Giorgio Gaber - Io non mi sento un Italiano (2003)

Io non mi sento italiano è l'ultimo album di Giorgio Gaber, scritto con Sandro Luporini. È uscito qualche settimana dopo la sua morte, nel gennaio 2003. Delle 10 tracce, 6 sono inedite (Il tutto è falso, Non Insegnate ai bambini, Io non mi sento Italiano, I mostri che abbiamo dentro, Il corrotto e La parola io), 3 sono tratti dal suo repertorio (L'illogica allegria, Il dilemma e C'è un'aria) ed una è un monologo (Se ci fosse un uomo).

English
Io non mi sento un italiano is the latest album by Italian Giorgio Gaber, written by Sandro Luporini. It was released a few weeks after his death in January 2003. Of the 10 tracks, six are unpublished (Everything is fake, do not teach children, I do not feel Italian, I show that we have inside, the corrupt and the word I), 3 are from his repertoire (The illogical cheerfulness, There is the dilemma and air) and one is a monologue (If there was a man).



Giorgio Gaber, byname of Giorgio Gaberscik (25 January 1939 - 1 January 2003), was an Italian singer-songwriter, actor and playwright. He was also an accomplished guitar player and author of one of the first rock songs in Italian ("Ciao ti dirò", 1958). Together with Sandro Luporini, he pioneered the musical genre known as teatro canzone ("song theatre").

The new underground auditorium of the Pirelli Tower in Milan is dedicated to him.

He was born in Milan into a lower middle-class family. His father, Guido Gaberscik, was born in Trieste, when the city was still part of Austria-Hungary,[1] most probably to Italianized Slovene immigrants from the Gorizia region.[2][3] The surname Gaberscik is in fact of Slovene origin.[4] His mother was from the Veneto region. The two met and married in Veneto and later moved to Milan, where Giorgio was born.

Gaber began to play as rehabilitation for an injury to his hand which required constant but not strenuous activity to recover his motor skill. Since his health as a child was not the best and his older brother Marcello played guitar, he was encouraged to play as well. The outcome was good both in terms of his health and artistically, and at only fourteen years of age he was engaged to play at a New Eve's party and earned his first paycheck of 1,000 lire.

Subsequently he began to frequent the Santa Tecla, a venue in Milan where he had the chance to meet musicians of the time, including Luigi Tenco, Gianfranco Reverberi, Adriano Celentano, Ricky Gianco, and Mogol, who obtained a contract for Gaber with Dischi Ricordi. He then played with the Rocky Mountains Old Time Stompers (replacing Tony Dallara who had left to pursue a solo career) and with Rolling Crew.

Because neither Tenco nor Gaber were yet members of the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers they could not trademark the song "Ciao ti dirò" ("I'll Say Hi to You", inspired by Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock"), which was signed off by Giorgio Calabrese and Giampiero Reverberi despite being composed by Tenco and Gaber.

The two went on to continue writing music together, developing at the same time a close friendship. In 1958 they toured Germany together with Adriano Celentano, Enzo Jannacci, Paolo Tomelleri e Gianfranco Reverberi.

Gaber paired up with Enzo Jannacci as I Due Corsari ("The Two Privateers"), who made their debut at the end of 1958 with two vinyl singles - "Come Facette Mammeta", a classic song of Neapolitan humour, and "Non occupatemi il telefono" ("Don't Hog the Telephone"). They continued to release singles with Dischi Ricordi throughout the following year, and in 1960 released their first album, Giorgio Gaber - Enzo Jannacci.

After a sentimental-artistic companionship with singer and actress Maria Monti, he married Ombretta Colli in 1965, then a student of languages (Chinese and Russian) at the University of Milan.

He took part to Festival di Sanremo four times, with the songs "Benzina e cerini" ("Petrol and Matches") in 1961, "Così felice" ("So Happy") in 1964, "Mai, Mai, Mai Valentina" ("Never, Never, Never Valentina") in 1966 and "…E allora dai" ("…Well Come On Then!") in 1967.



Tracks

01. Il tutto è falso (6:41)
02. Non insegnate ai bambini (4:15)
03. Io non mi sento Italiano (4:51)
04. L'illogica allegria (4:06)
05. I mostri che abbiamo dentro (5:55)
06. Il dilemma (6:12)
07. Il corrotto (4:34)
08. La parola io (5:29)
09. C'è un'aria (6:58)
10. Se ci fosse un uomo (6:54)

Note: Vincitore della Targa Tenco nel 2003