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Raphael Gualazzi

Raphael Gualazzi was born in Urbino on the 11th of November, 1981. After studying pianoforte at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, where he focussed on classical composers, he extended his musical research to include Jazz, Blues and Fusion, collaborating with qualified artists of the sector and becoming known for his unique vocal and instrumental qualities.

His music was born of the fusion between the Rag-time technique of the early 1900s and the lyricism of Blues, Soul and Jazz in its more traditional form. The typical pre-jazz and stride-piano sounds of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Art Tatum and Mary Lou Williams, and the Blues of Ray Charles and Roosevelt Sykes, are brought up to date by Raphael Gualazzi with an extremely personal style in which tradition co-exists with the most innovative influences of such eclectic artists as Jamiroquai and Ben Harper.


Since 2005 Raphael Gualazzi has taken part in important festivals such as Fano Jazz, the Java Festival of Jakarta and Argo Jazz, Ravello International Festival and others, and in France in 2008 his compilation Piano Jazz was released on the Wagram label. This compilation included Raphael Gualazzi’s interpretation of Georgia On My Mind  as well as compositions of great artists like Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Art Tatum, Ray Charles, Jimmie Cullum, Michael Petrucciani, Chick Corea, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, Nina Simone and Duke Ellington.


After being invited to perform in Vermont and New Hampshire as part of the project The History & Mystery Of Jazz, alongside such prominent musicians as Michael Ray (Sun Ra Arkestra, Kool & The Gang), Steve Ferraris (Sun Ra Arkestra, Charlie Haden), Jamie McDonald, Nick Cassarino, Bob Gullotti and John McKenna, in September of 2009 Raphael Gualazzi met Caterina Caselli and signed with Sugar a recording contract. 


After catching the attention of the general public with his cover of  Don’t Stop, the celebrated ’70s success of the famous band Fleetwood Mac, which was chosen as the soundtrack of the ENI television ad, in the summer of 2010 Raphael Gualazzi performed at the Heineken Jammin Festival, the prestigious Pistoia Blues Festival and the Giffoni Film Festival, and went on to make his debut in September at the club Blue Note in Milan, where he presented his first 4-track digital EP of the same name, which brought him to the top of the iTunes charts. 


In the meantime, the track Reality And Fantasy, remixed by Gilles Peterson and added to the Hotel Costes Compilation and Nova Tunes 2.2, reached the top of the charts for digital sales throughout the world. Raphael Gualazzi gained air play on some of the most prestigious French networks and in December he performed at the Louvre and then went on to make his debut at the Sun Side Club in Paris, the ‘temple’ of jazz music, where he presented his repertoire to the European media. 


In February 2011 Raphael Gualazzi took part in the Festival of Sanremo in Italy with the song Madness Of Love. The song won hands down, coming away with the prize for the Young Artists category, the “Mia Martini” Critics Award and the Press, Radio & TV Award. 


Simultaneously, the English version of Madness Of Love was included in the soundtrack of the film Manual Of Love 3, directed by Giovanni Vchosen and starring Robert De Niro and Monica Bellucci.  


The song, which was written, produced and arranged by Gualazzi himself, is from his debut album Reality And Fantasy, released on the Sugar label on 16th February (and distributed with Universal Music in France and Germany). The song will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf with an English/Italian version of the lyrics.

Music video

Lyrics of Madness Of Love

Dire si dire mai
Non e’ facile sai
And all the world around you seems to slip and disappear
Io non so piu’ chi sei
Non mi importa chi sei
I know for certain I won't bother you with nostalgia

Ma vedrai un altro me
in un sogno fragile
riderai come se non ti avessi amato mai
cercherai un altro me oltre l’ombra di un caffe’
Troverai solo me
Se mi fermo un attimo io non so piu’ chi sei

Qui si vive cosi’
day by day night by night
but someone hit me and I fell into your heart, my dear

And you’ll fly over lands
Where your eyes can’t find the end
Upon mountains down lanes
Being so far away from you just makes me feel so damned!

E vedrai un altra te quasi invincibile
viva come non mai ed e’ li che tu mi avrai
oltre false magie l’orizzonte sarai
splenderai, splenderai, splenderai
splenderai!
Can’t you see
Through your eyes
There’s a look that don’t shine
And all the world around you seems to slip and disappear

Thought that word from your heart
Means I’m yours, means you’re smart
I know for certain I won't bother you with nostalgia

But you'll find other men
full of love and filled with damn
and you'll smile here and there
like the first of all your sighs
there you'll cry with your friends
like he was the first and last
spreading life wasting life
shouldn't be that way if you ain't got a tear to hide!

Here we live, with no tricks
day by day night by night
but someone hit me and I fell into your heart, my dear

And you’ll fly over lands
Where your eyes can’t find the end
Upon mountains down lanes
Being so far away from you just makes me feel so damned!

Show your man how to love,
show him tears and skies above,
show him worlds full of light
and your dreams that you can't hide
show him spells he can hear
and your wonderful life, let it shine!
let it shine!
let it shine!
let it shine!
Dire oui dire jamais
Ce n’est pas facile tu sais
Et l’univers entier autour de toi semble s’esquiver et disparaître

Moi je ne sais plus qui tu es
Peu m’importe qui tu es
Je suis sûr de ne pas t’ennuyer avec ma nostalgie

Mais tu verras un autre moi
dans un rêve fragile
tu riras comme si je ne t’avais jamais aimée
tu chercheras un autre moi par-delà l’ombre d’un café
Tu ne trouveras que moi
Si je m’arrête un instant moi je ne sais plus qui tu es

Ici on vit comme ça
Jour après jour nuit après nuit
mais quelqu’un m’a frappé et je suis tombé dans ton cœur, mon amour

et tu voleras au-dessus de terres
dont tes yeux ne verront pas la fin
sur les montagnes le long des rues
être si loin de toi me rend fou!


Et tu verras une autre toi-même quasiment invincible
vivante comme jamais et c’est là que tu m’auras
au-delà des fausses magies tu seras l’horizon
Tu resplendiras, tu resplendiras, tu resplendiras
tu resplendiras!