Nicola DiBari
Michele Scommegna (Zapponeta, September 29, 1940), better known by his stage name Nicola di Bari, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He won the Sanremo Festival in the years 1971 and 1972.
The theme of emigration and the feeling of great attachment to the native land, the southern region of Apulia, and to life in the fields, with appeals to the countryside and its colors, are often found in their songs. One of the pieces he composed, Zapponeta , is dedicated to his hometown; another well-known title of his is Paese.
Trajectory
In the 1960s he began his musical career; but the tone of his voice did not allow her to achieve success quickly. In 1963 her first single appeared and the following year she achieved some popularity with the theme & # 34; Love, Come Home & # 34;. In 1965 he was invited to participate in the Sanremo Festival, managing to reach the final round.
In 1966 and 1967 he performed at the festival, but failed to reach the final. Her career continued without great success, until suddenly in 1970, also in San Remo, she achieved recognition by reaching second place with the theme "La prima cosa bella".
The definitive consecration came to him in 1971, and in 1972 he repeated his success. In 1974 she appeared once more in San Remo and made it to the final. In 1972 she participated in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Because of his songs in Spanish, he enjoys great popularity in Latin America, among them, "Los días del rainbow" (1973), "Lisa with the Blue Eyes" (1969), "Wanderer" (1968), "Rosa", "First Beautiful Thing", "The Heart Is A Gypsy" (1971), "The Last Romantic" (1971) and "Like Violets" (1972) (authors of Like Violets: Gaetano Améndola and Peppino Gagliardi). His successes managed to reach Argentina, Chile, Peru and other Latin American countries, where he toured and performed between the years 1970 and 1980. In his golden age he recorded and sang many songs, even in Spanish; and his themes & # 34; Vagabond & # 34; and "Guitar sounds lower", along with others, toured Latin America and managed to be among the first on the charts. His personal and romantic style served to be called "The Last Romantic", thanks to a song with that name, which he popularized and also served to give him greater fame.
The beginnings
Originally from a small town in the countryside of the Foggia region, he leaves Apulia to move to Milan in search of acceptance as a singer; In the first years of his stay in the Lombard capital, he also did humble jobs as a waiter and bricklayer to support himself.
After listening to him sing, some colleagues encourage him to undertake a musical career, and so Michele chooses the artistic name of Nicola di Bari (in honor of the saint, to whom he is devoted, [SAN Nicholas of Bari]), In 1961, he participated in a contest for new songs with one of his pieces, "Piano pianino", and won it: this is how he began to exhibit himself in some venues in Milan, but continuing to work during the day. One afternoon Walter Guertler listens to him, who decides to propose a contract for his record company, Jolly, and to hire him as a collaborator to allow him more freedom for his musical activity; the first track, on the other hand, "Piano... pianino...", goes unnoticed. He continues to have nights, including a few in Switzerland.
The first successes
In 1964 he participated in the Cantagiro with "Amor vuelve a casa", obtaining a discreet success. The following year she appears at the Sanremo Festival with & # 34; My friends & # 34; (as a couple with Gene Pitney) and the Cantagiro with "Lloraré".
He returned to the Festival in 1966 with "Ella me awaits", and again to the Cantagiro with "3,000 drums", and again, for the fourth consecutive time, to San Remo in 1967 with "Look behind your back." During these years in Jolly he meets and becomes a friend of Luigi Tenco, and years later he will dedicate an entire album to the singer-songwriter's songs. These first successes make him a well-known name, for which at the end of 1967 he is contacted by RCA, who hires him and makes him edit in 1968 the version of an Eric Charden song, "The world is gray, the world is azul", which is a great success (years later Franco Battiato, in his famous song "Cuccurucucu", will quote it), repeated the following year by another with a version of, "Eternamente" 34;, from the film Candilejas by Charles Chaplin: but a great affirmation is still missing, which will take place in the early years of the following decade.
1970s
The return took place in 1970: Gianni Morandi was supposed to sing in Sanremo the song "First beautiful thing", a song with music written by Nicola Di Bari and lyrics by Mogol, but the Bolognese gave up little before the Festival and RCA chooses the Foggian singer-songwriter to accompany the Ricchi e Poveri (Rich and Poor). The song is a great success, reaching second place, and Nicola Di Bari becomes very much in demand despite the fact that nobody believed in him before the Festival.
A singular fact can give the measure of that success: it is still today one of the most melodic and catchy pieces of Italian music of the period, which nevertheless offered great quality, just think that in San Remo Di Bari it was preceded by Celentano with "Who does not work does not make love" and followed in third place by Sergio Endrigo with the proposal "Noah's Ark", in fourth place another piece that has entered the history of Italian music, "Eternidad" by Camelonti, and in the fifth another historical song, "The sword in the heart", written by Lucio Battisti, Mogol and Donida for Patty Pravo and Little Tony.
The label of the album has indicated production Numero Uno, which is the record company of Lucio Battisti; Battisti, in fact, upon hearing Di Bari's song (whose lyrics were written by Mogol), offered to record the test to introduce Morandi, and therefore played the guitar, being accompanied by Franz Di Cioccio on drums, Damiano Dattoli on bass, Andrea Sacchi on electric guitar and Flavio Premoli on keyboard; when Morandi resigned, Nicola Di Bari, advised by the arranger Giampiero Reverberi, decides to use this base, since it was already optimal, adding the orchestra of bows arranged by the maestro Reverberi.
Second place in San Remo doesn't stop Di Bari: in the summer he comes out with a new hit piece, "Vagabundo", which conquers the charts also in South America and in Spain, and in autumn he repeats as the success of the previous singles with "Una jovencita como tú" (version of a Bobby Darin piece with Italian lyrics written by Giuseppe Lo Bianco).
Nicola Di Bari still commands the general public and wins the Sanremo Festival in 1971 with "The heart is a gypsy" as a couple with Nada and in 1972 with "Los días del rainbow", also presented at the Eurovision Song Contest that year, in Edinburgh: on that occasion they received much applause and flattering judgments from critics, winning a honorable sixth place. An episode of censorship is linked to this song: in fact, at the Sanremo Festival it was imposed by the RAI censorship commission to modify a stanza from "The days of the rainbow", in which sings "Giacesti bambina ti alzaste giá donna" (You went to bed as a girl, you got up as a woman), modifying the verse in "You were a girl, you got up as a woman", in the disc versions the modification is absent.
In 1971 he won in Canzonissima with "Guitar sounds lower", beating Massimo Rainero in extremis; Years later, Mina will also offer a beautiful interpretation of this song; 1971 is also the year of a tribute to Luigi Tenco, with the album Nicola Di Bari canta a Luigi Tenco.
In 1973 it is the year of "País", which is very successful, not repeated by the following album, For example... I like the South, written by a young singer-songwriter, Rino Gaetano, who will become very well known years later. He returned to the Sanremo Festival in 1974 with less success, with "El loco de la aldea", while in 1975 he entrusted himself to Paolo Frescura, who wrote the piece "Love makes you beautiful" (Ti fa bella l'amore), which nevertheless goes unnoticed.
The cinema
In the 1970s, Nicola di Bari's artistic activity also interested cinema: he participated in the 1972 detective film Black Turin, directed by Carlo Lizzani and alongside actors from the Bud Spencer caliber.
Previously, he performed with two other singers, Don Backy and Caterina Caselli, in the 1967 film The Immensity – The Piper's Girl, directed by Oscar De Fina and in The Piper's Girl cure, from 1970, directed by Domenico Paolella.
The following years, with the change of record label from RCA to Carosello, its sales in Italy were reduced (with a small exception with The most beautiful in the world in 1976) and a consequent decrease in activity on the peninsula.
He continues his career in South America, where he continued to achieve considerable success even after 1975: it is still possible to hear some of his most famous songs from the 1970s translated into Spanish on the radio.
He has also composed some songs in this language, the Italian version of which was never published, such as "The Last Thought" and "The Last Romantic", sung only in Italian by Nicola in a television appearance.
Discography
Albums
- 1965 - Nicola di Bari - Jolly LPJ 5041.
- 1970 - Nicola di Bari - RCA PSL 10464
- 1971 - Nicola di Bari - RCA PSL 10494
- 1971 - Nicola di Bari sings Luigi Tenco - RCA PSL 10520
- 1972 - I giorni dell'arcobaleno - RCA PSL 10533
- 1973 - Paese - RCA PSL 10571
- 1973 - A sud - RCA DPSL 10597
- 1974 - The collomba di carta - RCA TPL1-1043
- 1975 - Ti fa bella l'amore - RCA TPL1-1104
- 1977 - Nicola di Bari - Carosello CLN 25068
- 1981 - Passo dopo passo - Wea T 58327
- 1986 - Innamorarsi
Simple
- 1963 - Piano...pianino.../Perché te ne vai - Jolly J 20217
- 1964 - Amore ritorna a casa/Senza causa - Jolly J 20229
- 1964 - Non farmi piangere più/Ti prendo le braccia - Jolly J 20255
- 1965 - Your non potrai capire/One thing di nessuna importanza - Jolly J 20280
- 1965 - Amici miei/Amo te, solo te - Jolly J 20282
- 1965 - 'Piangerò/Il rimpianto - Jolly J 20294
- 1965 - An amore vero/Non sai eat you master - Jolly J 20331
- 1966 - Lei mi aspetta/Ridi con me - Jolly J 20346
- 1968 - Il mondo è grigio, il mondo è blu/Solo ciao - RCA PM 3448
- 1969 - Eternally/The Vita e l'amore - RCA PM 3488
- 1970 - The first thing beautiful/... - RCA PM 3510
- 1970 - Vagabondo/La mia donna - RCA PM 3531
- 1970 - A ragazzina eat te/Zapponeta - RCA PM 3554
- 1971 - Il cuore è una zingaro/Agnese - RCA PM 3575
- 1971 - Anima/Pioverà pioverà - RCA Pl 1
- 1971 - A uomo molte cose non le sa/Sogno di spring - RCA PM 3611
- 1971 - Chitarra suona più piano/Lontano, lontano - RCA PM 3627
- 1972 - I giorni dell'arcobaleno/ Era di spring - RCA PM 3639
- 1972 - Occhi chiari/One minute...a vita - RCA PM 3673
- 1972 - Paese/Qualche cosa di più - RCA PM 3693
- 1974 - Sai che bevo, sai che fumo/Libertà - RCA TPBO 1121
- 1975 - Beniamino/Tema di Beniamino - RCA TPBO 1150
- 1976 - The beautiful più of the mondo/Anna perché - Carosello CI 20415
- 1979 - Chiara/Partire perché - Vip 10205
Compact Discs
- 1999 - I più grandi successi Duck Records (new recordings with new arrangements)
- 2001 - A lungo viaggio d'amore
Compilations
- 1976 - A successo dopo l'altro - RCA/Linea Tre (republished on CD in 1992 with new topics added)