Paola Turci - Beautiful for Myself

“I've never felt so confident and determined. Now I'm finally free of all my fears: the scar, the feeling of looking different… It took me a while, but in the end I made it.” That fierce, sensual gaze wasn't accidental, nor was that half-open jacket à la Patti Smith, nor that contralto voice finally clawing its way back with a vibrant, furious performance on the Ariston stage. Paola Turci made herself beautiful for herself. And now she wants to ride the wave of her comeback. With a new album, “The second heart”, and a tour, starting in May. And our conversation itself testifies to all the vitality and energy with which she intends to tackle this new phase of her career.

First of all, I'd like to give you some news: at least on the OndaRock forum, you're the one who won the Sanremo Festival — it was almost a landslide!

How wonderful… thank you!

In any case, it was a performance that was very well received by everyone. Do you see it as a vindication, after some difficult years and a few rejections, including from Sanremo itself?

I'm not someone who holds grudges or seeks vindication — I think if something doesn't work out, it's because it wasn't meant to, and that's fine. This time, though, I gave it everything I had: if something had gone wrong, it would have been an enormous disappointment. I've never felt so strong and determined; it was the culmination of an important personal journey: I freed myself from the fear of the scar, of being seen. Then, with the book and its adaptation into the theatrical monologue (“Mi amerò lo stesso”, which inspired Giulia Anania to write the Sanremo song, ed.), I took a further step forward and reopened a drawer that had been shut for twenty-four years — acting, which I hadn't considered again after the accident. In short, it's been quite a journey; I arrived in Sanremo complete, well put together. I just needed the practice.

Speaking of Sanremo, from “Sarò bellissima” in 1988 to “Fatti bella per te” thirty years later: how do you experience it, and how has this theme of beauty changed for you?

It's changed a lot. An accident like that, one that hits your face, turns your view of yourself and the world upside down. I worked hard on it, and it was inevitable that sooner or later a song like “Fatti bella per te” would come out of it. I don't even remember that naive approach of “Sarò bellissima” anymore: so the two songs really can't be compared.

I spent many years dreaming of having normal skin and two evenly balanced eyes, dreaming of not seeing myself as crooked, because it was my whole soul that felt twisted.

You even went so far as to say: “I thank the scar. Without it I would have been ordinary”…

That line just came out of me somewhat off the cuff — I'd like to clarify it better. I spent many years dreaming of having normal skin and two evenly balanced eyes, dreaming of not seeing myself as crooked, because it was my whole soul that felt twisted. Today I can say the scar was a blessing, because for me it was a chance to reflect, to question myself again — but you certainly don't need to go through something like that to work on these issues. Life sometimes doesn't wait around for you and your whims, so you have to work on yourself: that's the lesson I've learned. You have to do it before life slaps you in the face.

What do you remember of your early festival years, when you were stuck in the “Newcomers Section”?

It was a different world… I started in 1986, and for four years I kept competing as a “Newcomer” without ever being allowed to move up to the Big Artists category — something incredible that doesn't exist anymore today…

Well, maybe in some cases it would be good to bring it back (we laugh)

No, well, it was really a different kind of event altogether. The reason I did all these Sanremo festivals as a "young artist" was for the Critics' Award, which I won every year from 1987 to '89.

The second heart is the place where I was reborn, where I rediscovered my new musical and inner awareness. A perfect definition that Enzo Avitabile gave me as a gift.

And now, after “Fatti bella per te”, there's also a new album, “The second heart”. What kind of record is it?

It's the record that brings me most sharply into focus, that captures my current state of mind, full of energy, full of hunger to devour life. “Tenerti la mano è la mia rivoluzione” captures all of this, but “La vita che ho deciso” is also autobiographical. And then there are songs like “Gioielli” that tell, in a different but deeper way, about my roots, my passions, what's happened in my life. It's also a very varied record, with different moods and songs that call for very different vocal approaches from one another.

What is “The second heart”?

It's the place where I was reborn. It's strange that an album so representative of my new musical and inner awareness should take its title from the one lyric I didn't have a hand in writing. But Enzo Avitabilecame up with such a perfect definition of the place where I want to live - that is, music, inspiration, emotions - that I wanted it as the title. That's my second heart.

Anna Magnani remains the model: a strong, heart-wrenching woman, capable of showing her pain, yet devouring life and love in great bites. I also love Chavela Vargas, with her folk songs full of rage and passion.

Among the tracks there's also your first attempt at singing in Roman dialect, with an assist from Marco Giallini...

“Ma dimme te” is perhaps the song that represents me most. And yet I had never expressed my Roman identity until now - I wanted to avoid the easy temptation of the traditional stornello. This is a song that describes a female character: my model remains Anna Magnani, the most beautiful and fascinating woman there ever was, even if she wasn't in the classic sense. To me, a woman has to be like that: strong, heart-wrenching, capable of showing her pain, yet devouring life and love in great bites. And Anna Magnani also reminds me of the women in my family: my grandmother, my mother...

Speaking of passion, seeing you at Sanremo was a relief: finally some healthy anger and sensuality, in an age of watered-down performances stamped out by talent-show templates.

It's not just a talent-show issue. I think it's a matter of historical cycles. Today that model prevails, one based more on technique, on form, and that visceral quality gets a bit lost. Personally, I love Chavela Vargas, with her heart-wrenching folk songs, full of rage and passion, in which a woman expresses herself in every one of her forms.

And now you'll get to bring your fire to the stage too, on the upcoming tour...

Yes, I'm thrilled: I'm counting down to this tour the way you count down to Christmas. Especially because “The second heart” is really an album made for the stage. The warm-up date will be in Todi, with a special staging, but the first official date will be on May 9th at the Auditorium in Rome.

Did you know that De Gregori considers your version of “Saigon” better than his own? That doesn't happen often: he's extremely possessive of his songs.

True! He even greeted me with "finally I get to meet Paola Turci", which, coming from De Gregori... In the end it was a wonderful meeting: I told him I'd sought him out because I wanted to cover this song of his, and he understood perfectly that I had the utmost respect for him. I think he's someone who goes a bit by gut feeling about people, and luckily he liked me - I got lucky there!

I went through the whole singer-songwriter repertoire to present myself in a serious, respectable way. But in the end I chose Anna Oxa and a song that's always stayed close to my heart.

Speaking of covers, how did the idea come about of bringing Anna Oxa's "Un'emozione da poco" to Sanremo?

At first I went through the whole singer-songwriter repertoire to present myself in a serious, respectable way. Then I said to myself: I want to have fun, I want to sing an energetic song, one that I actually like. So I thought of this track, which also reminds me of the first Sanremo I ever watched on TV, back in 1978. I was thirteen, and when I saw it I thought: "Do other planets exist? What a song! What a presence... wow, I never want to wear a skirt again, but can a woman really do all that?". It was a revelation, and the song stayed with me ever since. I was afraid it had already been covered in previous editions, but no one had done it yet. So I grabbed it right away: mine!

Great choice: to me it's worth just as much, maybe even more, than a lot of serious, respectable singer-songwriter tracks...

Well yes, and on top of that it's written by two major authors, Ivano Fossati and Guido Guglielminetti — it's a masterpiece, even though for years it was dismissed as just a little pop song.

When Vincenzo Micocci of It discovered me back in the '80s, there were fifteen record labels. Today it's much harder to break through. But the talent is still out there. Even outside the talent shows.

Staying on the subject of singer-songwriters, the man who discovered you in the mid-'80s, Vincenzo Micocci of It, was a great talent scout for songwriters like, among many others, Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti and Rino Gaetano. Today it seems there aren't many record men like that left. Is it harder to break through now?

It's definitely harder to get noticed. Back then there were fifteen record labels, majors and indie labels backed by the majors. Today everything is far more complicated. Personally, though, I know a couple of guys who still go around venues scouting for talent. After all, the supply has grown out of all proportion. And there are more and more talent shows.

So, in your case, one could say it shows that you emerged before the talent-show generation?

Yes, maybe so, but I believe that for those with a different style there are always other places to express themselves. There's a historical moment when certain kinds of songs and bands work better than others. Good things still come out in the end though, there's always someone who notices you and lends an ear. I don't know, that's how I see it, it's not romanticism...

Did you expect your choice to appear (almost) bare in a photo shoot for Vanity Fair to cause such a stir?

Well, actually I'm not nude in that shoot, I show my shoulders, my stomach... What I liked most was the idea of playing with my age, thinking that once upon a time no one would have dreamed of showing themselves like that at 52. I feel good about myself, I've lost fifteen kilos, and being at peace with your own body means having no issues at all — I did it to feel good about myself, and I'm happy.

In those iconic shots of Patti Smith photographed nude by Robert Mapplethorpe, you could see all her grit, all her rock spirit. What am I listening to these days? All sorts of things, from Lhasa de Sela to Fink.

You also said that at Sanremo you would have liked to undo your jacket and go without a shirt, "like a Patti Smith photographed nude by Robert Mapplethorpe". Now, I fear that in that case we wouldn't have seen you on TV again for quite a while...

They laid it on a bit thick with that story. What I actually said wasn't quite that — they put together two separate things I said, namely that I wanted to go to Sanremo with my jacket open, but then afterwards I thought it might distract from the song. In the United States you see singers in their underwear, in thongs, and nobody bats an eye, but in Italy that's all anyone would have talked about. Even as it was, with the jacket closed but the bra peeking through, someone told me, "thank goodness you covered up on the last night!". As for the reference to Patti Smith posing nude for Mapplethorpe, what I meant was that in those shots you could see all her grit, all her rock spirit come through. It was eroticism, not pornography.

What do you think of today's music, both Italian and international?

I really like new singer-songwriters, like Brunori Sas (I found his latest album spectacular) and Mannarino. I listen to all sorts of genres, but my favorite artists are always the same: Lhasa de Sela, Bob Marley, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Fink, who I collaborated with on my new album. As for the songs at Sanremo, though...

You don't listen to them anymore?

No, I watch the performances, but in the end not much stays with me. I liked the editions from the '80s much more - those are songs I could sing entirely from memory.

(Extended version of an interview originally published in the newspaper Leggo - April 9, 2017)

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