Cristina Donà - An Italian Miracle

“I have a perfectionist streak that I'm working hard to fight: for once, I'd like to take myself less seriously”. That's how Cristina Donà tries to explain the long gaps between one album of new material and the next, as happened with the lovely “I Walk Home“, released in January, and its predecessor “The fifth season“. “I'm very demanding about everything I do, and I really do scatter a lot of energy. My luck has been finding labels that have always given me a good deal of freedom”.

“I Walk Home” came out of a fortunate collaboration with Saverio Lanza, producer and arranger as well as a musician who has performed alongside the cream of Italian mainstream music (Vasco Rossi, Biagio Antonacci, Piero Pelù, to name three). “At first I was very skeptical. When Gianni Cicchi (Cristina's manager, drummer for Diaframma and one of the founders of the Consorzio Produttori Indipendenti) suggested this name to me, I thought I didn't really have much to do with that world. But I trust Gianni completely, so I sent Saverio a few demos of songs I'd already written. No one has ever forced a producer on me, and this time too I felt free to make my own judgment”. Things start clicking straight away, and by the third round of exchanges with Saverio, Cristina is convinced: “It was exactly what I was looking for, a skilled musician and arranger who could bring a complete vision to the album. Saverio turned out to be someone of extraordinary versatility - he works in pop, but you can tell he's got some incredible listening behind him”. The work continues largely by email, given the distance between Saverio's Florence and Cristina's mountain home in the Bergamo area, and then moves into the studio with a sound the two of them fully share. “We'll definitely do something together again. But mostly for the human side of it, which is essential to me. I think the chance to question yourself in the making of a record is crucial”.

From the very start, the album reveals a vivid, intricate arrangement free of any electronic fussiness. “Yes, it's all played live. One of the first things I told Saverio, back in July 2008, was precisely how strongly I needed the record to feel as real as possible. To make the idea clear, I mentioned Battisti as a model for the arrangements: complex, but never difficult”. Cristina isn't the first to revisit the work of Lucio Battisti, who has by now become essential listening even for the latest generations of Italian musicians. “With a mature, experienced ear, you discover truly brilliant musical solutions behind those wonderful songs. He absolutely deserves to be rediscovered, chewed over again”.

The album's second track is probably the most intense and delicate moment of the whole record, the result of a truly inspired production: “The song is dedicated to my husband and my son, the new joy of my life. My husband is a person driven by passion, and the trees - which I see every day, living up in the mountains - seemed to me the perfect symbol to give shape to that soft/strong contrast. The melody, on the other hand, reminds me of a walk in Bologna after a concert. I recorded it immediately on my phone. Generally speaking, 'Un esercito di alberi' is about the things that matter, and about how you don't need to fully understand them - you just need to let go. Those are the things that turn your life upside down, and that, fortunately, you can't control”.

The album is generally marked by a positive streak, with expansive, richly colored openings; some of the darker passages found in earlier work seem to be missing here: “in recent years I've found it hard to write more closed-off, gray material. The songs open up anyway, even when I don't want them to. It's almost a physical need for open, smiling sounds. For 'Miracoli', for instance, I had a brass band in mind, something between Sgt. Pepper and Raffaella Carrà. I wanted to talk about 'revolution' with strength and energy, but without any nastiness”.

The influences behind an album that is otherwise so varied and personal, and that confirms a mature, original songwriting voice, aren't easy to pin down. But hidden behind it are listening habits that are just as important as they are unexpected: “Some of them are quite far removed, one of them is definitely Marisa Monte. I've never been a passionate listener of Brazilian music, but I've always loved that kind of musicality, and it's come back, at least in spirit, in my own work. And then I listen to a lot of women artists, with a clear preference in recent years for Joan as a Police Woman, truly a musician with counter-beeps, music that's dense and light at the same time, just how I like it. Of course, with a little one around it's harder to listen to music: on the home stereo he's constantly tempted to push all the buttons!”.

Being a woman today, they used to say. And being a woman singer today, what value does that even have? Not long ago there was a demonstration that brought a million women into the streets to make their voices heard: “I signed Concita De Gregorio's petition too, and I was there in spirit with all those women marching. The way women are regarded in Italy today is truly alarming. There has to be room for a different kind of woman, one who isn't the television stereotype, and yet that room simply doesn't exist. I'm thinking especially of the complexity of managing a family, something that abroad is supported and encouraged in every way: part-time work and working from home are incentivized, for instance. In Italy, pregnancy is treated like a liability, not least because of a bureaucracy that, as usual, is too slow and convoluted. What's missing at the root is a genuine policy for women, beyond TV, scandals, and other nonsense. Let's leave the moral question aside - just look at the numbers. And it's a problem even the left hasn't solved”.

The contradictions of Italy don't exactly thrill the singer-songwriter, and the problem seems to be mainly cultural: “Yes, just think about illegal downloading too. If there were a basic message getting across about how music is work, how it's culture, a kid would grow up with a clear idea in mind, one that might stop them from downloading music so recklessly. But then again, if we live in a country that bans street music, we can't expect much. Ufficio Complicazioni Affari Semplici [Bureau for Complicating Simple Matters]: that's Italy for you”.

Twenty years ago, an unforgettable season for Italian music was starting to take shape: Cristina is one of the finest fruits of that fortunate decade. “I don't think you can really talk about a 'scene' - there wasn't one specific place - but it was definitely a wonderful musical moment, and it has to be said that labels gave a lot of freedom and, above all, had serious financial resources behind them. Today that's impossible, 'independent' is synonymous with personal investment. And while indie resources dry up, at the majors the money is invested almost exclusively in TV-driven products. In my case, there was a genuine, full investment in the artist as she was, and I'm proud of that. Anyone who plays music shouldn't even think about competing with X-Factor or Amici, in my opinion. They need to find their own way to put themselves out there, especially live”. The heart of music suddenly comes back to the stage, a dimension that's fundamental for Cristina: “Today it matters more than ever, incredibly so. Not only does it let you actually earn a living making music, but if it works, if you know how to hold that stage, if you play well, people will buy your CD too. It's one of the few places, in fact, where records still sell. I was born on stage, for me it's always a magical, unrepeatable moment!”.

So one wonders how an album as orchestral and elaborate as “I Walk Home“ can possibly be recreated live. “Well, I certainly can't bring an orchestra along with me. But that difference could be interesting. I really loved seeing how the songs work on their own, even just with guitar and voice, as happened during the album presentations I did around Italy with Saverio. That said, there will be different instruments than in years past, even a couple of horns, and overall it'll be a proper production, complete with staging”.

There's nothing left to do, then, but go and see for yourself.

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