Fulminacci: “Night before exams” is an eternal song

The Roman singer-songwriter tells his origins: tonight on the stage of the Ariston Gazzelle brings Fulminacci – already competing in Sanremo in 2021 with “Santa marinella – to sing “Notte prima degli exami” by Antonello Venditti.

Filippo stopped by the Rockol Lounge and we interviewed him, to tell us about the collaboration, born at Maciste – the record label that the two singer-songwriters share

Rockol: The duet with Gazzelle on “Notte prima degli exami” is also a sort of closing circle, of a world, of a songwriting, of a Roman spirit, which in recent years has written important pages in the history of Italian music. Can you tell us about it?
Thunderbolts: I’m very happy to be part of this thing, even if maybe I arrived a little later. “Night before exams” by Antonello Venditti is a very important piece for a lot of generations, it is not a song about which you say: “But do you remember that song that was there when my parents were young?”.

Rockol: an always current song?
Thunderbolts:“Night before exams” is always relevant, no one else has ever written a song on this theme. Antonello Venditti’s talent was also that of mastering a theme because, if today I wrote a song that talks about that, they would say to me: “But Venditti has already done it, what are you doing?”.
In short, it is an eternal piece, I truly believe that it unites children to older people and I am very happy to be able to pay homage to this person and this song.

And to do it with a friend of mine who is Flavio, Gazzelle. We want to enjoy it and we want to stay there, metaphorically, hug each other and sing it, as if to say: “How many times have we sung it like this, in our spare time, because we love it and because we felt told by this song”. Tonight we do it professionally, but in reality there is a lot of humanity, there is the story of our lives in this song.

Rockol: In recent years we have seen you, Aries, Gazelles, a new generation of artists, who are going to take the spotlight of the Ariston. Until a few years ago it wasn’t so simple and obvious
Thunderbolts: In recent years there has been an expansion of both audiences and artists regarding the Sanremo Festival. There were some quite unexpected participations.
I remember, the year I participated, this revolution was happening where you shouldn’t bring the classic song to Sanremo. Now that’s no longer the case: there are so many genres. The great thing is that there is a co-presence, there are all generations and all ages, and we truly all owe this to Amadeus. Everyone is there, we shouldn’t exclude those who have more history behind them, but it’s nice to include those who have less.

Rockol: Have you seen Sanremo these days? Is there anything you liked?
Thunderbolts: I watched the Festival and I have to say that, even if I’m biased, I really like Gazzelle’s song. I’m rooting for him, his song is one of my favorite songs, and I would say it even if I wasn’t friends with him and if I wasn’t a guest. I also really like Dargen D’Amico and Angelina Mango.

Rockol: One nightmare thing about the Sanremo Festival that you remember when you were there?
Thunderbolts: Well, I did the Covid Sanremo, the one without an audience. I remember that it was very complicated to manage the interviews on camera. I stayed all day in my hotel room, which became a home and an office. Every day I had to talk to people I met, in many cases, on screens, who I met again in life. I don’t know if it’s harder to walk around and get tired like this, or to stay in front of a screen all day, because that’s a different kind of tired, which makes you a little more crazy. It’s better to get tired walking around…

Rockol: What can we expect in the coming months?
Thunderbolts: First of all, the year that has just begun will be a very full one, because I will be doing a lot of concerts, which are going very well. Also thanks to this one hosted in Sanremo I am regaining a bit of confidence with the stage and with singing live, so thank you Sanremo, thanks to Gazzelle.