He did not write them, but it is as if they were his the 13 songs reread by Zucchero in "Discover", a cover album that comes out November 19 and which also collects duets with Bono, Elisa, Mahmood and a virtual "cameo" by Fabrizio De André in “I saw Nina fly”.

A “monstrous” project, with 500 selected songs, among which Zucchero says he scored “up to the final squad, choosing with two souls: the love for Italian melody and Afro-American music”.

And, even if the project had started before Covid, it is in some way affected by the period: "Personally I suffered a couple of months and there is a veil of melancholy in the record - he explains - there are no aggressive or drawn songs".

There are instead some children of the lockdown, such as "Canta la vita", the Italian version of Bono's song "Let your love be known", dedicated to those in Italy who are fighting against the coronavirus emergency.

As for the "duet" with De André, suggested by Dori Ghezzi herself, "I felt the need - explains Zucchero - to let Fabrizio's voice enter like a warm wind behind my back that makes me go to the octave".

His voice then intersects with Mahmood's in Moby's “Natural blues”: "I always thought he was a very talented vocal talent with a soulful tone, in the studio - he confirms - I have had proof".

There was no need, however, to confirm with Elisa, with whom Zucchero interprets "Luce", of which he wrote the incision, helping to convince her to sing in Italian and to go to the Sanremo Festival, which she then won. Of Bocelli, however, curiously, Zucchero did not choose "The calm sea of the evening", which bears his signature, but "Con te partirò". "One evening Bocelli came to me for dinner with that song - he says - he wasn't convinced and I told him 'you're crazy, it's extraordinary'. I always thought about how I would make it, it's a beautiful Italian melody and I tried to make it minimalist, without a large orchestra, more intimate, I made it mine and I liked it ".

"It's nice to try to make your loved songs your own, hoping - the Emilian artist underlines - not to ruin them. I lived this record as mine, thinking I wrote the songs".

After his tour has been postponed twice, Zucchero also does not hide his concern about the 14 dates scheduled at the Verona Arena between April and May 2022 and the show with Eric Clapton in Berlin at the end of May. "April seems far away but it is there, we hope - he concludes - to really leave, I can't wait".

(Unioneonline / vl)

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