Music, farewell to Ornella Vanoni. Meloni's condolences: Italy loses a unique artist

For her 90th birthday, she gave herself a present, recording Ti voglio with Elodie and ditonellapiaga and then also Diverse, a new recording project for BMG. And then, with Pacifico, 'Vincente o perdente', a sentimental diary rather than an autobiography of 90 spectacular years of life. A human and artistic adventure born under the banner of the extraordinary: she, daughter of the wealthy Milanese bourgeoisie, becomes, at the age of 20, the girl of the Mala, in the milieu of the Piccolo, the jewel of that Milan that lived the season in which it taught the world a new idea of Culture.

To the great scandal of the bempensanti, Ornella became the companion of Giorgio Strehler who, with an ingenious intuition and the complicity of people such as Dario Fo, Fausto Amodei, Fiorenzo Carpi and Gino Negri, sewed a repertoire onto her that has gone down in history: 'Le canzoni della Mala', the work of fine intellectuals but presented as the result of research on ancient manuscripts of popular ballads. Masterpieces such as 'Ma mi' and 'Le mantellate' were born. After leaving her association with Strehler and the Piccolo environment, Vanoni came into contact with the first true generation of singer-songwriters, the Genovese School: love with Gino Paoli was born, immortalised by one of the most beautiful songs in the history of Italian music, 'Senza fine'.

With Gino Paoli they remained friends all their lives, their concerts together were great entertainment and great fun for the meeting-clash of two such strong personalities. From that moment, having entered the universe of song, she found a unique expressive register, far removed from melodic conventions that allowed her to range from covers of Roberto Carlos, "L'appuntamento" to those of Piaf, "L'albergo a ore", or Tammy Wynette, "Domani è un altro giorno" (Tomorrow is another day) up to that brilliant intuition of Sergio Bardotti who had her record "La voglia la pazzia l'incoscienza e l'allegria" with Vinicius De Moraes and Toquinho, songs written by Jobim and Chico Buarque, a historic album that contributed to the popularisation of Brazilian music in Italy.

Her sensuality and refined elegance contribute to the creation of a performer with unique characteristics in our panorama, an artist naturally devoted to an international outlook who has collaborated with practically all the greatest Italian authors and artists, Lucio Dalla and Fabrizio De Andrè included, and who was also the first woman to win the Tenco Prize for 'best songwriter' because in the meantime she had also started writing songs.

Evidence of an unconventional creativity is 'Ornella &' an album recorded in the mid-1980s in New York, after he had collaborated several times with Gerry Mulligan, with the likes of Gil Evans, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, the brothers Michael and Randy Brecker, and Ron Carter, which represents another memorable page in the Italian discography, along with a songbook that is part of the collective memory.

Ornella Vanoni's greatness lies in her having managed to never lose touch with musical reality, beyond fashions and the succession of trends, while at the same time avoiding the danger of being merely a classic with an extraordinary vitality and a superior awareness that comes from a memorable life. Until the last day, when she passed away, suddenly in her Milanese home.