Giovanni Toscano and the search for “a better place”
Sometimes, in life, receiving a “no” can be a blessing. This is the demonstration Giovanni Toscano, born in ’96, who has just published “A better place” (Latarma Records), produced by Rootsie.
“The idea of the best place comes from a working no,” he says.
After a period of sadness, confusion and disorientation I wondered “But who is Giovanni beyond his work, the search for external approval? And how can he be happy if his plans should not go as he wishes?”. The answer is a work in progress, as well as the search for the best place. “When I started looking for him I had just left Rome and I had returned without too much conviction in Pisa. I must say that the first goal was to find the relationship with my city, which is the place where I can be myself”. .
The different identities of Giovanni Toscano
He means himself several things: writer – in 2021 his debut novel “Il Guinzaglio” was released -, actor – in 2018 he is the protagonist in Paolo Virzì’s film “Magic nights” and is in the cast of “Studio Battaglia” and “Romantic” by Pilar Fogliati with the script of Giovanni Veronesi -, director – directed the short “second houses” with which he won the special mention at the Cinema Festival and Television of Benevento 2024.
And of course, songwriter. In 2022 his first singles come out, “tonight” and “my love”, with which he opens the concerts of Carmen Consoli, Max Gazzè and Daniele Silvestri. 2023 is the year of his first work, “Arrogantissima” (Latarma Records/BMG Italy), anticipated by the single “Day” and followed by “Spaghetti Gipsy”. .
“Everything stems from indecision, restlessness and a great creative desire,” explains Giovanni, who had chosen to study architecture. Destiny, however, had another path for him. “The term of enrollment in the university test had expired and so I threw myself on acting, a discipline that imposes truth. Research and the desire to tell stories led me to writing, then to music”. Although, the latter, he had already conquered him in the middle school years, when he played with friends in a caravan in the middle of a wheat field. “It looks like the incipit of a horror film – jokes Giovanni, who adds: the desire to make work and creativity with the moments of play and light -heartedness remained at that boy”.
Emma Nolde and Assurdité
A dichotomy recalled in the vodcast that anticipated the exit of the album, in which John and his friends tell the creative path that led to the publication.
“Being a very intimate album I liked the idea of introducing myself as a young singer -songwriter emerging in the intimacy of my country house”. And it is the campaign that also sealed the partnership with Emma Nolde, protagonist of “Oggi”, one of the two featuring contained in the album. “We met in his country house and immediately noticed an affinity of dialect and love for the distance from the big cities, which gave birth to a very intimate piece”. Unlike the “condominium meeting”, written with Assurditè, who reflects the festival of the meeting between the two artists during a festival. .
With his scratched Tuscan voice he deals with universal themes such as love, friendship and relationship with time, which we will also talk about during the review “Meetings and live stories”, inaugurated last week at Est Bar in Milan, and then continue today, April 7 in Bologna, 8 in Rome and 9 in Pisa. “It will be a story of the album accompanied by some guitar and voice pieces, a dimension that I love, and so much involvement of the public”, explains Toscano “the main message that I would like to pass through my music and from my experience is a advice that I often repeat myself too: not to give things for granted and not to settle”. And remember that it is not a drama if you fail at the university or you receive doors in the face. On the other hand you never know the fate where it will bring. “Without those not – he concludes – I would never have made music”.
