The original French version of Speranza was released in 2005 by the internationally acclaimed Belgian/Canadian singer Lara Fabian. I immediately fell in love with this music and wanted to sing it, but the text was so personal to the life of Lara that it didn't feel right to just translate it into Italian. So, I wrote my own lyrics to it, which, like the originals, narrate my origins.

It was only recently that I came across another beautiful song called Stella Sarà from one of the few Italian musicals that were originally conceived in our language about the life of  Saint Pio of Pietralcina. Pio's mother comes to realize that she won't be able to be by his side to support him to the end of his life, and asks the angels and the heavens to take care of him.

Sacred to secular: Rosalina is about the love of a lucky guy who overlooks her being plump and worries about her swollen ankles.
Though she restlessly rides her bicycle around town hoping to lose weight, she always goes back home to stuff herself with French beignets.

Across the ocean came Giorgia after her early success at the national singers Festival di Sanremo where she sang "E poi" which launched her into stardom. What happens after "forever after"? The song is a real musical challenge, and I always wanted to put myself to the test with my own interpretation of it.

French/Italian composer Riccardo Cocciante wrote his ode to Marguerite in 1978 which immediately became his masterpiece and was soon adapted and translated into Italian, Spanish, Dutch and English. The sound of the language and my half-French origins compelled me to add this track to the CD.

Non Siamo Soli was originally sung by Eros Ramazzotti who quickly became known as a pop singer all over the world in recent years. Famous for his duets with international personalities such as Tina Turner, Cher and Anastacia, he co-wrote and sang this mambo with Ricky Martin.

Brought to universal attention by the beautiful rendering of Josh Groban, the gorgeous soundtrack by Ennio Morricone was first performed by Dulce Pontes after the movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso had already won an academy award in 1990. I am hoping people will listen to my interpretation without prejudice toward a less operatic approach, which is more my style.

Back to Giorgia, Di Sole e D'Azzurro brings a ray of sun and joy into life through love. What I like the most in music is melody, and this song is so tuneful that I could not leave it out of this project. You might have heard the English version titled With You that Giorgia sings herself.

Another masterpiece, this time by Lucio Dalla, one of the most famous Italian singer/songwriters of the 70's and '80s, tells the story of the last hours of Enrico Caruso's life after coming back to Napoli in the early 20th century. It is speculated that the words "I love you very much" were for the love of his life, Ada Giacchetti with whom he fathered two children before she deserted him.

Napoli contributed immensely to the  Italian belcanto, and the tradition of melodic singing is carried on today by many composers and performers. Indifferentemente cannot be pinpointed to any single composer, but it was brought to fame by Sergio Bruni in 1963. My tribute to Italian singing could not do without an homage to such an important aspect of music.

"Fa Che Non Sia Mai" was also presented at the Festival di Sanremo in 1998. The light passages and its somewhat odd introduction send the listeners onto an abstract world of clouds and breeze, or at least that is my perception of the song.

Charles Aznavour wrote Tous les visages de l'amour (literally, "All the Faces of Love") in 1974. The song was later presented under a different title and lyrics by Elvis Costello as "She", and it became part of the soundtrack to "Notting Hill" before Laura Pausini made it hers as Uguale a Lei in 2006. Ms. Pausini, along with Eros Ramazzotti and Giorgia,  has become an ambassador for Italian music in the world.

As an homage to the large Hispanic population of the United States, I wanted to add the Spanish dramatic lullaby about the son of the moon as reintroduced to the public by Ana Torroja, Nacho and Jose Maria Cano in Hijo de la luna.

The last song on this disc, Notturno, is the only one that I have recorded outside this project back in 2005 as a tribute to the late Mia Martini: an immensely beloved performer of the recent past who has moved generations of listeners until her unexpected death in 1995.
In 2007 a video was produced of this song, and I am very proud of it.  It can be viewed on my website http://www.michelangelonari.com and on YouTube.com, Google Video and MySpace.com

Speranza covers a fairly wide spectrum of the Italian contemporary melodic repertory as I perceive it, and I hope that you will come to love it as much as I have.

(C) 2008 Michelangelo Nari