from Italy’s most handsome to most beloved
ARE YOU TIRED OF WORKING?
“Why do we want to redeem, veil with rhetoric and illusions what is evil and punishment”?
What is the Italian-American Mafia?
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!
FRANCO
we will come back again!
I AM TRULY IN LOVE WITH THIS BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF THE WORLD. I JUST NEED TO OPEN MY MOUTH AND INVOLUNTARILY IT BECOMES THE SOURCE OF ALL THE HARMONY OF THIS CELESTIAL LANGUAGE. YES, DEAR SIR, FOR ME THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE ANGELS SPEAK ITALIAN. IMPOSSIBLE IMAGINE THAT THESE CREATURES OF THE SKY USE A LESS MUSICAL LANGUAGE. “
THOMAS MANN
angels speak italian!
I am truly in love with this beautiful language..
Franco Battiato
We will come back again!
Palermo Urban style.
Palermo is the capital of the Italian island of Sicily. The 12thcentury Palermo Cathedral houses royal tombs, while the huge neoclassical Teatro Massimo is known for opera performances.
...gives the feeling of an eternal union, the first experience we try when we come into the world.
“As soon as I cross the bridge dedicated to the Muse of the Navigli, Alda Merini, I meet the patron of the Navigli...”
The word “love” is certainly the most beautiful word that human beings have invented!
With a group of close friends, Samuel Kamanzi a songwriter excellent musician, Judo Kanobana the most prominent producer of live shows and musical events in Rwanda and Joël Cottin a project manager for hospitals and pharmaceutical industries, passionate of music, we put together the SiMBiZi Vibes concept and realize it.
GIULIANO HAZAN
““I’M Italian” went to visit Giuliano Hazan at his home in Sarasota FL.
YOU
WORKING?“It would be better to live without being fooled by political and economic rhetoric, of which we are only gears well oiled by ridiculous and offensive promises, if we did not need even those illusions”!
Since 1931, five families have run New York’s Italian-American Mafia: the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese.
38Beppe Convertini
On the cover
Is a successful Italian actor, tv host, radio host, and former model. Throughout the years, his charm and talents have captured the attention of thousands of fans, who follow his artistic career with great interest and admiration.
Seduction also passes through the voice. Who does not remember Jessica Rabbit’s sensuality, stunning curves and a low, languid voice, enveloping like a passionate, almost hypnotic kiss? A low and slightly hoarse female voice has always been an expression of sensuality just as a deep male voice is able to give a man an exceptional charm. A study by researchers at Albright College in Pennsylvania confirmed that low voices are more attractive to the opposite sex, and that everyone tends to use a lower tone of voice when they find the interlocutor particularly attractive. Lowering our voice with someone we like has a double advantage: on the one hand it shows
our interest in the interlocutor, on the other it makes us hopelessly sexier and more seductive for the person we talk to.
And what if the person who lowers his voice also has an intriguing foreign accent? In over seven thousand languages spoken around the world, there are incredibly sexy cadences and thrilling sounds. The musicality of the Spanish language or the sensuality of the French accent awaken the senses, however, among the more than seven thousand languages spoken in the world, Italian seems to trigger the most erotic impulses!
Skyscanner, a major travel reference
site, has launched its top ten of the 10 sexiest accents on the planet, finding Italian, Dutch and French among the top three. Also in the search of CNN Travel at the top of the preferences of Facebook users are Italian, French and Spanish.
The Italian accent would be the sexiest in the world perhaps due to its romantic charm, its musicality, its passionate tone, but also the alternating combination of consonants and vowels that make it more seductive and attractive. Romantic phrases said in Italian, especially if whispered in the ear, would make the heart beat faster by igniting the passion.
APreplyexperiment achieved this by listening to some audio in different languages and measuring the increase in the participants’ heart rate compared to the average resting heart rate. When the mellow notes of the Italian sounded, the pulsations accelerated with an increase of 23%! Subsequently, the Portuguese with an increase of 20% and the French, Russian and Greek all with an increase of 18% were placed in the overheating ranking.
The spread of these languages appreciated by Preply research participants is very different. The Italian language, founded on the Florentine of the fourteenth century,
and conventionally called “the language of Dante”, is spoken by about 68 million people, a much lower number than the other languages considered. Portuguese, a musical and rhythmic explosion of vowels, is spoken by 240 million people in the world, and is the sixth most spoken language, relying on a basin like that of Brazil which, in terms of expressive sensuality, is not second to nobody.
Thanks to its sweet and sensual “r”, French is considered the language of love par excellence, it is the official language for 247 million people and is in common use by 315 million inhabitants who
make up the great French-speaking community. The fascination of the Russian language is contained in the ability to continuously alternate hard sounds with other sweets and it is the language of 154 million people. The Greek language which has reached a level with the others is probably the oldest European language, and is currently spoken by only about 12 million people.
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Americans prefer the “language of Monica Bellucci and Alessandro del Piero” followed by the French one, considered “an erotic language”, and by the Spanish one, “sensual and hinted at but with a passion for unleashing hell”.
A study by ‘Time Out’, which crowned the British accent as the sexiest in the world, placed French in second place, and in third place the Italian named sexiest in the world by countries such as Spain, France and Portugal.
The Babbel app, dedicated to languages, has found the French are the greatest admirers of the Italian language, 44.8% find Italian irresistible. Followed by the Swedes, 39.7% find it sexy, and the Germanspeaking countries which, with 26.7%, are in third place among the admirers of the Bel Paese language. The most popular Italian words are “Amore” and “ciao bella” at the top of the list of those that make the hearts of the French beat faster. Even the Swedes remain on the
classic and report words like “amore”, “ti voglio bene and “bello / bella”. And the Germans melt with words like “amore”, “ti amo” or “buona notte”, whispered in who knows what romantic moment.
languages. Elegant, musical, harmonious, sweet, pleasant, seductive, that Italian is the language of love, even confirmed by a study by Today Translations, which indicates it as the most romantic language in the world. A sweet language, which cuddles word after word, without ever becoming authoritarian, but always addressing the heart. But we know:
According to the Babbel app, Italians reciprocate the passion of the French, 38.5% of respondents find that the French accent is the sexiest. The Spanish accent comes second in the hearts of Italians with 32.3% and the English accent takes a nice third place with 18.1%.
In short, the Italian language is considered the most beautiful in the world, making it the fourth most studied among foreign
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Battiato; 23 March 1945 - 18 May 2021) was an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker, and under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato’s songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, and have spanned genres such as experimental pop, electronic music, progressive rock, and new wave.
He was for decades one of the most popular singer-songwriters in Italy. His unique sound, song-crafting and especially his lyrics, often containing philosophical, religious, and culturally exotic references, as well as tackling or painting universal themes about the human condition earned him a unique spot on Italy’s music scene, and the nickname of “ Il Maestro “ .
Franco has literally revolutionized Italian pop music, but the most amazing thing is that, unlike other superstars of the Italian scene, he has created his own unmistakable style that does not refer to any canon of contemporary music, I mean, while in the whole world used to apologize to English and American artists, Battiato experimented ,with his music which is not pop, not rock and not just electronic but it is Battiato’s music. His texts, often of an esoteric-spiritual style, were embellished, in the last part of his career, by the texts of Manlio Scalambro. The Sicilian philosopher immersed himself in the musician’s atmosphere, creating real artistic pearls.
AAsounddescendsfromfaraway,absenceoftimeandspace, nothingiscreated,everythingistransformed,thelightisinbeing luminous. Radiatetheentirecosmos,citizensoftheworld,theyseekaland withoutborders. Lifedoesnotend,itislikeadream,birthislikeawakening. Untilwearefree,wewillcomebackagain,againandagain. Youknowthatthedreamisreality,itisaninviolateworld,ithas alwaysbeenwaitingforus. Ganden’smigrantsinbodiesoflight,frominvisibleplanets. Therearemanywaysbutonlyonethatleadstothetruth. Untilwearefree,wewillcomebackagain,againandagain.
1970s
Fetus (1971) Fetus
Pollution (1972)
Sulle corde di Aries (1973)
Clic (1974)
M.elle le “Gladiator” (1975)
Feed Back (1976, collection)
Battiato (1977)
Juke Box (1977)
L’Egitto prima delle sabbie (1978)
L’era del cinghiale bianco (1979)
1980s
Patriots (1980)
La voce del Padrone (1981)
Franco Battiato (1982, collection)
L’arca di Noè (1982)
Orizzonti perduti (1983)
Mondi lontanissimi (1985)
Echoes of Sufi Dances (1985, in English)
Ecos de Danzas Sufi (1985, in Spanish)
Battiato (1986, collection)
Nomadas (1987, in Spanish)
Fisiognomica (1988)
Giubbe rosse (1989, live)
1990s
Una vita scellerata (1990, soundtrack)
Come un cammello in una grondaia (1991)
Caffè de la Paix (1993)
Unprotected (1994, live)
L’ombrello e la macchina da cucire (1995)
L’imboscata (1996)
Gommalacca (1998)
Fleurs (1999)
2000s
Campi magnetici (2000, soundtrack)
Ferro battuto (2001)
Fleurs 3 (2002)
Last Summer Dance (2003, live)
Dieci stratagemmi (2004)
Un soffio al cuore di natura elettrica (2005, live)
Il vuoto (2007)
Fleurs 2 (2008)
Inneres Auge (2009)
2010s
Apriti sesamo (2012)
Del suo veloce volo - with Antony and the Johnsons (2013, live)
Joe Patti’s Experimental Group (2014)
Le nostre anime (2015, collection)
Live in Roma - with Alice (2016, live)
Torneremo ancora (2019)
Operas Genesi (1987)
Gilgamesh (1992)
Messa arcaica (1994)
Il cavaliere dell’intelletto (1994) - unreleased Telesio (2011)
Filmography
Perdutoamor (2003)
Musikanten (2005)
Niente è come sembra (2007)
La sua figura (2007)
Auguri Don Gesualdo (2010)
Attraversando il Bardo (2014)
Bibliography
Tecnica mista su tappeto, Conversazioni autobiografiche (1992)
Evoluzione evoluzione evoluzione (1998)
Parole e canzoni (2004)
In fondo sono contento di aver fatto la mia conoscenza (2007)
Musica e spiritualità (2008)
Io chi sono? Dialoghi sulla musica e sullo spirito (2009)
Temporary Road. (una) Vita di Franco Battiato. Dialogo con Giuseppe Pollicelli (2018)
Palermo is the capital of the Italian island of Sicily. The 12thcentury Palermo Cathedral houses royal tombs, while the huge neoclassical Teatro Massimo is known for opera performances. Also in the center are the Palazzo dei Normanni, a royal palace started in the 9th century, and the Cappella Palatina, with Byzantine mosaics. Busy markets include the central Ballarò street market and the Vucciria, near the port.
By I’M Team
In those bygone days, and even earlier — during the Arab rule, Vucciria was a favorite place to do business. The market bustled with the voices and languages of Asians, Pisans, Genovese, Venetian and Amalfi merchants as well. This thanks to the proximity of the Cala harbor.
In those days, as you elbowed your way through the dense and twisted alleys of the Vucciria market, you could allow yourself a stand inside the crowd in one of the squares where shoppers found every ingredient one might desire for some real Sicilian cuisine: fish, fruit, vegetables, spices and of course, meat of every kind.
Today, however, apart from some stinking fish and limp veggies lying forlornly on the stalls, there’s really nothing to make it worth your time to wake up early to visit this market.
But wait! As they say on TV, there’s more: When the sun goes down, Vucciria Market transforms itself into one of Palermo’s most lively and entertaining venues for nightlife and certainly deserves a visit by everyone (except for monks and nuns).
At night, this normally gaunt and apparently dying marketplace fills with some really alternative types. You’ll see Goths and punks as well as some more-orless normal unpretentious people dancing and drinking alongside a young criminal element.
They’re all here to enjoy the nightlife beneath a starry sky in the midst of these ancient and crumbling buildings of Garraffello Square.
As impressive as Palermo’s architectural gems are, the real Palermo is experienced in its streets, markets, and in its food. Palermo markets are a festival of food. During our threeday stay, our street was closed for an ice-cream festival.
The pedestrianized Palermo streets made it easy to wander around the ornate palaces some of which have been turned into museums. Palermo’s plazas function as the city’s living rooms filled with little cafes, music venues, art exhibits, and strolling citizens. Street food in Palermo can be found all over town in little stalls selling tasty snacks for about 1 – 2 Euros. Try as many as you can especially the “arancini” little, fried rice balls.
We were lucky enough to be in town the night of a religious street procession. A crowd was singing religious hymns and carrying a statue of Mary down a major street accompanied by priests and musicians. Felt like we were in the original Godfather movie.
The 16th-century cemetery of the Capuchin monastery of Palermo grew too small to accept new bodies. The priests were forced to unearth the tombs beneath it to buy their fellow clergy. The bodies were treated with various preservation methods; vinegar wash, embalming, or sealing them in glass. The townspeople began to see these catacombs, or underground crypts, as sacred ground. Why else would priests be buried there?
The residents offered donations in return for burial in the catacombs until having the catacombs as a final resting place became a status symbol for the upper classes. sensing a financial opportunity, the priests began offering tomb maintenance in return for donations. Donations poured in, more ground was excavated until a virtual underground city was created beneath the monastery.
Once donations stopped for the maintenance of a particular body, it was placed on an above-ground shelf–essentially a spiritual hostage–until the donations resumed.
The exhibit is filled with mummies, some remarkably well-preserved. Most interestingly, you can learn about the customs and traditions of the local residents of the time. Well worth a visit and one of the key Palermo points of interest.
Leave the islet, abandon the blizzard, get to the belly of the smoking mountain every night.
Incandescent sparkles rise to the sky, light up the islands and rivulets of fiery lava dazzle the dark sea. A picture of flames and the Tibetan shaman follows the path among craters of extinguished volcanoes, of caves and white beaches between hidden coves to reach the valley of Temples.
by Melina PalumboMelina Palumbo ( Pseudonym of Teresa Carmina Cusano) was born in Ruviano (province of CASERTA) in 1955 and spent her childhood in Adelaide in Australia. She returned in Italy at the age of thirteen and continued her studies; in 1982 she graduated in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature with first-class degree (110 e lode) at the Oriental University Institute of Naples. She won the competition for Assistant of Italian Language abroad (on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and taught in Scottish schools for a year. Now she lives in Arce (province of FROSINONE); she is an English Language teacher and she taught in Italian Middle Schools until September 2019 when she retired. She dedicates herself to cultural and volunteer activities. She has always written poetry. Her other hobbies are theatre, music and dancing. In March 2000 she published for Spring Edizioni (Caserta) two texts of poems, “SPIRAGLI” and “FEELINGS” (lyrics in English), in 2021, Silent Love, with F. Guzzardi.
P.S.R. Puglia 2014/2020 Measure 16 - Cooperation. Operation 16.3.2 “Creation of new forms of cooperation for the development and / or marketing of tourist services”. Beneficiary "Le Stagioni di Ostuni Limited Liability Consortium Company". www.svilupporurale.regione.puglia.it
Puglia is the ideal destination for experiential tourism in Italy, outside the mass flows that characterize other more wellknown destinations. It is a region known for its naturalistic and landscape beauties and for its food. A land where hospitality is sacred, where everyone is ready to open the door of their home to visitors from all over the world.
“Knowledge and flavors of country tradition”
With its traditions and with this great sense of welcome, offers activities all year round, tempered by a mild climate.
The consortium company LeStagioni di Ostuni was born a few years ago, which with its homonymous project offers tourist packages and experiences that follow the seasonality of the products of the earth, the traditional uses and the culture that generated them. In all the initiatives, in fact, there are activities thanks to which guests can live like the locals, get to know the artisan shops and small producers of typical food and wine excellence.
The creation of tailor-made packages, which fully reflect the needs of the guest, who immediately becomes the protagonist and an integral part of the territory, in search of the most authentic emotions, of food and wine tours such as the one dedicated to the gold of Puglia (extra virgin olive oil ed. )
Tomatoes and preserves, almond, figs, artichokes, wine, dairy products, ancient wood-burning ovens with their sweet and savory delights, walks in the wheat fields and among the vegetables are some of the ingredients of these extraordinary experiences. Land where agriculture is practiced, sustainable, where it is possible to consume a fruit just picked from the tree, where the farmer is happy to tell and explain.
www.lestagionidiostuni.it
The gesture of the hug gives the feeling of an eternal union, the first experience we try when we come into the world is precisely that of the hug, the child is welcomed in the arms of someone eager to love and care for him, so he feels to be safe, his crying subsides and he falls asleep peacefully.
Being hugged means receiving on a psychological level everything we need to live: love, nourishment, warmth and protection. The hug is essential for the survival of the child but it is also essential for that of the adult. People who never receive hugs or who have received few in childhood are unmistakable, it is possible to recognize them among 1000 because of that hard shell they had to build around their soul. When we are not held in the arms of those we love, we experience an atrocious loneliness where the only possible solution is to strengthen our character to be able to do it alone.
This seems to be the tragic fate of the narcissist, who has a somewhat naive thought, is convinced that he does not need anyone to lean on in order to move forward, believes he is a power, his armor envelops him, his is a hard and refractory narcissistic shell, which hinders any kind of affective contact or emotional participation with the other.
The victim of the narcissist, at some point, perceives that his partner does not want to be hugged as he is not available, because he is wrapped in a sort of barbed wire that prevents access to his soul. Thus, the narcissist risks becoming more isolated, depriving himself of the best aspects of existence and emotions.
The hug is therefore regenerating when it offers the illusion of being able to realize the dream of total Union; in fact, in the arms of the beloved, we finally feel happy as if nothing was missing anymore, as if we had obtained what we have always wanted. The hug is a powerful means of communication, through this gesture, we can communicate to the person we love those emotions that we would not
have been able to express through words alone and at the same time, when we are hugged, we hear the words of the other, which are words full of meanings, which
in that silent instant describe inexpressible feelings of satisfaction.
The hug can express the intensity of a feeling or the depth of an emotion, so it is a difficult experience for the narcissist, who is more used to using words rather than physical contact. With words the narcissist can easily lie while when we find ourselves tight in the arms of the other person it is no longer possible to lie, our truth emerges with arrogance, waiting for a reaction from the other. The narcissist’s embrace is mechanical, a bit false, rather muscular, like his sexuality on the other hand, his embrace is tragic, as it leaves a sense of despair, paradoxically appears grotesque and caricatured, if it were a prelude to separation.
We could define it in a certain sense, a poignant embrace but devoid of emotion. There is a lot of technique in the narcissist’s embrace, the movement is studied, calculated, is adjusted to create the maximum effect but it is an embrace that is empty, dull , lifeless, it does not communicate love.
The narcissist is a person who loves to look at himself and is pleased with his physical appearance, he feels satisfied by the admiration of others and therefore is a vain type, the vain bets everything on the outward appearance, the vain act moved by a single need, that of being admired and desired by others, therefore, they are unwilling to give, they prefer to draw attention to them. The narcissist has a morbid love for his own image, focuses all his interest, all his energy on himself, is obsessed with appearing and this on a psychological level and a sterile withdrawal on himself, having himself as unique landmark. Who loves his own image, leaves no room for others and has nothing to offer to the people around him, in practice, the narcissist transforms the philosophy of appearing into a faith and is in love with his own image, so he believes he is the center of the universe and forgets that others exist around him but his belief that he can be happy only because he is admired for his physical appearance is an unreal illusion; therefore the narcissist is self-centered and cannot be available for relationships with others; he has no interest or energy to devote to anyone who is exiled from his small world but beware, this is not a conscious behavior but a dynamic that takes note independently of the will; it is a need that arises from fragility, he must protect himself from involvement affective because it could shatter his easy self, therefore he raises barricades around him, which prevent others from accessing his inner world, here is because the narcissist’s
embrace is fake. The narcissist is alone and is enveloped in his emptiness.
Jung says: There are people who have neither the courage nor the inner drive to live the overcoming of the past and the insecurity that derives from it, the lack of reference points, which means destroying all the securities that allow you to live in a reassuring way but, to live in uncertainty it is a task of maturity so what?
Strong are those people who never stop questioning themselves, who never retreat from the risk and accept the greatest of all challenges, that of unconditional adherence to their own inner values from which life is born as a form of redemption. In this vision, the obstacle exists as an incentive to move forward not to stop. The resolution of our most intimate problems always passes through the conquest of awareness and therefore of the capacity for action and through the desire for change, which essentially means, be aware of the importance of others and therefore of the humanity present around us.
“Destroy the memory that you are, forget who you were and what you wanted.”
Giuliano, people say that your mother, Marcella Hazan, was for Italian cuisine, a bit like Julia Child for French cuisine in America...
No, listen: many people say this, that is the origin of Italian cuisine in USA, I would say homemade style not a restaurant style, and also not the first to introduce Italian cuisine to America, but how it is eaten in Italy instead of what had become Italian-American.
You were born in New York but you lived the first years of your life in Italy, do you feel more Italian?
A bit complicated because we returned to America where I continued my studies and then I always continued to go to Italy every summer, I went to stay with my grandmother in Cesenatico until I finished my studies.
When you returned to America, you were seven, what memories do you have of the cooking classes your mother organized at home?
To tell the truth, my mom had never thought of cooking before she met my father. She liked to eat well and her mother, my grandmother, cooked very well but it’s not that my mother usually spent time cooking. On Saturdays, however, once she was with my father, she did. Mom always said my dad could handle a lot of things but not a bad meal! So she started cooking using recipes my grandmother gave her and some cookbooks too. Then she discovered that she just had a talent for cooking, so it was a locked thing inside her that she wasn’t ready to go out.
What was the role of Victor (your father) in this?
He contributed a lot in the work, because in fact with my mom he first started organizing these cooking classes and then a publishing house came asking if he wanted to make a book and mom said, “no, not even for a dream! I don’t know how to write in English! “ then my father said: “well don’t worry, I’ll translate!”
From then on, he wrote all my mom’s words in English, so she handwritten these big sheets and my dad then typed them out, so he had, let’s say, a major role. My father was the one who… well, he managed, let’s say, his church, therefore a kind of manager.
As for you, how did you start following in your mother’s footsteps?
Well… I could have just continued to eat well, which was also a good idea, but after college, I said no!
Let’s go back, in the 76, when my parents opened the cooking school in Bologna (a school for Americans, one of the very first) My mother taught during the day but at the evening lessons, I helped and learned.
I was 17 and as the years went by, I had more and more responsibilities. I started to take people around on the various trips that were made during the day and then towards the end, in the 80s, my mom started teaching in Venice and we moved there. So I started giving cooking classes at home, in Venice, and I even started teaching in the cooking school in Bologna and therefore, in Valpolicella.
But let’s get back to you: how did the idea of resuming the same business as your parents in Italy come about and what is added to yours, different, new?
I went to college in the beginning because I wanted to do theater, and I was part of a theater team. But I didn’t earn anything… and then, I started giving cooking lessons, because it was something I learned to do and therefore, at a certain point, a publishing house wanted to publish a book about pasta. It was published in 93, I wrote it in the years 91-92 and it was a resounding success, it has sold over half a million copies worldwide in over 12 different languages!
Your mother was the inspirer of everything, but what was it like in your opinion or if you remember, cooking In America, before and after Marcella Hazan?
I don’t remember much, I was too young, but I remember that my mother made long trips to go and find an artichoke! Because there were no raw materials such as Parmesan, there is almost nothing of that stuff there, olive oil, there was very little of it so, at that time there was little of ingredients there. So, today it has
changed. When I started teaching there was already more.
What did you feel about your mother’s teachings and what is it instead, have you innovated or tried to change?
I think it is impossible not to change, everyone has their own personality, I probably added certain modern techniques: how to prepare the ingredients, how to cut and then even a little bit of flavors maybe. I think the most important thing I learned is the flavor, what is the right flavor, trying to understand how to achieve it, how to produce this flavor. It was a difficult thing to explain, you have to have what my mom called, (in English then) “test memory” which many people, even good cooks who try to reproduce Italian dishes do not have. This test memory, in fact, you cannot know it if you did not grow up in that environment.
Which character trait of your mother influenced you the most?
My mom was a very genuine woman, she always said what she thought and was always very confident in her beliefs about herself, she didn’t change her mind easily. Several times they tried to make her sauces, her products to sell but for her it was not fair, well, she was not one of who accepted compromises and this was one of the things I always admired in her.
In the end then, (I don’t know what mom would think) I created a sauce based on her recipe; I only made a small modification of her tomato sauce, the one with tomato, onion, butter and salt, using the same ingredients; the only difference is that she cooked the whole onion in the sauce and eventually removed it. The onion is very tender, delicious sweet and we ate it but part. I, on the other hand, wanted to try to pass it with sauce together, because I have always liked the onion; it was also the only way to truly “civilize” this sauce because it would not have been logistically possible to take out the onion for production.
But there are an infinite number of tomato sauces in Italy, do you agree with me?
Yes, we can then say of a sauce that does not exist: the marinara sauce!
Your father (Victor Hazan) on the other hand was a wine expert. Now in America, we mainly talk about California wines, what do you think and what can we still teach the “Californians”?
Well .. you know, in Italy and also in France there is still the idea of the tradition that wine comes from the earth, that is, the grape that is indigenous to that area. Here it does not exist, But apart from that, the level is almost reached. You just need to understand that, a base wine of Nebbiolo in Piedmont, you do not go to plant it in Tuscany, it is not the same thing!
Beppe Convertini, born on July 20th, 1971, in Martina Franca, is a successful Italian actor, tv host, radio host, and former model. Throughout the years, his charm and talents have captured the attention of thousands of fans, who follow his artistic career with great interest and admiration.
Convertini, who is devoted to his family, lost his father to an illness when he was 17 years old. But he always had a special relationship with his mother and two sisters which, over the years, further connected him to his hometown.
In 1989 he moved to Turin to pursue a college education. During this time he also began working as a model, thanks to his sculpted physique, and walked the runways of top designers in Milan, Paris, and New York, becoming the face of a various national and international brands. In 1993 he won the national competition for “Italy’s Most Handsome” (Il più bello d’Italia) and later graduated with a degree in Business and Economics.
With his modeling career at an end, Beppe dedicated himself to his lifelong passion, acting. He began in theater and then moved on to television and films. His most famous roles were on the popular Italian soap opera “Vivere” and the successful series “Le tre rose di Eva.”
Beppe Convertini is sensitive to social issues and initiated a series of humanitarian missions to aid Syrian refugees, Haiti, the Brazilian favelas, and earthquake victims in Abruzzo. He has joined many battles against gender violence, one of which inspired the docufilm “Wall of Dolls,” presented at the “Festival del Cinema di Venezia.” The actor was also the face of the campaign in favour of “Terre Des Hommes,” a humanitarian effort against violence and the exploitation of minors in Italy and around the world.
Convertini has shot around 20 films and collaborated with actors like Michele Placido, Alessandro Benvenuti, Carlo Vanzina, Giancarlo Giannini, and Nino Manfredi. In recent years he hosted successful programs on RAI including “La vita in diretta estate” and “C’è tempo per…” Since September 20th, 2020, and for the second consecutive year, he co-hosts the Sunday program on Rai1 “Linea verde” with Ingrid Muccitelli.
He has traveled extensively in the United States, particularly to California, Florida, and New York State. Convertini is captivated by the country’s natural beauty, and the Grand Canyon is always remembered among his fondest travel memories. He has always dreamed of working as an artist in the United States.
BEPPE CONVERTINI AND ANNA FALCHI
PHOTO BY ASSUNTA SERVELLO
Before becoming Hollywood stars, Jamie Dornan, Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, and many others, appeared on the runways of the world’s top designers. Beppe, you also entered show business as a model. For better or worse, how decisive of a role have looks played in your career?
In show business, like in any profession, I don’t believe you can achieve your goals without talent and a lot of preparation. External beauty is simply a quality that goes hand-inhand with interior beauty comprised, above all, of humility in your approach to learning and practice, even after years of satisfaction. If I had bet on looks alone, I don’t think I would have accomplished all that I have.
During your rise to fame, how did you handle the separation from your family, and how have they contributed to your career?
At the beginning of my career, it was really hard to leave home. After my father’s death, when I was only 17, I immediately took over caring for my mother, sisters, nieces and nephews. So I left home a few years after my father’s passing with a deep sense of responsibility to fulfill my dreams and give support and satisfaction to my loved ones. It was difficult to be away from my family,
in those early years, but their emo -
tional support motivated me, even from afar, to achieve my professional goals and have the moral values that make me who I am today.
During the course of your career, you’ve had the opportunity to try your hand at different artistic fields and have displayed great versatility. From fashion to film, radio to television, as an actor and host. Which has given you the most satisfaction and why?
Two important professional experiences will always remain close to my heart: “La vita in diretta estate” a journalistic talk show, which I had always dreamt of hosting, and “Linea verde” a program on “RAI1” and “Rai Italia” that airs on Sundays and presents Italy’s artistic, historical, cultural, and natural beauty to millions of Italians at home and abroad. Through the stories of great men and women, who ensure that Italian farming and artisanry remain top quality, we document how “Made in Italy” maintains its superior reputation among consumers throughout the world. Thanks to “Linea verde,” I was even able to travel during the long months of the pandemic, and I hope I kept viewers company during the long quarantine, by documenting how Italy is the most beautiful, diverse, and fascinating place in the world. Speaking of which, I invite everyone to visit Italy to revive the tourism sector, which has greatly suffered because of the Covid-19 emergency.
Given your professional versatility, if
you could fulfill your dream of working in the United States, would you prefer a role in a film or to host the “Academy Awards?”
My dream has always been to work in the United States. If I were ever given the privilege to choose, I would host the “Academy Awards,” so I could meet the world’s greatest stars and directors, all in one night. I have always watched the event from Italy with great interest, and I admit that to host it would truly be an emotional experience.
You’ve traveled throughout the United States. What place, in particular, has remained in your heart?
I’ve traveled a lot in the United States and, while many places have captivated me, the Grand Canyon holds a special place in my memories. Exploring it was an exhilarating experience. I was mesmerized by the majestic untainted nature, and by how the rocks change color in the sunlight. In terms of cities, I love San Francisco, the most European city in the United States. If you visit the USA, it’s a must, elegant, full of charm, and alternative culture. Obviously, I also like New York, it’s truly a city that never sleeps, where there’s always something to do, whether you live there or are on vacation. I love all of the United States. It’s an immense country that never stops fascinating you with its varied landscape and culture.
What are American artists lacking in comparison to their Italian counterparts and what can Italian artists learn from them?
I don’t think there’s anything one has to learn from the other. Both countries have great artists in theater, television, and film. American artists are just luckier because they often work on the global stage, since Hollywood productions have an international impact. We Italian artists, except in the case of exceptional talent, are only known by Italians and struggle for exposure beyond the national borders.
Another important aspect of your career are humanitarian missions. These experiences have brought
you to Syria, Jordan, Burma and inspired the publication of your book “I bambini di nessuno,” a photographic account and travel log of your trips. What led you to these kinds of experiences and how much have they influenced who you are today?
I knew that humanitarian missions would change me, and that these experiences would help me understand the true meaning of life, what matters and what doesn’t. I knew they’d motivate me to appreciate the true values of our existence. The smiles and faces of the Syrian children who survived civil war are always in my heart, as well as those of children who escaped the massacre of the Behrman regime. The innocent faces, of those who have the right to
live like everyone else, taught me to appreciate each day, to be thankful for what I have without complaining and desiring the unnecessary.
The famous American comedian and tv host Jimmy Fallon once said: “There’s always going to be someone out there… who doesn’t believe in you or who thinks your head is too big or you’re not smart enough. But those are the people you need to ignore, and those are the times you need to just keep doing what you love doing.” How have you dealt emotionally with closed doors and with people who didn’t believe in you?
Many doors were closed in my face, like so many of us, but you have to consider it a part of awareness and growing up. It’s precisely those “No’s” that help us to mature and better ourselves. It’s important to never give up, even after many rejections, and to continue our studies and other professional experiences, whether big or small. If you love what you do with all your heart, sooner or later your big chance will come.
What advice would you give young Italian artists who want to begin a career in show business?
Show business is a special and unique profession, with lots of highs and lows that can only be overcome with great passion and determination. So I’d advise young people to first understand exactly who they are and what they want to become, and then begin the necessary training and experiences. It is important for new recruits to work hard on their limitations without complaining about the difficulties. They should never give up and, if they lay the groundwork, their big chance will come.
This year you turn 50. What do you wish for the next 50 years that you haven’t already achieved?
For the next 50 years I wish for the same life I’ve had thus far, alongside the people I love. Health and serenity are all I want for the rest of my life.
“AssoonasIcrossthebridgededicatedtothe MuseoftheNavigli,AldaMerini,Imeetthepatron oftheNavigli,theartistMichelleVasseur,cousinof MargueriteYoucenar.”
BY MARIAGRAZIA PIA
“In the twentieth century, I wanted to be Maria Callas, in the Renaissance Lorenzo the Magnificent and Plato in Antiquity”
French, of Norman origin, her facial features recall him, she immediately declares herself to belong to other eras, but she is jealous of the future, which is the only temporal dimension for which, according to her, it makes sense to live! Magna Graecia, which he has in mind, is the land of our South, conquered by the Vikings, the Normans, not by the Romans: there is no nostalgia for the classicist, for the humanist towards ancient languages that he declares not to know, but that fascinate her, but also the versatility of the Renaissance artist: she looks at aesthetic canons, at sculptural and pictorial models, rather than literary ones.
The art is in the DNA of her family between a grandfather sculptor in Notre Dame and a maternal cousin like Marguertite Yourcenar, of which she remembers as inimitable Memoires d ’Adrien.
Exactly nineteen years have passed since the interview she gave to Mariella Tanzarella for the Italian newspaper “Repubblica” on May 31, 2002, at her home overlooking the Navigli; our meeting today instead has a transoceanic destination, the Florida of “I’M Italian”. It is certainly not she who reminds us of the episode: she does not catalog, she does not keep, she does not like, for this reason, interviewing her and doing research, it is a real discovery, there is no ambition and there is no narcissism on her part in telling, only sincerity in answering.
With Max Mannarelli, founder of Trottoir in the 90s in the historic headquarters in Brera, with her son Milian Vasseur Mannarelli, “art dealer” she has continued since 2003 at the Milanese customs, with the spaces and sets that can be admired, including concerts, pictorial exhibitions, book presentations, of which one example above all was the free permanent exhibition on the occasion of Expo 2015 of great painters of the twentieth century, a tribute to the city.
For artists and creatives, the Trottoir is a place of comparison, exchange of ideas and pure creation, life, as it was possible in places of other times and other geographies, while the public can enjoy the final part: the exhibition , the concert, the presentation of talents. The “creatives” lived, before the Covid closures, 19 almost continuously from eleven in the morning to the dawn of the next, the art that is not far from everyone’s life, but right on the trottoir, in the heart of a metropolis like Milan, the contrary to the isolation and the ivory towers, of the Academies, in which artists and writers are sometimes accused of withdrawing.
Although Michelle Vasseur is cosmopolitan and has also lived in the USA, she loves Italy and in Milan she feels like she is in Europe, she says that the other places she lived in
were ... parentheses. Her choices are aesthetic, but the way of working always in collaboration, before she comes the bond with the artists and collaborators then the economic decisions, not always advantageous, as patronage is not.
The answers to my questions detach themselves from the conversation, like petals from a flower ...
-Yourartisticbeginningsare fascinating,somuchsothatthey cannotbecalledbeginnings,but immediatesuccess.Atleastahint?
-I was a correspondent for Le Figaro and I met Vito Pallavicini, (joining the Curci editions, “Carosello”, in the historic location that hosted Giovanni D’Anzi for the timeless “O mia bela Madunina!”). Intimidated in that historic room, amidst furniture from the past and dust intercepted by a lazy sun, in November 1975 I composed Femme, avec toi for Nicole Croissille, but still under the pseudonym of France Ferrari, before SIAE was officially made. Two and a half million copies sold meant that Pallavicini immediately wanted me on his staff! Not only texts in French, but in Italian and regardless of whether they are for male or female singers, I can identify with the music, to make the text credible, which will be adapted to the singer’s voice, personality, style. So I continued, for artists like
Yinterrupted.
-Doyoualsohaveentrepreneurial talent,asTrottoirshowsorarethere otherprecedents,inadditiontothe recordcompany(“Vitamine.Sette note”)?
- I interrupted my musical career for the birth of my son Milian, I opened a Beauty Clinic, also in Milan, importing French medical techniques for aesthetics, to give beauty possibilities, “democratizing” the requests, so that they were accessible to a number surgery and aesthetic medicine are more numerous.
-MichelleVasseur,ayoungFrench womanandartist,justoutofthe Sorbonne,withadegreeinArt History,decidedtomovetoItaly,to Milanintheearly1970s:why?
-I chose Italy for affinity, the country of art and artists, for a Master’s. I felt at home and belonged to this nation. Elective affinities.
-Wouldthesameyoungartistleave forMilantoday,forthisMilan?
give in to any compromise: Milan welcomes, but, as in Italy generally, you need to arm yourself with patience for the bureaucracy and noise pollution of the city! Milan is a city that, for as long as I have known it, has facilitated communication, is on a human scale, even if now it is becoming too individualistic. Perhaps the natural element is missing: rivers, lakes, mountains ... here at the Darsena sui Navigli, the new headquarters of the Trottoir since 2003, there is a natural element, the water of the canals!
-Aretheliterarysalons,where womenwereMusesandpatronsof writersandartists,suchasMmede Staël,amodeloraninspirationfor thebirthofthe‘Trottoir“?
There are no Muses, women or men, there are only Patrons. Muses are sexless, like angels! Philippe Daverio came to the Trottoir, like Vittorio Sgarbi still today, to make the trottoir a cradle of artists.
-Wasthereamomentthat interrupted,temporarilyhaltedyour musicalcareer?
-In 1978, just as the Musical (Little Italy-Martine) with Marcella Bella had to be prepared, Joe Dassin died and an important musical collaboration, an artistic partnership and intense mutual trust was
- Of course not, the world has changed and I would look for the creativity of the East, or of the USA. Getting to know the global village is the experience, even artistic, that young people must have, then we had the dream of creating Europe.
Whatcanyougiveuptolivein Milan?
-You must not give up anything,
-How did the idea of a place like the “Trottoir” come about, what contribution have artists, musicians and writers made to its history? How were they inspired by it?
The creator was Max Mannarelli, who created this place calling it “Le Trottoir” not far from a hotel by the hour, the Naples, Garibaldi area, in the historic headquarters of Fernet Branca, near the Brera Academy, from which they poured young artists looking for spaces and visibility. At the counter once he met Andrea Pinketts who told him he had found his home in the room, he wrote only there, in the chaos of the room, always and only by hand, without any correction! Le Trottoir has entered the pages of his novels, as one of the typical places of Milan at night.
-Howlived“Trottoir”A.Pinketts?
Now here we have a room decorated, especially for him who wrote between his inevitable cigar and beer. His generosity was equal to his talent, his availability towards young people, to value their work and to give directions. He never corrected his really handwritten pages.
Shortly before his death, knowing he was ill, I wrote him a letter that I did not have the courage to send him, but which should be made public, as a testimony not only of immense esteem for the writer, but for the man.
-Isawandthenlistenedtotheduo withthesingerSusannaParigiin “lessonsofindiscipline”:doyou wanttotellaboutthisexperience andgive…alessonofindiscipline towomen?
-My indiscipline was precisely in having to perform in public, at the theater, almost a violence to myself,
Tmy innate shyness was combined with a rigidity towards the body and also of the feelings. Performing in public as a singer, not only the author of my lyrics, was a hard test in a tour of important theaters in Italy such as the Strehler, the Autoff, the Parenti in Milan, the Cosenza theater, experiences I don’t know about still capacitate me. I sang the story of a prostitute: however, one must activate an aspect of oneself to be able to identify with situations that are so strong that they can be engaging in the text.
-Women...sincerely:howmuch havetheyenviedyou,fearedyou, hinderedyou,weretheyfriends withyou?
-I have had extraordinary friends, all more beautiful than me, when there is the level, there is no envy. I choose based on aesthetic criteria. If there has been hostility, it is because I have not evaluated the person well.
I live for beauty, even when I opened the aesthetic clinic, to give beauty. I prefer to give than to receive.
-Thehistoricalperiodinwhichyou wouldhavelikedtolive?
-The future.
I am tormented by the fact that I do not see the future, I am not nostalgic for the past, despite the cultural admiration for artistic and literary works.
I do not keep images, photos, I do not archive for the fear of time passing, but in reality it is not time that passes, but we are passing by!
This scares me and makes me angry, not being able to see what will happen.
-Doyouhavea“transoceanic” declarationtoentrusttothe magazine“I‘mItalian?”
-Create bridges between continents, of culture, but bridges that do not fall like the Morandi bridge. Fortunately, Italy has geniuses like Renzo Piano!
-Whatlessonindisobediencewould yougivetoawomanregardlessof ageandsocialstatus?
-This is the only lesson of disobedience that I feel like giving:
yourself forgotten the clichés even if you need to remember so as not to make the same mistakes, but also to recreate the wonders of the past. Discover and rediscover the empirical value,
Be
continuous continuousexperiences, knowledge.
OF MAY 26
MARIAGRAZIA
PIA (SIRENA)
HAVE INVENTED!
Itis a word that fascinates, seduces, enchants ... Whether spoken, sung, written, whispered or just thought, this word excites, provokes feelings, stimulates the imagination, excites souls and galvanizes dreams for its evocative power, for its suggestive force that induces thought to come to terms with fate, and with destiny!
Saying it has always been an entrancing, bewitching, amazing and surprising sensation, a kind of wonderful impression of well-being, therefore of happiness! Here it is love that takes precedence over sadness, malice, misunderstanding ... Here it is taming wickedness, hatred ... Here it is on people’s lips in their favorite disguise: the kiss!
The word love generates affection, expresses attraction in that passionate dedication that electrifies people and embellishes things!
In every language, culture and tradition “love” is the key sentiment of all existence, it makes us better and more beautiful, honest and special, strong and vital! Yes, love is the best existential fuel and whatever path you choose, he will be there with you, together with you, next to you to remind you of the past, live
the present and imagine a future in which to let yourself go to all kinds of fate, fate or necessity!
In love, everything is allowed, the vocabulary also said: “Love is an intense and deep feeling of affection, sympathy and adhesion towards a person, an animal, an object or a concept, an ideal”, therefore induction or simply by philosophy, love is, in the end, a way of life, a cultural choice, a natural attitude, a variation on the theme of an impossible dream, a model for all ages and social classes, an artistic canon inimitable, perhaps even a parameter to understand the mystery of our life!
Here the word love rises from all the other words to become praise, praise, magnification ... ecstasy, delirium, a delirium in which to get lost in every moment, in every moment ... Love anticipates us, follows us and pursues us, it shapes and sometimes even changes us to show us that loving does not mean just being in love with someone or something, but much more and in that more there is hidden the never explained enigma of what we commonly call attraction!
But love is also belonging, alliance! Two bodies that love each other are not only the most evident offer to pleasure, but in that sentimental tangle made of gestures and whispers, glances and panting fantasies, the true meaning of the
human being, born to die, is hidden, and sometimes died for love!
The word love never gets old and never will! Its long-lived meaning will never mix with the meaning of other words! Yes, sometimes it might be consenting to a semantic escape, but then, with the same strength and the same conviction, the word love with its five letters will return from where it came from, that is, from the incomprehensible, from that part of thought, perhaps abstract, which by a divine transformation becomes reality !!
Of course, the incomprehensible, the ineluctable, the indefinable, the elusive come together in the essential, in the essential, in a necessary mental state which is the indispensable feeling to look life in the face without ever be afraid of it!
Here love, in its impenetrability,absolute becomes the most intelligible vision of happiness, joy, enjoyment, in a riot of pleasure that with all its waves of irrationality and sometimes senselessness make us navigate on sight in the great sea of passion!
and art in general have always praised, celebrated and glorified love, this feeling closed inside a word that in all languages maintains its expressive power and not only: love, love, amour, amor, aroha, liebe. In all languages this word can open all the most secret doors, unveil unprecedented mysteries, tame crowds or simply make us daydream.
The word love has no boundaries, limits, demarcations, terms, no borders, no properties ... She moves sinuously in and out of our beliefs, our religions, policies, philosophies, she is not afraid of death and she is not afraid of life , does not yield to the blackmail of other semantic convictions and does not suffer the effect of fashions or the presumption of ideas! She was born free, wild, uneducable! Too civilized to mix with everyday habits, too evolved to participate in fat and big bar conversations, incredibly primitive to resemble a current school dictionary ... Before and after her the emptiness, nothingness, the abyss of ignorance and of egoism that in these more than modern times, which have become the most successful existential technology through technological involution, reigns!
I am with the fire and with the passion that ignites it, I am with the attraction and the ardor, with the adventure and the warmth, with the inspiration and the desire, with the beauty, the wonder and the splendor of soul and reason, therefore, I am with love, the masterpiece par excellence, the only work considered by all and forever, eternity included, sublime!
Of course in love, in its shadows and in its synonyms there are affection, goodness, attachment, loving kindness, affection, tenderness, even adoration, idolatry, but I prefer to think of love as the last safe beach on which to be shipwrecked without dividing sacred from profane love.I prefer a bit of healthy libertinage with a hint of licentiousness, on the other hand love, in the folds of her clothes, is always in the smell nudity! Before the word love one must inexorably bow down and listen to the silence of its immortal meaning!
“
feelingLoveisanintenseanddeep andofaffection,sympathy adhesiontowards aperson,ananimal,anobjectora concept,anideal”
WITH A GROUP OF CLOSE FRIENDS, SAMUEL KAMANZI A SONGWRITER EXCELLENT MUSICIAN, JUDO KANOBANA THE MOST PROMINENT PRODUCER OF LIVE SHOWS AND MUSICAL EVENTS IN RWANDA AND JOËL COTTIN A PROJECT MANAGER FOR HOSPITALS AND PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES, PASSIONATE OF MUSIC, WE PUT TOGETHER THE SIMBIZI VIBES CONCEPT AND REALIZE IT.
Iwas born in Milano and I am now 66 years old. Since I was a kid, I was plunged into music. I play piano and guitar and I compose songs. In the early 1980s, I was one of the founders of TECNOMUSICA (Milan, Italy), an association for the promotion and diffusion of computer music. Throughout my career, both in the private sector as well as with WHO, I have played in several bands and I have supported bands, organized concerts and national campaigns for the prevention of communicable diseases e.g. Youth and AIDS in Malawi and for other public health initiatives. Arts, music in particular, are an integral part of my life.
I moved to Africa, more precisely to Rwanda, in 1986. I was then working for a private company. My passion and curiosity for the music and arts in general pushed me to find and link up with local musicians, dancers, painters etc. I played in a band made up of Rwandans, Congolese, Burundians, French, American. Loads of influences and it was quite a learning experience. Rwanda’s rhythms are very rich and go beyond the usual key signatures of 4/4 and 3/4 we are so familiar with in western music. The 6/8, 5/4, 9/8, with variations in the accents within the tempo, among others.
I have been around in Africa, in and out, for 35 years. I visited and worked in many countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt and…I may have forgotten some.
Tell us about the project!
Who’s Giorgio Fontana?The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the social and cultural lives of the whole world made me reflect on the need to support artistic creation and find a new dynamic way of exchange between artists and the public. With a group of close friends, Samuel Kamanzi a songwriter excellent musician, Judo Kanobana the most prominent producer of live shows and musical events in Rwanda and Joël Cottin a project manager for hospitals and pharmaceutical industries, passionate of music, we put together the SiMBiZi Vibes concept and realize it. We offer a monthly event allowing artists to present their artistic
projects to a small audience, to meet and interact with it. SiMBiZi VIBES evenings promote artists offering them a chance of exposure and visibility on social networks. We also offer training support to artists and technicians in different areas, such as:
-Artistic: managing a stage, standing on a stage, acquiring visibility on social networks
-Administrative: organizing an event, preparing technical data/requirement sheets, copyright - stage/hall.
is done through “In-service” training via the active participation in the preparation and running of each event under the supervision of experienced players in the relevant discipline.
“Simbizi” in Kinyarwanda means “I don’t know”. We choose this expression because the event venues will change for each show to adhere to the concept of discovery thus public will only discover the artists performing on the evening of the event. So, when someone is asked “Where are going tonight?” Simbizi! A surprise. Secondly the word sounds nice too.
Each show is recorded and filmed and the videos will be posted on all major social medias.
Can this project be exported out of Rwanda?
Yes, indeed! We started here in Kigali with the intention of replicating it at province level. For the time being this is our medium-term goal. The concept is “universal” and it is easily replicable everywhere. It is based on these main keywords: Discovery, Sharing, Exchange/Give-and-take and Mutual Support. We are not yet ready to move out of Rwanda but…who knows? I wish we can, one day.
Your house has become a get-together location for artists and you have also set up a recording studio.
True! I have organized quite a number of live shows, jam sessions, rehearsals with public allowing bands to present their new creations, presentations of new albums with listening session and with the artist exchanging live with the public. And more… I have indeed set up a professional recording studio in my house. I named it “Al CAPOLINEA”. I mainly did it for my recording needs but…Inevitably, and with much pleasure, I regularly have musicians knocking at the CAPOLINEA door, coming for recording and rehearsals. Services that I am pleased to offer at no cost. The studio is a real asset here. It allows local musicians to come and record their compositions and it is such a pleasure for me to deal with young, talented artists. They learn, I learn! It keeps me…young too
The potential is enormous! There’s a huge “reservoir” of young talented musicians. On the other side the means and support given to artists is almost negligeable. Performances are held in bars, hotels where mainly covers are performed while public attention is generally quite low, as we all know. We are at the beginning of our adventure and, so far, we have organized one show that, due to Covid 19 restrictions, was done without public.
The first two artists who opened the show were Ariel Wayz and Bill Ruzima. Two very talented young song writers and passionate and emotional performers. Hard to express in few words their musical universe. I include herewith the links to their SiMBiZi performance as well as the links to their sites. I let you discover them through their performances and production .
Samuel Kamanzi is an invaluable partner in the management of the studio. He’s a great artist with such a personal “musical universe” that truly complement my own. I also give here the links to his sites for your discovery.
Future plans!
My personal plans are to continue with what I am doing now i.e. to support musicians and artists in general on a very volunteer basis. I came to Rwanda to stay… for good. As said, I have loads of spare time having left behind me my professional engagements.
As far as SiMBiZi VIBES short-term plans are concerned we are now focused in mobilizing funds to cover the costs of future performances. This is always the tricky part of the game! Nothing can be done without money! The concept at the basis of SiMBiZi is partnership and collaboration. All the staff concerned being them musicians as well as technicians are just paid an allowance as they share the idea of supporting together the “Rwanda Artistic Community”. People (the public) here are not used to pay for music. Seems obvious for you, maybe. But here is a different reality. Big shows are normally organized by big companies (Breweries etc.) and made free for the audience. Very few live shows are organized. People, as said, goes to bars and restaurants where live shows are sometimes organized. They just pay for their consumptions and most of time give little attention to what’s going on stage Nevertheless, the next two shows are funded and we are excited about their forthcoming organization
What do you expect from SiMBiZi Vibes?
Supporting and promoting young musicians provide guidance in composition techniques and sound
processing using the technology (MIDI, analog recording, reel to reel, cassettes, digital recording - DAW) have taken an important part in my life. SiMBiZi offers exactly that and in my current situation as “privileged retiree”, I am thrilled to be able to participate in its management. I wish SiMBiZi all the success it deserves and I hope it will be able to help musicians, composers and performers to make themselves known while providing them with the tools to improve their knowledge, experience and skills.
UCJldRI0twCouG9ppIWVaL0A
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simbiziV/
Samuel Kamanzi:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kamanzi.samuel
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM_rgphrfL1_C2duqJ0iSA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kamanzisamuel?lang=en
Bill Ruzima Links: https://songwhip.com/billruzima/hello-me (through this link you can get him on other platforms)
https://twitter.com/ruzima_bill
Ariel Wayz Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AriellaWayz-221812195789120
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArielWayz
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ariel_wayz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arielwayz?lang=en
More on Rwanda and its music: http://music.africamuseum.be/instruments/english/rwanda/ rwanda.html
Instagram: https://instagram.com/simbizi_vibes?r=nametag
Working tires us, working is a divine punishment, a yoke to plow fields that are not ours, whether they are factories or farms, minds or personal services, from primary to tertiary, working is pain!
The poet G. Leopardi replies that the “true arid” is not easily bearable: only the philosopher succeeds, poetry cloaked in illusion, youth deludes itself, but historically, we are no longer in the “heroic” epochs, in the childhood of humanity, when poetry was truly “creator” of knowledge, of morals, not just an entertainment for a few, but the way of expressing oneself, of living for peoples in “heroic barbarism,” ancient or medieval, as G Vico in the New Science (1744) ... still new today, because it has been studied, but it has not yet become “Practical”.
The etymology, however, not only for the Italian language in reference to the Latin root, contains a truth that we do not want to see: work has nothing to do with the “negotium” (in any case the activity of free people, even not dealing with it) or with otium, (literary and philosophical, artistic and scientific occupation, speculation and contemplation without the need to answer for the use of one’s
Ttime): what occupies these hours of idleness is useless, because in that time we are not servants, slaves of anyone! Just as Philosophy does not “serve”, because it is not “servant” or slave and so we could say all the humanistic and artistic disciplines. We don’t need to be human, we are!
Being so, we should not be the servants of anyone, least of all of our passions or the needs induced by others (by institutions and elements of society, the economy and culture itself, by religions), which have accustomed us to privilege work because allows us not only to survive (we would not need much), but to satisfy a whole series of needs that make status, for a mechanism of production, consumption and exploitation that sees us at the end of our day envy ... the lilies of the fields, which do not weave or spin, birds that sing, or any animal that certainly has not used evolution to be increasingly dissatisfied and needy, indulging the whims of a few, who in one day can spend what we do not even in we will earn a whole
life!
So we have the courage to think like poets ... working tired, death, work and childbirth with pain are divine punishments: the words we use have a thousand-year history and two centuries of industrial revolution, trade union struggles, political rhetoric, economic systems cannot erase a truth that one must have the strength to bear. Those who believe it are perhaps lucky!
Leopardi, who mocked his contemporary optimists, while recognizing the need for illusions, nevertheless sought the Infinite, beauty and love and devoted himself to his poetic, philosophical and literary work.
“Why do we want to redeem, veil with rhetoric and illusions what is evil and punishment? Death, childbirthillness,with pain, work to have something to live on”?
The negotium was a duty and a choice of those who could afford not to deal with business and politics, procrastinating the otium for a common good in which, in some way, he believed.
Labor is an obligation to which the servants, the slaves of every age, are subjected.
At least those who knew they were slaves were trying to become “free”, while our society makes work seem like a goal, not a tool. As if the surgery or treatment became a goal in itself and not the health that we must be saddened by having lost. We are treated and insured to be treated, we pay our taxes… we could be healthy!
We believe that work is our goal, we might not have to work!
Of course it is another thing to have a profession, a passion with which to live, to live with, even with little: birds don’t work when they sing!
The medieval Corporations, apart from the exploitation of the fascist autarchy, which made the expression hateful to us, combined the major and minor arts to crafts,
Tto professionalism that later with industrialization it subtracted: apart from the exploitation of the working class , the salary and the working week are based on the time “sold” to the boss, with initially minimal professionalism, so much so that even women and children could be hired. Entering the industrial age, the “profession” is lost to the advantage of “work”, an alienation of one’s time. We also have the same situation when we leave the Hegelian context of “servant-master” imagined only in the factory: it becomes the model of every “service”, of every job or profession, in which even personal services, the same Instruction has changed the lexicon, borrowing it from the factory and industry: students and families are “users” for teachers and for those who are no longer called “principal (who presides, supervises) or didactic director”, but “Headmaster” and as Director of a company is called to behave, even if it is a public company that cannot go against the directives of the State. In the last twenty years, the defects of
communist statism and liberal capitalism have united to the detriment of culture, both of the professionalism of the negotium and of the freedom of the otium, at least in Italy!
People, if they did what each one knows how to do, would not work, they would not suffer: it would be either “negotium” or “otium”, instead it is labor!
Why say that we like to suffer, die, work… let’s say we are forced to! We do not seek redemptions where there are none, we do not think of expressing ourselves, of redeeming ourselves, of improving, where we are only forced to suffer. At least we should have this honesty dignity.
Good negotium or good otium to all or at least we wish it!
Not good job at all!
As if we wish good pain, good death to everyone!
Who would accept such a wish?
“It would be better to live without being fooled by political and economic rhetoric, of which we are only gears well oiled by ridiculous and offensive promises, if we did not need even those illusions”!BY JANE AUSTEN
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MAFIA KILLER INVOLVED IN 100 SLAYINGS WHO DISSOLVED VICTIM IN ACID RELEASED FROM PRISON
BY BEN FEUERHERDAnotorious Sicilian Mafia killer dubbed the “people slayer” — who admitted to a role in more than 100 killings, including a boy who was dissolved in acid — was freed from Italian prison Monday after serving just 25 years.
Giovanni Brusca, 64, who turned from La Cosa Nostra hitman to government informant was cut loose from Rome’s Rebibbia prison, sparking outrage from elected officials and the families of his victims, the BBC reported.
The notorious killer had a hand in several of the Italian mafia’s most infamous slayings, including the 1992 rubout of anti-mafia Judge Giovanni Falcone, who was blown up along with his wife and three bodyguards as they were driving near Palermo.
Brusca also ordered the killing of 11-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a rival gangster. He had the boy kidnapped, tortured, strangled and his body desolved in acid, the BBC reported.
The wife of one of the bodyguards killed in the 1992 bomb blast told the Repubblica newspaper that she was incensed by his release after more than two decades behind bars.
“The state is against us — after 29 years we still don’t know the truth about the massacre and Giovanni Brusca, the man who destroyed my family, is free,” Tina Montinaro told the outlet.
ITALY’S LARGEST
MAFIA TRIAL IN THREE DECADES BEGINS AGAINST ‘NDRANGHETA
Italy’s largest mafia trial in three decades has begun, with 900 witnesses testifying against more than 350 people, including politicians and officials charged with being members of the powerful ’Ndrangheta.
A high-security 1,000-capacity courtroom with cages to hold the defendants has been built by Italian authorities in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme.
Despite its symbolic importance, the opening day was largely procedural, with Judge Tiziana Macri reading out the names of the defendants. None attended in person but about 50 participated via video link.
Almost all of the defendants were arrested in December 2019 after a lengthy investigation that began in 2016 and covered at least 11 Italian regions. About 2,500 officers participated in raids focused on suspects in Vibo Valentia, Calabria, the heart of an area controlled mainly by the ’Ndrangheta’s Mancuso clan.
An elite carabinieri unit known as the Cacciatori, literally “the hunters”, arrested several suspects hiding in bunkers located behind sliding staircases, hidden trapdoors and manholes.
Since 1931, five families have run New York’s Italian-American Mafia: the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese.
Frank Cali was reputedly the head of the Gambino family. He was reportedly married to Rosaria Inzerillo, who was herself related to the Sicilian Inzerillo family. The Inzerilli fled Sicily for the US in the 1980s after losing a war with rival families.
Cali was also related to John Gambino, once leader of the family’s Sicilian faction - another link that might explain his rapid rise to leadership of the mob. The exact number of people in the family is unknown. In total, the FBI estimates there are about 3,000 members and affiliates of ItalianAmerican organised crime groups in the US.
New York Mafia boss Persico dies at 85
The families were once vastly powerful, wielding influence over federal and state politicians and holding stakes in entertainment industries, but the US authorities have slowly clamped down on organised crime. A series of major convictions and defections in the 1980s and 1990s crippled their leadership.
Former Gambino boss
John Gotti - who planned the murder of his predecessor in 1985 outside the Sparks Steak House in Manhattan - was known as the Dapper Don for his expensive suits and flamboyant interviews with the press. Under his tenure the family, made hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
(ANSA) - ROME, APR 22 - The infiltration of Italy’s various mafias into the lucrative tourism sector is worth some 2.2 billion euros, almost 40% of it concentrated in the Mezzogiorno where they are based, according to a Demoskopika report of which ANSA has seen an advance copy.
Italy’s leading mafia, the Calabriabased ‘Ndrangheta, has a 40% slice of the lucrative cake, the report said.
Some 4,500 tourism companies are at risk of being used for money laundering due to the COVID-19 emergency, the survey said.
“A tourism sector on its knees is an appetizing prospect for criminal syndicates”, said Demoskopika President Raffaele Rio.
Six regional tourism sectors present the highest risk of criminal infiltration by ‘Ndrangheta, Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and the Campania-based Camorra, as well as the smaller Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia, the report said: Campania, Sicily, Lazio, Calabria, Lombardy, and Puglia.
Four regions show the lowest risk: Marche, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige.
Tourism MInister Massimo Garavaglia told ANSA: “the Demoskopika probe on mafia infiltration in tourism is concerning.
“It is a phenomenon that heavily damages a sector which is composed of serious business people, who have been hurt by the pandemic.
“And who are suffering twice from COVID, in their business and in the mafia competition.
“The government is elaborating formulas for transparent financing able to support the operators hit by
the economic impact of the virus, in order to make them impermeable to mafia contamination.
“(Interior) Minister (Luciana) Lamorgese has a clear grasp of the situation and I think she is already adopting initiatives aimed at putting the brakes on this kind of infiltrations”.
(ANSA) - CATANIA, MAY 4 - Italian police on Tuesday arrested 40 people in a sweep of Catania-based Cosa Nostra clans that also bagged alleged mafiosi operating in Siracusa, Cosenza and Bologna. the 40 have been charged with mafia association, drug trafficking, extortion and conspiracy to commit fraud against social security and pensions agency INPS.
Police said their investigation had enabled them to map out the power and command structure of the Santapaola-Ercolano clan at Paternò and Belpasso, two towns near Catania.
Police said they had found a “picture of grave mafia pollution of the economic fabric, as shown by the identification of several businessmen who willingly favoured the clan’s illicit activities”.
They cited the example of a fruit and vegetable company owner who used the clan’s protection to beat competitors and help him settle loans.
The Santapaola-Ercolano clan, police said, was planning to bring in “huge” quantities of cocaine in banana containers from Ecuador.
The mafiosi also allegedly stashed marijuana in the local cemetery, police said.
The clan is run from prison by superboss Benedetto ‘Nitto’ Santapaola. (ANSA).
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Il maestro has left this world, and we would have liked,time to stop so that we could relive all the emotions that have accompanied us in the last forty years of life. “But the king of the world keeps our hearts imprisoned!” Thus said one of the most beautiful of your songs “The king of the world”.
I wanted to tell you now... now that no one can hear us, I loved everything about you, even “the center of permanent gravity”, yes! The one that my generation never managed to find but, thanks to you, we believed and tried to find it all the way through. We have looked for it at times in meditation, lost in “an ocean of silence” or, at other times, in the “mythical desires of Libyan prostitutes”.
We embraced in “La cura, (The Care)”, thinking of a declaration of love to our beloved but, you explained to us that it was a declaration of love to our soul, of which, it is true, we never care enough.
Yes, I know that everything is perpetually renewed and there is no
end because there has never been a beginning. You taught us, just as now it seems almost impossible to believe that we are descended from monkeys, “you have to be morons to think that” you said, and maybe you were right. Even your spiritual choices immersed in the MuslimSufi faith, which however left room for Hindu beliefs, Buddhist reincarnation cycles and even Christian believe.
You disappeared in our beloved Sicily, the Sicily that belongs to us, steeped in Middle Eastern scents, contradictions of a people enchanted by Greek mythologies. You too, like me, left the island at a young age to fulfill your destiny, only to return when everything was done. To stay away from our land “it was like an African sickness” it is true. Here, I just wanted to say thank you, now, wherever you are, and I hope to meet you again in other lives, because you taught us:
We will come back again, and again, and again.
FABRIZIO CATALFAMO EDITOR - I N CHIEF & CEO
