Rino Gaetano - Bitter Fables of a Storyteller

Salvatore Antonio Gaetano comes into the world in Crotone, Calabria, on October 29, 1950. There, he begins breathing the air of a city that will stay in his lungs forever. At ten, he follows his parents to Rome, who work as caretakers of a building on Via Nomentana. The growing flair of an artist in full formation starts to make an impression on the city's cultural scene. His studies to become a surveyor are distracted by the stage and his first approaches to the guitar. His passion for theatre (in Carmelo Bene's "Pinocchio" he will play the fox) as a means of communication is utterly outclassed by expression in song form. He begins performing at the historic Folkstudio in Rome, where he meets many of those who will later become his "colleagues", such as Antonello Venditti and Francesco De Gregori. His discoverer, however, will be Vincenzo Micocci (the same man who in '78 refused an audition to Alberto Fortis, and to whom Fortis himself dedicated the invectives of "Milano & Vincenzo" and "A Voi Romani").

In 1973, It released the two singles "I love you Maryanna" and "Jaqueline", recorded by Gaetano under the pseudonym Kammamuri's. His debut in the record industry is far from triumphant. Not even his first album Free admission, released in 1974, manages to catch the attention of the public or industry insiders. Yet fate was soon to smile on him. Perhaps Italy was not yet ready for his subtle irony, for his sincere love of life, for his gentle and courteous form of protest. "Tu, forse non essenzialmente tu", a vital passion for love, "Ad esempio a me piace il sud", in the indelible memory of his native Calabria, and "Supponiamo un amore" are only the beginning of Rino Gaetano's gradual detachment from Italian singer-songwriter tradition of the '70s.

Twelve months later, the ears of the more discerning listeners begin to be intrigued by the vivid colors of his lyrics. In 1975, in fact, the single "Il cielo è sempre più blu" draws attention to him, even though the track was never included on any of his six albums. The song was originally split into two parts (probably because it was too long for one side of a 45), only later joined together into the "extended version" we all know, running eight minutes and twenty seconds. The lyrics are a typical example of Gaetano's protest songwriting: “Chi vive in baracca/ chi suda il salario/ chi ama l’amore chi sogni di gloria/ chi ruba pensioni/ chi ha scarsa memoria”.

Barely any time passes, just one more year, and here comes a new record.

Mio fratello è figlio unico (1976) finally marks Gaetano's entry into the pantheon of Italian singer-songwriters. The title track that opens the album, a poignant ballad balanced between family affection and social commentary, boasts one of the most ironic and touching lyrics of the Italian scene of those years. Seemingly nonsensical lines like "mio fratello è figlio unico perché è convinto che Chinaglia non può passare al Frosinone" or "perché non ha mai criticato un film senza mai prima vederlo" or "perché è convinto che nell'amaro benedettino non sta il segreto della felicità" would become cult verses, more so for later generations than for those of the time.

But "Mio fratello è figlio unico" is above all a bitter j'accuse that reveals the political soul of the singer-songwriter from Crotone: "E' convinto che esistono ancora gli sfruttati, malpagati e frustrati/ mio fratello è figlio unico sfruttato represso calpestato odiato". The album also features delicate, dreamlike tracks such as "Sfiorivano le viole", "Cogli la mia rosa d'amore" and "Al compleanno della zia Rosina".

With the very first years of his career and relative anonymity behind him, the young Gaetano moves toward a genuine and tangible maturity, without letting the candid poetry of his early work disappear from the songs on Aida, his third album, released in 1977. The number of musicians and collaborators grows, and the production improves. It's another varied album, faster and more rhythmic than its predecessors. "Spendi Spandi Effendi" and "Escluso il cane" are a worthy continuation of his previous recordings, in the same vein of sarcasm that's always sharp but never vulgar. "La Festa di Maria", with its Spanish-tinged folk guitar, hints at a substantial interest in these rhythms to come. "Standard", on the other hand, turns its gaze to a simpler, more pulsing rhythm'n'blues.

The rough edge of Gaetano's voice, combined with an increasingly carefree, amused air, finds decisive support in his appearance at Sanremo. The singer-songwriter from Crotone takes the Festival stage in 1978 dressed in a red-striped shirt, tailcoat, top hat and sneakers, and with "Gianna" takes third place behind Matia Bazar and Anna Oxa. It's his consecration.

Also in 1978, Nuntereggae Più is released. The title track (featuring Lino Banfi, though Bruno, Rino's longtime friend, swears it's actually him exclaiming "nuntereggaepiù" at every verse) is a massive reggae-fuelled jibe against everyone and everything, from Gianni Agnelli to the P2 lodge, from the P38 pistols to Berlinguer (practically sacrilege at a time when the whole intelligentsia was devoted to the Communist Party), from Gianni Brera's proto-Padanian journalism to the Capocotta beach scandal (where Wilma Montesi was found dead after a drug-fuelled party at an upper-class residence frequented by prominent politicians and well-known wealthy figures of the time). The song was also released as a 7" single in Spanish, titled "Corta la cuerda", paired with "E cantava le canzoni", which for the occasion became "Y cantabas las canzonas". "Gianna", meanwhile, reached Germany, where, translated into German, it climbed the charts up to number twenty-two, while in Italy (backed by the bluesy b-side "Visto che mi vuoi lasciare") it hit number one and stayed there throughout the month of March.

Nuntereggae Più is the turning-point record. His audience grows, and Gaetano leaves It to join the major label Rca, with whom in 1979 he produces his fifth album, Resta vile maschio, dove vai?, opened by the cheeky title track written by Mogol. Striking rhythmic arrangements, with strings and horns present throughout, characterize this record. Some copies still in circulation carry a printing error: the cover reads "Contiene Hai Maria". The reference is, of course, to the song "Ahi Maria", another big hit for the singer-songwriter from Crotone, which picks up his passion for Spanish-tinged rhythms, leading him to record it in Spanish as well. There's also room for memories of his sunny South, gently kissed by the waves of the sea, while fishermen haul in their nets from the boat, because "Anche questo è Sud". And one of the satirical gems of his catalogue shines through: the irreverent ballad "Nel letto di Lucia", where the beloved's bed becomes a caravan of ministers, seat-warmers, candle-holders, colonels, counter-revolutionaries, old saints and fortune-tellers: “Falsifichi assegni cambiando grafia nel letto di Lucia/ dipingi scommetti e ti scordi la via nel letto di Lucia/ guarisce d’incanto la tua malattia nel letto di Lucia/ il prossimo anno ci porto tua zia nel letto di Lucia/ non trovi mai nebbia penombra o foschia nel letto di Lucia/ vorrei ritrovarti vorrei fossi mia nel letto di Lucia”.

Gaetano enters an important phase of his career. Success doesn't seem willing to be distracted or turn its back on him. Another step forward for the thirty-year-old from Crotone, who nonetheless remains firmly anchored to his roots. Also in 1979, he records "Solo con io", a track never released as a single but included in the compilations Gianna e le altre and Superbest. Shortly afterward, a second version of the song appears, just eleven seconds longer, found only on La Storia. Released posthumously, alongside "Solo con io", is also "Le beatitudini", recorded in 1980 and included in Gianna e le altre and La Storia.

Returning to his official albums, in 1980 E io ci sto represents yet another confirmation of the Calabrian singer-songwriter's compositional genius. "Ti ti ti ti" is a dedication to all those who, listening to the song, will smile at the lines "a te che ascolti il mio disco forse sorridendo/ giuro che la stessa rabbia sto vivendo/ siamo sulla stessa barca io e te". Set alongside his debut Ingresso Libero, the tracks on his final album appear as a splendid offshoot and worthy continuation of an artistic path that never, not even for a moment, feared coming to a halt or growing stale.

In the early months of 1981, success leads him on tour with Riccardo Cocciante and Giovanni Tommaso's New Perigeo. From the shows of the 4th, at the Auditorium in Pistoia, and the 5th of March at the Palasport in Novara, comes Q Concert, an EP with four tracks: "Ancora insieme", "A mano a mano", "Aida" and "Aschimilero". "A mano a mano" and "Ancora insieme", the latter in its live version, were later also included on "Margherita e le altre", a double compilation by Riccardo Cocciante released in 1998.

That same year, Gaetano records with Maria Monti the unreleased track "Al bar dello sport (ovvero sogghigni e sesso)" and "Confusione, gran confusione ovvero il processo", featuring Monti, Lucio Dalla, Anna Oxa, Nino Buonocore, Ivan Cattaneo, Perigeo Special and Jenny Sorrenti. Both songs are part of the concept work "Alice".

The Rai archives also presumably hold a real gem. In 1981, in fact, at Rai's studios, Rino Gaetano and Anna Oxa perform a song written by Mogol and Battisti, titled "Il leone e la gallina". On the night of June 2nd of that same year, while driving along Via Nomentana in Rome, near Via XXI Aprile, Rino Gaetano meets a tragic death. His Volvo 343 crashes into a truck. Five hospitals refuse to admit him. His body is buried at the Verano cemetery in Rome. Ironically, one of his earliest songs from his Folkstudio days, "La ballata di Renzo", told the story of a young man who, after a car accident, couldn't find a single hospital willing to take him in… Rino Gaetano was due to get married just a few days later.

The record industry would go on to commemorate him by churning out compilation after compilation. In 2003, Sotto i cieli di Rino was released, adding nothing to the earlier La Storia from 1998, except for a questionable remixed version of "Il cielo è sempre più blu", courtesy of dj Molella, which sparked the irritation of most of the Crotone singer-songwriter's fans.

For the irony and intelligence of his lyrics, for his blunt, biting songwriting, Rino Gaetano truly deserves a place alongside the greatest names in Italian song. His universe is crowded with saints climbing the stake "dressed in asbestos"; with imaginary women spinning wool and sniffing out truffles; with blue skies and starry nights, with lovable whores and detestable politicians of every stripe. He mocks and moves, with the anarchic eccentricity of the troubadour-poets. The Italy of the P38 pistols and the strategy of tension, in his songs, becomes a surreal country, caught between fairy tale and drama, romantic passions and social contradictions. A country that Gaetano always loved, but one that almost never wanted to understand him.

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