He says that music is an urgency, a job, a need, and even a blessing. He understood this very early: "At twelve, I was already obsessed. I wasn't sure what I would do when I grew up or what I would play, but I knew I would become a musician."
Thirty-two years later, it's clear that Raphael Gualazzi —44 years old, seven albums released, an internationally renowned composer, pianist, and singer-songwriter—was right on target. Born into a musical family—his father Velio founded Anonima Sound with Ivan Graziani—he won the Sanremo Music Festival in 2011, in the youth section, as well as a slew of awards and performances around the world. Tonight, at 9 p.m., he steps onto the stage in Molentargius Park, in Quartu, for the Festival of Culture.
Latest album, Dreams... do you dream?
"I dream of music, of the possibility of continuing to live my happiness in this wonderful art. Which is at once a vocation, a job, a necessity, and an urgent need."
Being a child of art: advantages and disadvantages.
"There's no disadvantage: luckily, I never learned to play the drums. I might have liked it, but I've never felt such a strong attraction."
Dad is a musician, his mother?
"She's a brilliant ceramist. She's always taught me the purest meaning of art, the importance of being authentic and experimenting, while still honoring one's roots. She also supported me in my first piano lessons and encouraged me to sing in the choir."
Musician or unemployed: he had no other options?
"I said it, but life is always full of surprises. Of course, it would have been a music-related job anyway."
Gualazzi as a teenager.
I was very shy, awkward, and obsessed with music. Even though I didn't know what I would do with my life or what I would play, I was certain I would become a musician. I had a rather late adolescence; I spent my years studying and learning the piano.
