisely because after Covid we found ourselves doing more live shows than before, and I have to take a year to make an album of unreleased songs.
Or even more, given that DOC It's from five years ago.
Many things have happened. I haven't been doing nothing. But when I make a record I need to do workshop work, to concentrate like a Franciscan. And I will do it at the end of the tour I'm about to start.
I also suspected a little other reason. That is: in Italy you are known as an author, as a musician, if you want also as a personality, while abroad, by force of circumstances, they also consider you as a vocalist, a quality for which perhaps you feel underestimated here.
Ah, it's not me who's underrated, it's others who are overrated (laughs). Or perhaps the voice in Italy is a little less important. In the documentary film that Valentina Zanella shot about me there are a few characters I think are quite credible who talk about me as a singer: Bono says that my voice is like a whiskey aged in an oak barrel, Sting that it is a gift from God, Ray Charles I not only have a great voice, but I'm also a talented musician. Then yes, they are people who love me and say it in friendship, but…
But he felt like saying that. The arrangements on the other hand seem deliberately contained, taking into account that you are someone who has not denied big bands, orchestras, luxury session musicians.
It's a choice I've been making for some time, already on DOC as compared to Chocabeck there was more minimal production. One day I'd like to make a record with two acoustic guitars, or bass and guitar, like the Johnny Cash record produced by Rick Rubin.
But going back to this second batch of covers, was there a different criterion compared to the first?
I wouldn't say it: the spirit always remains the one that made me sing these songs when I performed at the beginning, and with my companions in adventures we played for four hours in clubs, which was a good school. Sailing or Moonlight Shadowfor example, were things you heard in the summer, and we proposed them in Varazze or Forte dei Marmi. Then I put things closer to this era like songs by Pearl Jam, the Killers or Bleachers. But the fundamental criterion remains: beautiful songs that I liked and that I would have liked to write.
In reality, a certain common thread could be discerned. In your translation, My Own Soul's Warning of the Killers has become Love that moves the suna verse that is…
The conclusion of Paradise of Dante, yes.
And then there is Knockin' On Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan, and in the lyrics of Rhapsodywhich you wrote for Bocelli, you sing that “the soul goes towards eternity”. And in short, to quote James Brown in Blues Brothers: have you seen the light?
(He laughs) Oh well, what should I say. I have always moved between Devil in me and the search for one Spirit in the dark.
But perhaps there is a little less devil in this album. No?
You know what, it's less fun. They are not here I see black or the Healthy and conscious lust. There is a touch more melancholy and spirituality than usual. It's just that I'm of a certain age and the cord is getting shorter (laughs). Look, I can tell you this: my father lived his last years suffering from a progressive and rare disease that made him move with difficulty and speak badly, but for years when the priests came to bless the house for Easter he had them kicked out, he shouted in dialect «Away with the priests, I don't want to hear about it!». But then, come on, after years of illness, at a certain point the priest let him in, got up and made the sign of the cross with him. And so…
As they sang in New Orleans, “When the saints go marchin' in, I want to be in that number.”
Eh, in the end if it were true it would be nice.
But speaking of the gates of heaven, Bob Dylan's piece is considered sacred. When Guns N' Roses did it again, with guitar blasts and Axl Rose's delirious, ingenious rapping, the critics were outraged.
I know that certain particularly iconic songs like Knockin' On Heaven's Door or With Or Without You they will make someone argue, and since I know this I approach them with even greater respect but always trying to interpret and arrange them in a personal way. For Dylan's piece I thought I'd accentuate its origins from a western film, which it was Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. I tried to imagine an intervention by Ennio Morricone, with the death knells, then the snare drum like a ride and the pedal steel guitar.
It's one of the most vintage pieces on the album, the other is Inner City Blues by Marvin Gaye, 1971.
What an incredible piece, what a shot and what a very timely text: the hidden poverty of American cities. Less and less hidden, among other things, the last time I was in Los Angeles, for example, the homeless seemed like an army to me. And anyway, all the media seemed to suggest that Kamala Harris would win, but every time I chatted and asked a taxi driver or a hotel concierge who they would vote for, they almost stood at attention and said loud and clear: “Trump!” .
One of the most different sounding songs is Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield. But above all for how you sing it. It is less light and more painful.
As a boy it always gave me the idea of something that happens in the sky, with the magic of the moon. Then I went to read the text and the protagonist dies because he is shot.
And there's another song that I thought was essentially serene, but your way of singing it changes things, it's Watercolour of Toquinho. You sing it as if setting the scene for the sad ending.
“We are all a watercolor that will fade.” Which is also a concept that is also found in the piece with Paul Young, “I see a darkness coming”.
Photo: Daniele Barraco
You also redid it Agnes by Ivan Graziani. Have you ever met him?
Unfortunately not, this is a totally listener's song, which brings with it many memories. It has a text that totally represents me, the province, the genuine things, the boats, her sitting on the handlebars, the missed kiss, a world of the past that fades even him.
The strange thing is that when talking about the songs it seems like you're constantly in pain. But it also turns out that the friendship with Salmo, with whom you have made a new relationship Overdose of lovecomes out of a New Year's Eve together, or that Russell Crowe's presence comes from an evening of drinking. In general it seems that all your foreign colleagues can't wait to meet you and let loose.
Salmo is Sardinian, but he is not a foreigner (laughs). He is very strong, he has explosive energy. Then well, everyone asks me why I have these connections that have lasted forever, and every now and then I ask myself that too. They don't come from managers or record companies. I believe that many of the people I meet value the sincerity of what one does. And then they hear that I'm a fan.
A fan of theirs, or of music?
Both, in the end it is often the same thing. The other night I met Robert Plant, it was the first time but it felt like I'd known him my whole life. With Bono or Sting we share many things, friendship, values. I hear Peter Gabriel and he says to me «How are you, why don't you pop over to my house in Cannigione?». I go there with pleasure, we talk about life, about children, maybe we get an idea to do something together. Many of those we consider stars are humble and free people. Not all. With those who are, I feel better.
In all this, Russell Crowe?
Ah, I really like him as an actor, but I didn't know he sang, we met when we toured Australia, we met at the Sydney Opera House, he was with Jimmy Barnes, an Australian singer-songwriter. Then I saw him again at the Andrea Bocelli event in Lajatico, we were close to each other in the dressing room and he arrives and says «Remember me?».
That is, the Gladiator who is afraid of not being recognized.
In fact I tell him that I remember. And he tells me: «I'm on tour in Italy with my band, you have to come and see me», and ok, I went to see him in La Spezia and I must say that I found certain songs interesting. We started drinking Guinness behind the stage and he insisted: «I want to do something with you».
A movie?
Ah, I would like that yes. For some time now I have had a subject for a thriller based on an episode that is part of the story of my life. It would be great if he played me, come on… For now we're just doing it Just Breathe by Pearl Jam. Then, we'll see, anything is possible.
With you it is an appropriate expression. But do you already know what you will do this New Year's Eve?
Of course, I will be in Dubrovnik.
Uh, it's an incredible place.
I know, I go there to work, but I really enjoy going. Also because they made me an offer I couldn't refuse!
Last question, a service one: you are about to present the album at a press conference. Since I already know that your colleagues will try to provoke you in order to get some shots for the title, do you already feel like telling me about it?
I don't know (laughs). I'll end up saying some shit and pissing someone off.
You can't be everyone's friend.
Oh, indeed!
