Seventy years lived without compromise.
Between transgression and self-affirmation, between feathers and sequins and social claims.
Renato Zero celebrates the round anniversary (30 September) in his own way, with an almost monumental work of unpublished works, just one year after Zero Il Folle.
On his birthday, "Zerosettanta - Volume Three" is released, the first of the three discs that the singer-songwriter has decided to give himself for the important celebration, preceded by the single L'Angelo Ferito.
The other two albums will be released on October 30th and November 30th (produced by Renato Zero for Tattica).
"In order not to flood the square and to give breath to the auditory pavilions of my public patient - he explains, telling that the choice to start from 3 is linked to the sorcini tradition of calling him on stage with the cry of 3, 2, 1 ... Zero ! -. Forty passages, representative of a past that here wants to reiterate the effort and attention to that consistency that has always distinguished me ".
And then, in the 12 passages of the first chapter, there is space for the relationship with faith ("a necessary companion together with conscience"), love in all its forms, mistreated nature, the relationship with the public and even the pandemic ( "Covid-19 is the son of consumerism, of gigantic spending that is often fruitless and useless", he argues).
Texts supported by powerful music that at times seems to almost take over thanks to important collaborations, starting with the production and arrangements of Phil Palmer, Alan Clark and ending with the contribution of Maestro Adriano Pennino, who inaugurates his collaboration with Renato Zero.
"I am proud to have arrived in these 70 years, to have given chills and emotions. It's not my funeral, but my rebirth. I celebrated a few birthdays but this I do not want to lose even if the party will have to be postponed.
There should be my colleagues, to see if they too have the same wrinkles, and the public that deserves a great show. The artists should be honored ", he says attacking the radios, guilty of not giving him the right recognition with few or no passages, in the name of the target I am denied this access: but let the public decide if Renato Zero did a shit or a good job. "
During the presentation of the new work, with the journalists connected via Zoom, the king of sorcini removes a few pebbles from his shoe and the majors also end up in the crosshairs, which "make money in Italy, but reinvest them outside and do not enhance Italian music." But also live streaming in times of health emergency ("it's like sex without foreplay"
) and the young "unadorned" no longer accustomed to the mess and the "carboneria of the cellars" ("you cannot play music closed in a room, alone in front of the PC, because in this way it becomes a sterile soliloquy.
And the ease of visibility that kids have today risks burning them too soon ").
Zero, however, does not want to divert attention from his latest work (" not a commercial operation, otherwise I would have only made one record, not three " ), which forced him "to tell me the whole truth for the age of 70, as if in front of a confessional: a way to reaffirm the will, the desire, the dream". And he proudly claims the glitter of the past that they offered him " the opportunity to pass an unconventional thought and way of being.
I owe a lot to Renato Zero, with his sacrifice he allowed me to resist certain influences, even in the record sector.
In a suit and tie it would not have been the same ". To those who point out certain similarities and certain parallels with Achille Lauro, cut short:" He manages to assert himself with little expense, I made myself a bunch like this, but far be it from me to judge .
I love all those who do this job as long as they don't take the piss out of the public. "
Canale 5 will also dedicate to the Roman singer-songwriter, on 29 September, an early evening event with the Zero Il Folle concert: the images of the two concerts sold out at the Assago Forum in Milan on 11 and 12 January 2020 just before "the closing of the world."
The release of Volume Three will be accompanied by a box set, which will then contain all three chapters. part of the profits will be destined "to those who have worked with me in live shows and are in difficulty right now". (ANSA).