Mina is back with ‘Dilettevoli inedite eccedenze’: what’s on the new album

There are the songs that were left on the shelf, the ones that Mina has continued to regard as precious even though they did not achieve the success that, in her view, they deserved. And there are tracks recorded specifically for this project, chosen without regard to genre or market considerations. It is from this combination that Dilettevoli inedite eccedenze, Mina’s new album, due for release on 9 October on her own label Pdu.

The album was presented at the Voce space at the Triennale di Milano and spans a variety of repertoires, from La mia serenata by Jimmy Fontana to Carrettieri, from Yes, I Know My Way by Pino Daniele to Dans mon îl by Henri Salvador. There is Settembre by Ivano Fossati, the only track that is neither a cover nor a previously unreleased track, and Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, reimagined in a flamenco style. ‘It’s not a press conference, it’s a listening session,’ said Massimiliano Pani, Mina’s son and the album’s producer. And the ‘surplus tracks’ aren’t simply archive rejects: ‘Mina’s cover albums aren’t just a string of hits, but also songs that weren’t successful yet which, in her view, should have been.’ Such as Carrettieri, an Italian song in the Sicilian dialect composed by Alfonso Gibilaro.

Mina has recorded and released 1,427 songs from the start of her career to the present day. It is a vast repertoire, within which the singer continues to explore with curiosity. “She really enjoys her work,” said Pani. She listens to music for her own pleasure, from jazz to pop to rock, and remains interested in what younger artists are doing. “Almost all the singers of the new generations have asked her to perform a duet, from rappers to pop artists,” explained Pani. Then it is Mina who chooses, as in the case of Blanco.

Why would a 19-year-old artist want to sing with her? ‘The answer they give is always the same: Mina is ahead of her time”. According to Pani, Mina has managed to make ‘radical choices whilst still remaining contemporary’, continuing to be followed by an audience that has changed over time. It is therefore no surprise that, when speaking of the recognition she receives from industry insiders, he describes her as ‘perhaps the greatest white singer around’. This observation is accompanied by another reflection on today’s music: ‘It’s a good time for music, if you go looking for it. It might emerge, but then it doesn’t float to the top in the algorithm.’ The offerings, he observes, often arrive ‘somewhat pre-digested’.

The film industry, too, continues to seek her out. Ferzan Özpetek has asked on several occasions to use her songs, and some will feature in the forthcoming In Joy and Sorrow, due out at Christmas. The director also directed the music video for Vento di passione, featuring Luca Argentero. Five or six tracks, including some previously unreleased ones, have been proposed for the film, but the final choice will be up to Özpetek. And the possibility of a film or TV drama about the singer remains open. ‘We’ve received a huge number of proposals, including some from abroad,’ said Pani, but none so far have been deemed suitable. ‘We need a good idea. We have to start with the songs,’ because her story is interesting above all ‘for the choices she made, rather than for her private life’. The new album, complemented by twelve previously unpublished photographs of Mina taken by Mauro Balletti, thus adds another piece to a musical legacy that continues to attract listeners and yield new discoveries.