Sono Italiano

[Music video for the song “L’Italiano” with clips of Italians confronting their confinement from the Coronavirus by singing their hearts out from their windows throughout all of Rome.]

There is absolutely nothing I can say about what is going on right now in the world right now. It’s an unspeakable tragedy and I pray that we all do the right thing and heed the call so that we can get through this. We have a large family in Italy including six nieces and nephews and hundreds for cousins. So far everyone is safe and they are just as concerned for us as they are for themselves.

I have always turned to music during hard times and I want to share something with you that might give you a small measure of comfort when you watch it. I made this short music video which was inspired by Italy’s amazing reaction to the Coronavirus which has overwhelmed that beautiful country .

As a first generation American (my parents and my two older brothers were born in Italy) I was raised on nothing but Italian music during my formative years. The local Italian broadcast from WHBI in New York played every day in our home in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn. Music was a constant in our daily lives including helping us through some of the most the most heart breaking loses in our family. So when I saw the videos of Italians dealing with their quarantine by singing and playing music from their balconies, I wasn’t surprised.

One of my favorite Italian songs is “L’Italiano (Lasciatemi Cantare)” by Tuto Cutugno. It was a big hit in 1983. Now by 1983 my musical horizon’s has expanded considerably but thanks to my Mom and Dad, who still kept of with music from Italy, I heard this song one day playing in the house and fell in love with not only the beautiful melody but also with it’s sentiment. The singer is not bragging about being Italian, he’s just laying out the day to day rituals of the Italian life and he can’t help but exclaim, hey this is who I am and this is who we are.

So when I saw all of the news clips of Italians singing from their windows, I just had to put these two incredible things together. I hope it will give you a small measure of comfort to see how other people are dealing with exactly what we are going through right now.

Note: The video has subtitles with the English translation of the lyrics. I did not do the translations so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are not perfect! But I will update them as needed.

Note: The instrumental guitar at the top of the video is arranged and played by Guiseppe Torrisi.