Gino Castaldo – La Repubblica
02.11.2024
From time to time Mina’s voice reappears to remind us that in music there is, or there should always be, something unattainable. Like a destination that must remain distant, an unexpressed desire, a starting point for dreaming, and that diabolical, intact, abstract voice is always there, with its arrogant fluency, innate elegance, to reiterate only and exclusively itself, even if it were through a new single signed, parole musica, by Francesco Gabbani. It’s called Throw it away, introduced in the full version by the sound of the surf, sea waves breaking on an imaginary beach, a classic piece in its own way, verse and chorus, but when the piece starts and asks to fly, the voice of Mina flies, as if she had no age, as if it were taken for granted, as if she asked everyone who listens to her to sing with her, despite knowing full well that no one can sing like her. The single announces an album of unreleased songs but, by singing Gabbani, the singer reiterates an ancient and constant vocation to always look for new life, to duet with young, very young people, see the previous one with Blanco, to choose between very different authors. Let’s not forget that his career began exactly like this, it took off when he agreed to sing a piece that in 1960 seemed like abstract madness. Il cielo in una stanza, and also thanks to his interpretation it has become a classic of our musical history. And then it was De André, and then it was Battisti.
The truth is that Mina has never stopped searching, today when she could comfortably live on an income, on ceremonious and pompous revivals, and it must be said that this time Gabbani has served her on a silver platter a piece made specifically to exalt, if even if it were needed, the beauty of the voice.
After all, Mina, with more than sixty years of career behind her, with many circles and turns completed, ends up being very modern, for a simple reason. In the iron and absolute isolation that does not allow exceptions, and has now lasted without exceptions and hesitations since 1978, Mina has become a disembodied entity, she does not have a face, she does not have a physical consistency, she has accustomed us to welcoming only her voice , and therefore today it has bypassed all risks, it cannot even fear artificial intelligence because it has anticipated it for decades. Mina doesn’t exist, her voice exists. And few people in the world know it, few people know that in Italy we have one of the most powerful voices that was born in the twentieth century. “A breath of life is enough, closed in one hand, ready to be thrown far away” he sings today, “wherever you are, hold it again”. And we cling to that voice that is all we have, of her.
The truth is that Mina has never stopped searching, today when she could comfortably live on an income, on ceremonious and pompous revivals, and it must be said that this time Gabbani has served her on a silver platter a piece made specifically to exalt, if even if it were needed, the beauty of the voice.
After all, Mina, with more than sixty years of career behind her, with many circles and turns completed, ends up being very modern, for a simple reason. In the iron and absolute isolation that does not allow exceptions, and has now lasted without exceptions and hesitations since 1978, Mina has become a disembodied entity, she does not have a face, she does not have a physical consistency, she has accustomed us to welcoming only her voice , and therefore today it has bypassed all risks, it cannot even fear artificial intelligence because it has anticipated it for decades. Mina doesn’t exist, her voice exists. And few people in the world know it, few people know that in Italy we have one of the most powerful voices that was born in the twentieth century. “A breath of life is enough, closed in one hand, ready to be thrown far away” he sings today, “wherever you are, hold it again”. And we cling to that voice that is all we have, of her.
