HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Salvatore Antonio "Rino" Gaetano (29 October 1950 – 2 June 1981) was an Italian
musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
and singer-songwriter. He is famous for his
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
songs and oblique yet incisive political commentary. He is remembered for his raspy voice, for the heavily
ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...
lyrics of his songs and his social
protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
s. He died in a car accident at age 30. He was a popular and influential figure, widely re-evaluated by the following teen generations.


Biography

Salvatore Antonio Gaetano was born in
Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...
, Calabria. In March 1960, at the age of ten, his family moved to
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, where he would spend the rest of his life. In 1961, he was sent to study at the seminary ''Piccola Opera del Sacro Cuore'' of
Narni Narni (in Latin, Narnia) is an ancient hilltown and ''comune'' of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 m (787 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of the Nera River in the province of Terni. ...
, in the province of
Terni Terni ( , ; lat, Interamna (Nahars)) is a city in the southern portion of the region of Umbria in central Italy. It is near the border with Lazio. The city is the capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera river. It is ...
, where under the guidance of his teacher Renato Simeoni, he began to show his flair for writing poetry. By 1967 he had finished school and living back in Rome, he created a quartet with a group of friends called Krounks, who would mainly play cover songs. They were inspired by Italian artists such as Enzo Jannacci,
Fabrizio De André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pro ...
,
Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian musician, singer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is dubbed "''il Molleggiato''" (the springy one) because of his dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both commercial and ...
, I Gufi, and Ricky Gianco as well as international musicians such as
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
. In 1969, Gaetano approached
Folkstudio Folkstudio was a musical club and a record label located in Rome, Italy. The club was founded in by the American painter, musician and actor Harold Bradley, Jr., and was located in Via Garibaldi, in Trastevere.Ernesto Bassignano; Lalla Cantore. ...
, a well-known club in Rome for promoting young artists. His style proved to be very different from that of the other musicians. His strong use of irony caused concerns for the club managers, as he recounted: "When I sang at Folkstudio, it was the centre of discussions....in fact they did not want me to do many of my pieces because they thought I wanted to make fun of everyone." However, Gaetano was a multi-talented performer and during the early 1970s, in addition to gigging, he performed in cabarets and took part in several plays including playing the role of
Estragon Estragon (affectionately Gogo; he tells Pozzo his name is Adam) is one of the two main characters from Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot''. His name is the French word for tarragon. Personality The impulsive misanthrope Estragon represent ...
in
Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
's '' Waiting for Godot'', the Fox in a production of '' Pinocchio'' by Italian director Carmelo Bene and reciting poetry by Majakovsky. Gaetano was an accomplished actor and it was through his theatre experience that he developed much of his subsequent stage style and writing technique. He was inspired by German kabarett, a form of theatre that excels in political satire. Wikipedia describes this as "unlike comedians who make fun of all kind of things, Kabarett artists (German: Kabarettisten) pride themselves as dedicated almost completely to political and social topics of more serious nature which they criticize using techniques like
cynicism Cynic or Cynicism may refer to: Modes of thought * Cynicism (philosophy), a school of ancient Greek philosophy * Cynicism (contemporary), modern use of the word for distrust of others' motives Books * ''The Cynic'', James Gordon Stuart Grant 1 ...
, sarcasm and
irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...
." They were able to deal with social themes and political developments through their acts, something that inspired Gaetano and can be seen in many of his concepts and staging, for example, in his song ' regarding the oil crisis of the 1970s. It enabled him to make political observations while avoiding censorship. Gaetano cited Ionesco as his favourite playwright, one of the foremost writers of
Theatre of the Absurd The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style of ...
, saying that he explored the usual problem of the inability to truly communicate, isolation and exclusion. He developed a comedy act with his friend Bruno Francelleschi, 'Ad esempio a me piace...' (For example, I like...), as a mixture of theatre and music. In addition to his performing, Gaetano studied accountancy, encouraged by his father to pursue a secure career in banking. Gaetano asked for one more year to break into music and in 1972, he recorded his first 45 rpm record with the Milan-based Produttori Associati containing the songs "Jacqueline" and "La ballata di Renzo", a song which features lyrics that echo details of his own death. The disc was not printed and Gaetano signed with Vincenzo Micocci, releasing his first single in 1973, ' (with "Jaqueline" on the B-side) produced by RosVeMon, the surnames of Aurelio Rossitto, Antonello Venditti and Piero Montanari. In this song, Gaetano exhibits his multicultural education, singing in four languages – English, Italian, German and French. Rino decided to release the single under the pseudonym of Kammamuri's as tribute to a character in ''
Pirates of Malaysia ''The Pirates of Malaysia'' is a 1964 swashbuckler directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Steve Reeves as Sandokan the pirate. This film was a sequel to Reeve's 1963 film '' Sandokan the Great'', also directed by Lenzi. Malaysian rebel, Sandokan, ...
'' by Emilio Salgari. According to Micocci the choice of using a pseudonym was a sign of shyness and insecurity of Gaetano: "He considered himself a writer, not a singer. He believed he didn't have a good voice, so that after the release of ''I Love You Marianna'', when the time came to record his first album, he came and told me that it would be better to get someone else to sing the songs. I, of course, I laughed and sent him in the studio." In 1974, he published his first album, '. The LP featured many of the themes that would characterise his work, such as issues of isolation, marginalisation and exclusion, as well as his lively style and intelligent, witty lyrics. His songs began to be played on radio stations and in the same year, through record company RCA, Gaetano wrote three songs for Nicola Di Bari "Prova a chiamarmi amore", "Questo amore così grande" and "Ad esempio a me piace... il Sud", included in the album ''Ti fa bella l'amore''. The Spanish version of "Ad esempio a me piace... il Sud", "Por ejemplo", achieved success in Latin America. Success for Gaetano came the following year with the 45 rpm hit record "" ("But the sky is always bluer"), perhaps now the most famous and instantly recognisable of his songs. Unusually, the 45 contained only one song, but it was split into two. In this song Gaetano offers several pictures of everyday life, with irony, clichés and contradictions. In September 1975, the singer explained some of this thinking in an article in the weekly Italian music magazine, ': "These pictures are sad, never happy, because I wanted to emphasise that nowadays there are few cheerful things and it is for this reason that I take into account those who die at work. Even the verse "who plays Sanremo" is sad and negative, because anyone who plays Sanremo, doesn't think of those who "live in barracks".


''Mio fratello è figlio unico'' and ''Aida''

In 1976 Gaetano recorded his second album, '' Mio fratello è figlio unico'' (My Brother is an Only Child). With this album, he tries to capture the listener's attention with dramatic narratives, especially loneliness and alienation, the main themes of the album. On the album, Gaetano began to explore new sounds and instruments including the
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
, the
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
and the
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, enabling him to obtain a more complex and mature album. In a review published by Ciao 2001 shortly after the album's release, it states that: "His second album, ''Mio fratello è figlio unico'', already widely programmed by radio stations, is much more mature and personal than his previous album. Gaetano is an atypical figure: there is the difficulty of finding genres to fit him into, trends in which to place him, which is the best compliment that you can give. The music, made a few chords, is built intelligently and pleasantly. The voice is aggressive, deliberately crude words are fun, the lyrics have allegories, the visual images are faster, like photography." (Enzo Caffarelli) The following year Gaetano recorded his third album, '. The choice of the name refers to the work of the great Italian opera composer
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
, but for Gaetano, Aida is the embodiment of all women and of Italy itself. Through the figure of Aida, Rino researches and recounts moments in Italian history with a completely original, almost photographic, observation. While on tour, Gaetano was joined by the emerging band, Crash, and he produced their album Exstasis and wrote their song "Marziani noi" (Us Martians). With his increasing rise in popularity, he made his first major television appearance on the entertainment programme,
Domenica in ''Domenica in'' is an Italian Sunday long-running television show broadcast by Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the com ...
(Sunday), presented by the legendary Italian TV presenter
Corrado Mantoni Corrado Mantoni (2 August 1924 – 8 June 1999), known simply as Corrado, was an Italian radio and television host. Biography He was born in Rome, where he followed classic studies and in jurisprudence; before finishing university studies he s ...
, singing "" and on 19 August, he was invited to appear on a programme with Gino Paoli where he famously appeared bearing a petrol pump and wearing a striped T-shirt and a colonial style safari hat.


Sanremo Music Festival

Although not generally recognised outside of Italy, the
Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...
is a popular annual song contest. Due to its pop music roots and pop culture positioning, it was not felt to be a route for a serious musician. However, pressure from RCA encouraged Gaetano to take part. He chose his new song '. It was a highly innovative half-sung/ half-spoken proto-rap against several Italian sportsmen, politicians and other high-profile figures. However, the producers of the show forced him to drop the song, due to its now famous list of prominent Italians which it criticised, and swap the song with ' On 26 January 1978, Gaetano appeared on stage at Sanremo wearing a top hat, evening dress featuring medals, red and white sneakers and bearing a
ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
. The performance of ''Gianna'', also included the first time the word 'sex' was used onstage at Sanremo. Towards the end of the song, the band appeared unexpectedly onstage to sing the chorus. Later discussing his performance at Sanremo, Gaetano remarked: "The festival is a walkway and like all walkways, it gives you three minutes to make a speech that you would normally do in a two hour show. So you have to find a way. For my part, I have chosen the way of paradox, a bit like Carmelo Bene." (Rino vive – Ma il cielo è sempre più blu, RAI 2, 2007) Bruno Franceschelli recalls the event: "The performance in Sanremo, from my point of view, was a demonstration of his talent as an artist. He brought a new air, funny and irreverent, and once again demonstrated his free spirit, free to laugh and joke on the 'sacred soil' of Sanremo." The song went on to dominate the charts for several weeks. It remained in the Top Ten for 14 weeks and sold over 600,000 copies. A version of the song in German was released by
Wolfgang Petry Wolfgang "Wolle" Petry (born 22 September 1951 as ''Franz Hubert Wolfgang Remling'') is a German schlager musician and songwriter from Cologne, Germany. In 1997, he was named the leading German language musician in terms of chart figures for th ...
.


''Nuntereggae più'' and controversy

In the same year Gaetano appeared on
Rai Radio 1 Rai Radio 1 (''Radio Uno'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organisation RAI and specialising in news, sports, talk programmes, and popular music. History The channel is the direct descendant of the ...
radio programme ''Canzone d'Autore'' (Songwriters). During the programme, emerging musicians are invited to comment on their own songs. The programme was called "E cantava le canzoni", a title taken from the fourth album of the singer. On the same album is the now notorious "Nuntereggae più", and Gaetano was asked to discuss it because of the numerous political references and the long list of names in the lyrics. He replied, "The songs are not political texts and I do not make speeches. This is just teasing. So, for me, "Nuntereggae più" is the lightest song I've ever done ". Some verses of the song contain lists of names of people who at that time were prominent on the radio, television and newspapers. Some of the names included in the first version were deleted or replaced. For example, in the original version, written before his kidnapping, appeared the name of Aldo Moro. As a result of subsequent events, the name was later deleted from the text of the song, so as to avoid creating controversy. But other names were also deleted including the journalist Indro Montanelli, the actor
Lino Banfi Lino Banfi (born Pasquale Zagaria; 9 July 1936) is an Italian film actor and presenter. He has appeared in more than 100 films since 1960. Biography He was born in the Apulian city of Andria and at the age of three, moved to Canosa di Puglia. Li ...
, Sinatra,
Michele Sindona Michele Sindona (; 8 May 1920 – 22 March 1986) was an Italian banker and convicted felon. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due (#0501), a secret lodge of Italian Freemasonry, and had clear connectio ...
(Italian banker and convicted criminal) and the president of the Italian defence company Finmeccanica Camillo Crociani who was involved in the
Lockheed scandal The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft. The scandal caused consid ...
and the illegal Masonic
Propaganda Due Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, a ...
(P2) lodge. 1Vincenzo Mollica recalls: "'Nuntereggae' is a song of great fun, but aetanohad the courage of his actions, he never drew back." In that year Gaetano participated in a tour and some evening events, the most famous of these is definitely Discomare '78 and specifically the final night held in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento on 23 August 1978. The singer was supposed to sing Nuntereggae more, but Rai tries to stop him and Rino in protest leaves the event. In October Rino goes to Madrid to record the Spanish version of the 45 Nuntereggae more. The title chosen is "Corta el rollo ya" (cut it out) and the singer adapts the text by inserting characters of Spanish politics and entertainment as Carrillo, Pirri and Susan Estrada. The album will be released in the spring and get some success.


Final albums

1979 sees the release of Gaetano's fifth studio album, ' and his first with RCA. Rino took part in his first
Festivalbar The Festivalbar was an Italian singing competition that took place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Catania or Piazza Bra, Verona. The first edition took place in 1964 and was broadcast by RAI. ...
and then, in October, he attended the Discoestate in
Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina re ...
. On this occasion, in protest at having to sing along to playback, when the music starts, instead of pretending to sing, he decides to act indifferent and smokes a cigarette. Also in 1979, during a concert on the beach in Capocotta (in fact also mentioned in the lyrics), before singing ''Nuntereggae più'', Gaetano is said: "There's someone who wants to put a gag on me! I do not fear them! They will not succeed! I feel that, in the future, my songs will be sung by future generations, that, thanks to mass communication, they will understand what I mean tonight! They will understand and open their eyes, rather than having them full of salt! And you wonder what happened on the beach Capocotta." Gaetano was referring to the murder of
Wilma Montesi Wilma Montesi (3 February 1932 – 9 April 1953) was an Italian woman whose body was discovered near Rome. The finding of her lifeless body on a public beach near Torvajanica, on Rome's littoral, led to prolonged investigations involving se ...
. In 1980, he recorded his final album ' noted for its serious tone and rock sound. In 1981, RCA organised a tour, from which the live ' album was created. In 1981, he also played the role of the Fox from '' Pinocchio'' in a movie directed by Carmelo Bene and filmed in Rome.


Death

On 8 January 1981 Gaetano was involved in a
head-on collision A head-on collision is a traffic collision where the front ends of two vehicles such as cars, trains, ships or planes hit each other when travelling in opposite directions, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision. Rail transport ...
when an off-road vehicle drove the wrong way along the road and pinned Gaetano's
Volvo 343 __NOTOC__ Year 343 ( CCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Memmius and Romulus (or, less frequently, year 1096 ' ...
against the guardrail; the singer was unharmed while his car was completely destroyed. Gaetano then bought a new Volvo 343, in metallic gray. On 31 May 1981 he made his last appearance on TV singing ''E io ci sto''. On 2 June, at about 3 am, Gaetano was returning home alone in his Volvo 343. At 3.55 am, while along Rome's Via Nomentana, at the intersection of Viale XXI Aprile, he was in a head-on collision with a truck. The front and right side of the Volvo were destroyed. When help arrived, Rino was already in a coma and at the hospital, an x-ray showed a fracture at the base of the skull, various wounds to the forehead, a fractured right molar and a suspected fracture of the sternum. However, the clinic did not have a department for cranial injuries and the doctor on duty, Dr. Novelli, tried in vain to contact another hospital with a cranial trauma department. He contacted by phone St. John, St. Camillus, the CTO of Garbatella, the Policlinico Gemelli and San Filippo Neri, but could not get any assistance. At 6 am, Rino Gaetano died. There was a great deal of controversy about this accident, because of the failure of any of the contacted hospitals to help Gaetano and thus, an investigation was launched. On 4 June his funeral was held in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in which Gaetano had planned to get married. His funeral was attended by many relatives, friends, members of the music industry, RCA executives and fans. Initially he was buried in the small cemetery of
Mentana Mentana is a town and ''comune'', former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is located north-east of Rome and has a population of about 23,000. History Mentana's name in ...
, but on 17 October his body was transferred to the Verano cemetery, where it remains. In recent years, the lyrics of the unpublished song "La ballata di Renzo" (The Ballad of Renzo) has drawn a lot of attention – a song written by Rino more than ten years before his death. This song tells the story of a boy named Renzo, who died under similar circumstances. Renzo is hit by a car and dies after being rejected by many hospitals in Rome for lack of space, while his friends are at the bar. The song even references three of the hospitals that refused to treat Gaetano on 2 June 1981 due to lack of beds: General Hospital, San Giovanni and San Camillo. This is a topic of popular discussion. Gaetano's death was discussed on 27 November 2007 in a short radio program broadcast on Radio DeeJay by Carlo Lucarelli, who uses a writer-documentary narrative form to reconstruct unsolved crimes related to the world of music. The first book on his life, also the first official biography, was published in 2001, 20 years after his death.


Discography


Studio albums

* ' (1974) * ' (1976) * ' (1977) * ' (1978) * ' (1979) * ' (1980)


Live albums

* ' (1981, with
Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was b ...
and New Perigeo)


Compilations

* ' (1990; includes the previously unreleased "Solo con io" and "Le beatitudini") * (1993) * ' (1996) * ' (1998) * ' (2003, 2005) * ' (2007) * ''The Essential Rino Gaetano (2008)'' * ' (2009, with some unpublished tracks) * ' (2010)


Singles

* ' (1973) * ' (1974) * ' (1975) * ' (1976) * ' (1976) * ' (1977) * ' (1977) * ' (1978) * ' (1978) * ' (1979) * ' (1980) * ''Solo con io'' (1980) * ''Le beatitudini'' (1981)


In popular culture

* Rino Gaetano. Ma il cielo è sempre più blu – Raifiction, 2007 * My Brother Is an Only Child (Mio fratello è figlio unico) – Italian film directed by Daniele Luchetti. The title of the film is taken from the famous Gaetano hit song of the same name.


Sources


Further reading

* ''Rino Gaetano (La Vita, le canzoni, le poesie e l'ironia di un grande artista)'' by Peppe Casa and Dario Marigliano – (first book and first unofficial biography), Roma, 1999. * ''Rino Gaetano live'' (first official book and biography) by Emanuele Di Marco, 2001 * ''Rino Gaetano'' by Yari Selvetella, 2001 * ''Fontana chiara: omaggio a Rino Gaetano'' by Stefano Calò and Massimiliano Gentile, 2002 * ''Se mai qualcuno capirà Rino Gaetano'' by Alfredo Del Curatolo, 2003 * ''Rino Gaetano: ma il cielo è sempre più blu'' (unreleased thoughts, stories and songs) by Massimo Cotto, 2004 * "Rare tracce: ironie e canzoni di Rino Gaetano" by Silvia D'Ortenzi, Roma, Arcana, 2007. * "Sereno su gran parte del paese: una favola per Rino Gaetano" by Andrea Scoppetta, Padova, BeccoGiallo, 2009. * "Dizionario completo della Canzone Italiana" by Enrico Deregibus, Firenze, Giunti Editore, 2010.


External links

*
Rino Gaetano
at ondarock.it


Fan Site

Fan Site

"Una casa per Rino" – Crotone Music Festival

"E io ci sto" – Rino Gaetano Day in Rome
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaetano, Rino 1950 births 1981 deaths Italian male singer-songwriters People from Calabria People from Crotone Road incident deaths in Italy 20th-century Italian male singers