"The interview? I forgot, but if you give me a few minutes, I'll make myself a coffee and we'll chat." The words come calmly, unhurriedly, as if Tonino Carotone wanted to escape the time that seems to haunt everyone today. A quarter of a century ago, he sang, "It's a difficult world." Today, he says at 56, it's even more so. The re-establishment of borders, the arms race, the rise of nationalism, a society in constant acceleration. Yet the Spanish singer-songwriter, who has turned his melancholic irony into a personal poetics, with that distinctive look that's a mix of port storyteller, Mediterranean bohemian, and tavern romantic, continues to resist, wary of the tyranny of the clock. Born in Burgos and always in love with Italian music—his pseudonym, a tribute to the greats Fred Buscaglione and Renato Carosone, is proof of that—he first arrived in Italy in 1995 with other Spanish conscription dodgers. Yesterday, he was the last guest at the “Marina Café Noir” in Elmas . “I have many friends between Sant'Antioco and Carloforte, but all of Sardinia has always treated me well. I love the island's audiences, the people, the food, and the sea. Every visit is an adventure.”
Throughout his career, he has regularly performed on stages in Spain, Italy, Greece, Chile, Russia, Mexico, and Argentina for stadium tours with Manu Chao. Where is his hometown?
«None, life is a journey».
You've always sung about strays, perhaps losers, but happy and unconventional. How do you see the return of borders?
"As something negative, dangerous, and disturbing. A way of going backwards, not forwards. Raising walls can't lead to anything good. Human respect is lacking, even within these borders, and that's fundamental. Honestly? I'm pessimistic."
Is the Italy you find today different from the one you knew in the 1990s?
"It's very different, yes, but like the world in general. When I started, the Internet had just arrived, and then the revolution."
Tonino Carotone is an almost fictional character. How has he changed over the years?
"It hasn't changed, I've always been loyal to my style. On the one hand, I'm still learning, on the other, I'm more relaxed and I always get excited when I connect with an audience, much more than when I'm locked in a studio recording."
“Me cago en el amor,” a huge hit from 2000 that has become almost iconic. Do you feel it's still relevant today?
Love is a basic feeling, therefore more than timely. So much so that this year we created a new version titled "Tempo [futuro incerto]" with the Milanese artist Kukla: a return to the future.
Is it still a difficult world?
"It's an even more difficult world than before. If I look back and take stock, it's very sad."
Carosone and Buscaglione are his heroes. Will new ones emerge?
"Why not? Music is constantly evolving, trends come back in a great mix: part of the game is discovering new things and dusting off old ones."
You seem to belong to another era. How do you live in an ever-faster world?
I suffer from it. Before going on stage, for example, I have to catch a plane, which is traumatic for me. I never wear a watch, I can't even stand church bells. My phone constantly reminds me of what time I'm living in, so I turn it backwards. Knowing what time it is makes me nervous.
Why?
"It seems to me that our anxiety about the passage of time is fueled by capitalism, which forces us to live to work and do more and more. I like to live quietly, like we used to."
