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Renzo Arbore

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Renzo Arbore

Lorenzo Giovanni "Renzo" Arbore (born 24 June 1937) is an Italian television host, singer, actor and film director.

Quotes

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  • (About Riccardo Cocciante) He released a beautiful song called 'Poesia' to some success, and he represents hope for our pop music.
  • Zona disco, Il Monello, n. 31, Casa Editrice Universo, 1974.
  • Cocciante has recorded a song called Quando finisce un amore ('When a Love Ends'). It is a composition that, with passion and honesty, speaks of those moments when we suffer for love, those moments when we lose our appetite, feel a knot in our stomach, become impatient with everything and everyone, and can't wait for the phone to ring in the hope that it will be 'him' or 'her', the person who is our sole focus. It's a 'genuine' song that probably won't achieve major commercial success, but which shows a welcome new side to Cocciante.
  • Zona disco, Il Monello, n. 31, Casa Editrice Universo, 1974.
  • Rino Gaetano writes songs using a distinctive, refined and carefully crafted language; it's a kind of realistic poetry in some cases, and symbolic in others. I like it best when he sings Tu, forse non essenzialmente tu ('You, perhaps not essentially you'); it's a fairly desperate song, supported by a beautiful melody.
  • Zona disco, Il Monello, n. 31, Casa Editrice Universo, 1974.
  • Dik Dik are a band that have retained their dignity and the public's affection.
  • Zona disco, Il Monello, n. 31, Casa Editrice Universo, 1974.
  • In just a few years, she has become a star, fortunately without becoming a diva. Mia Martini has joined the ranks of the 'greats' of Italian popular music, having fought tenaciously to get there and passionately refused to betray the music she loves.
  • Zona disco, Il Monello, n. 31, Casa Editrice Universo, 1974.
  • Quoted in Tanti quasi troppi, Zona disco, Il Monello, n. 17, 1975, Casa Editrice Universo.
  • Happiness is knowing that you are living in peace, that you have no debts, and that you have no problems.

It is a fortunate state, but a very rare one. I believe that this is happiness. When people are at peace, they should be able to say, 'There, I'm happy.'

  • Quoted in Gianni Bisiach, Inchiesta sulla felicità, Rizzoli, 1987
  • Let's face it: there are two types of television audience. My way of distinguishing between people is between those who read newspapers and those who, perhaps through no fault of their own, do not read them. Unfortunately, I also see in the eyes of many presenters the vacuousness of people who only flick through newspapers at the hairdresser's.
  • The anti-Christ of song. A bombshell. The innovator. The man to whom Italian music owes the most.

[...] Mimmo was the key figure in Italian popular music; he showed Italians in the 1950s that there could be music other than classical music. [...] He started it. Everything else came from Mimmo. He was the man of the revolution; with him, the old ways were thrown aside, and the others had no choice but to adapt. [...] Mimmo represented the most elevated sentiment of the people of the South. [...] Oh my God, there have been some interesting figures since then, but none like Mimmo. Never again! And I don't see any successors around.

  • Laura Carassai, Anticristo della melodia. Arbore: gli bocciai «Meraviglioso», La Stampa, 8 August 1994, p. 5.
  • Some concerts are put on for commercial reasons, but others are put on because they touch people's hearts.
  • Quoted in Maria Simonetti, Miti della musica: Mina secondo Arbore, L'espresso, 26 September 1996.
  • Alfredo started out as Gino Paoli's driver, then rose to the top of this record label. [...] Since Alfredo has a fantastic imagination, a really quirky sense of humour, and so on, I said to him, 'If you move to Rome, let me know and we'll do something together.' And so, we brought him into the Indietro Tutta clan.
  • From the TV programme Chi erano veramente gli Squallor, Chiambretti night, Italia 1, 7 April 2010.
  • Filogamo is the only character I have openly plagiarised – a cultured and courteous character who is the opposite of today's presenters.
  • I also loved Giorgio Gaber for the way he used to reason – first in the theatre and later in his music – in order to tell the story of life in a different way; for trying to improve society, including through songs that were genuine lessons. I was truly amazed by the "messages" he managed to convey in those songs, some of which he wrote with Luporini: from 'La libertà to Destra-Sinistra. He always intended for his songs to serve, above all, as a means of improving himself and improving us.
  • Fra invidia e ammirazione; in Gaber, Giorgio, il Signor G. Raccontato da intellettuali, amici, artisti, Andrea Pedrinelli (editor), Kowalski, Milano, 2008, p. 136. ISBN 978-88-7496-754-4.
  • Gaetano wrote some of the songs that are part of our country's memory. Songs of memory are important. Think, for example, of Zazà or I papaveri alti alti – these are songs of memory that haven't been big commercial hits or whatnot, but they don't just last for the duration of a fad or a particular period; they're the ones that stay in the collective memory and are passed down orally.
  • Quoted in Vite Straordinarie, Rete 4, 1 May 2010. Video available on Youtube.com.
  • It was precisely this attitude that struck me when I first heard the 'things' by a young lad from Crotone who, wearing a strange hat, enjoyed teasing people with his own songs – with some great songs. It might sound a bit muddled, but I hope it gives you an idea of what this lad from Crotone, 'Rino Gaetano', seemed to be doing. So I started to 'play him' (to use the radio jargon of the time ...) and to talk about him in the newspaper columns in the weekly magazines of the same period. Once again, I was thrilled that Gaetano was creating 'the other song', the song of songs, that he was following the rhymes that first came to him… (and therefore the most inspired...). The fact that he sang it all with such ease and lightness; even the fact that some people didn't like Gaetano; that excited me.
  • libretto della raccolta E cantavo le canzoni, RCA Italiana, 27 July 2010.
  • I felt it was my duty to bring to light the history of jazz, which has its earliest roots right here in Sicily; Nick la Rocca was one of the few who achieved significant success, but there are dozens and dozens of Sicilian musicians who wrote its history.
  • We pioneered a new kind of comedy, which wasn't cabaret and didn't follow in the footsteps of the masters we loved so much, like Totò or Walter Chiari. After 50 years, I can say with a bit of presumption that it is a form of humour that is timeless. We never talked about current affairs; we knew they were short-lived.
  • We invented improvised variety shows: up until then, even commas had to be written down. It was thanks to Gianni's (Gianni Boncompagni) laziness: 'Aren't we even going to take any notes?' 'No, Americans improvise!' I think the secret of Alto Gradimento‍'‍s success was our chemistry and our good vibes. 'Good vibrations', I say, coming from the Beach Boys...
  • (About Gabriella Ferri) She was the first person I met when I arrived from Foggia in my Fiat 600. She said to me, 'Let's go dancing.' She took me to the Taverna Margutta, and there, that very evening, we got engaged.
  • Quoted in Candida Morvillo, «Portò Arbore a ballare e la sera stessa si fidanzarono. Non dite che si è suicidata, aveva progetti ed era felice», Corriere della Sera, 11 October 2024.

Interviews

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De Amicis, la musica e l'America: le letture di Renzo Arbore, Wuz.it, 5 September 1997
  • The record is still seen as a 'superfluous' item for leisure. In fact, a record often has the same dignity as a book.
  • I like books that tell the story of 'how we used to be', that tell the story of the years when I was a poor child, like all Italians.
  • I think Italian culture has always shot itself in the foot.
Franco Bagnasco, Ma quant'è furba la tv di oggi, TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, n. 52, December 2010; reported by LoSpettacoloDeveContinuare.com
  • I invented the talk show, not Costanzo: it was 1969, Speciale per voi. I made the first nostalgia programme: Cari amici vicini e lontani. They thought I was mad. How many of them do you see on TV schedules today?
  • But do you know what annoys me most about TV today? Whether it's gossip, shouting matches or grief, television is always against something or someone.

My TV was pro-government. And it was Italian.

  • (About the TV programme L'isola dei famosi) I do actually watch it with interest. Because hunger brings out people's strengths and weaknesses.
  • (About Roberto Saviano) He shows that a different kind of TV is possible. He presented his truth. Of course, it's 'his', some will object. But in those eyes, I saw only sincerity, not calculation.
  • [About tV] They call you in to talk about the Beatles and then, behind your back, invite the Rolling Stones fan, just to stir up an argument.
  • I am not against healthy federalism. However, if they want to divide Italy, or cause unrest, I won't support it.

It is a single country.

  • [On the controversy among some Neapolitan musicians regarding Arbore's initiative to promote Neapolitan music despite being from Foggia] Some people asked me to collaborate, and I didn't agree. So they took their revenge. Carosone said, 'Why didn't they do it themselves, the Neapolitan orchestra?'
Massimiliano Castellani, Renzo Arbore. "Io e Mariangela Melato, storia di una passione", Avvenire.it, 9 May 2017
  • (About Mariangela Melato) A multifaceted talent. In every field she has ventured into, her extraordinary creativity has shone through, including in painting.
  • Mariangela always gave her very best, thanks to that eclecticism that makes her absolutely unique on our artistic scene.
  • (About Mariangela Melato) Not even Magnani managed to combine cinema, both light and socially engaged theatre, and television in the way she did.
  • (About Mariangela Melato) She was not a militant feminist. Her mission was to give a face and a voice to courageous female characters.
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