Author(s): Arie van Driel
Date of publication: 10/04/2001
Algemeen Dagblad
ZUCCHERO A MAN WITH WORRIES
Shake is the name of the new album of Adelmo Fornaciari better known as Zucchero. Good, but for the artist the pr-circus around it is very unimportant after the dramatic events in America.
AMSTERDAM - Zucchero has a serious problem. He has to promote his new cd Shake, an album full of energy and sensuality. But the Italian is completely shocked by the events in the USA and the possible actions still ahead of us. He doesnīt even want to fly anymore. "Since this happened, Iīm scared to death for it" says Zucchero (47) in his Amsterdam hotelroom. Four days after the tragedy in the USA, his second home, he flew from Berlin to London. He had to, since there was no other way to travel from Germany to England in his busy schedule. He doesnīt want to talk about his experiences during the flight, but he does know that this was his last one. "Everything I do is being overshadowed by the attacks. The people are slowly losing their mind. It seems like the world exists completely out of chaotics. Iīm one of those myself too" says Zucchero. "Ofcourse, do you think Iīm feeling relaxed?"
"I called my wife to tell her that everythingīs ok and that Iīve cancelled our vacation to the Malidives. She understood it" says the singer. He got to Amsterdam by taking the train in London, to Brussels and from there the car to the Netherlands. "If possible I take the train or the car. It takes more time, and itīs less comfortable and I get very tired of it. And all of that because I donīt feel happy. I talk about Shake. Iīm happy with it, proud of it, but is that so important....?ī"
He takes another cookie. And then he decides to talk about Shake anyway. Life goes on, also the life of a hurt star. "Ehm... This album has a lot of soul influences, it even reminds at some points to the music of the 50īs and 60īs. The songs have a lot of "extra stuff". When I sing a love song, in the meantime I, between the lines, sing about hate. My album is very sensual. My last album Blue Sugar was English orientated. Now I have returned to my roots. More soul, rythm and blues, Missisipi Delta stuff". "Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin: for all my life I had something with black music. If I wasnīt born as an Italian I would have been born as a black guy in New Orleans. When I was a kid I grew up with the soul of Redding. It influenced my carreer for a huge part. When I sang classic songs, I was Italian again. An Italian with American blood. And a man full of emotions. When I hear Ali DīOro, I break down. The song is called I Lay Down in English."
Ali DīOro gives him goosebumps, he says and gets him emotional every time. Zucchero tries to find a cd player in the hotelroom to play the song but he has no luck. Like he wants to show how emotional he can get with this song. On Ali DīOro his friend John Lee Hooker plays along. Two months after the recordings the bluesman died. Zucchero got into a shock and he wasnīt able to talk to anyone for the next days.
The same thing happened to me when I saw the images of the Twin Towers in New York. My manager called me in Berlin and told me to turn on the tv and watch CNN. First I thought he made a very sick joke. Soon I realised what was going on. Christ, I thought. I wasnīt feeling like anything anymore. The same thing hapened when I heard John Lee Hooker died." He rubs one of his fingers against one of his, hidden behind orange sunglasses, eyes. Some "dirt".
And everything was just going so good with Zucchero (sugar). The crowdy life he lived in the 80īs and 90īs was over. In the rest of his self-build farm in Pontremoli near his birth-town Roncocesi, he found rest and space. He forgot the times that he was an alcohol addict. That he had fights with his ex-wife about their divorce. That the catholic church had loads of criticism on his songs because he was being sarcastic about catholics.
He calls his huge house and gardens Lunisiana Soul, where he keeps his own animals, makes his own wine, olive oil and cheese. He dreams there about the work he did with the greats in music. Stars like Sting, Bono, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Pavarotti and BB King, who he now calls friends for life. He wrote some of his best songs there. But even on that place his hapiness is being interrupted by worries, the future of his birthland alone already. "I donīt get involved in politics. But I donīt like the political views of the church. I donīt like the new government. That Berlusconi is way too right wing for me. He has tv- and radiostations and a footballclub. I donīt think you can get those thing together with leading a country. It worries me. Just as I worry about the future of the world I live in".