Goodbye to David Riondino

Goodbye to David Riondino. The singer-songwriter passed away today, Sunday 29 March, at the age of 73, in his home in Rome. According to what we learn, the musician and actor, of Tuscan origins, had been fighting a serious illness for some years. Capable of ranging from music to theatre, he was launched between 1978 and 1979 by Fabrizio De André and PFM, who wanted him as the opening artist for the concerts of their legendary reunion. Before that experience he had founded the rock band Collettivo Victor Jara in Florence, named in honor of the murdered Chilean singer-songwriter Victor Jara, a supporter of Allende: with the group he had recorded the albums “Collettivo Victor Jara” in 1974 and “Don’t put yourself to push” in 1978.Maracaibo” with which Lu Colombo conquered the charts in 1981: the song was the soundtrack of the summer of that year and a cult piece of Italian pop music of the 80s.

Last year, more than forty years after its publication, the song ended up at the center of a dispute between Riondino himself and Lu Colombo. Thanks to an interview granted by Lu Colombo (real name Maria Luisa Colombo) to Repubblica, in which the musician declared: «I don’t have children but “Maracaibo” is as if it were. A son who gave me so much satisfaction and just as many headaches. I felt like a prisoner of a song.” Already in 2018, in reality, the two fought precisely on the topic of the paternity of “Maracaibo”, as Riondino recalled in response to Lu Colombo: «If the songs resemble their children, there are songs that are born by “creating” them together. In some way, sexually shared. This is not the case. The song arrived already completed, it was adapted by Colombo with a large working group. Then naturally sung. It could be defined as adoptive, or ‘adaptive’ motherhood. Which takes nothing away from parenting, of course. A song is largely the voice that identifies it. This is why I was the one who proposed that this piece of mine, once adapted, divide the registry in half. I’m very sorry that you felt, as you say, a prisoner of a song, and your reference to motherhood is interesting, which is perhaps the reason why, upon hearing the song from your daughter, you recognized my ‘paternity’ only in 2018, after my legal action.”

Behind the Caribbean dance rhythm “Maracaibo” hid a dark story of espionage, forbidden love, arms trafficking and redemption. The text recounts the adventures of Zazà, a Cuban dancer, lover of Fidel Castro (cited as Miguel for censorship), who, after having escaped an attack, manages a “pleasure house” in Cuba.

Riondino decided to publish his version of the catchphrase in 1995, on the album “When are the dancers coming?”, the seventh of his career. His participation as an author at the Sanremo Festival also dates back to 1995: Riondino signed the song “Troppo sole” for his then partner Sabina Guzzanti, performed by the comedian together with the group La Riserva Indiana, of which Riondino himself was a member together with Nichi Vendola, Sandro Curzi and Antonio Ricci. He ranked eighteenth.

The latest album, “Bocca kissed does not lose its fortune, on the contrary it renews like the moon does. Songs from the Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio”, was released in 2017. His latest initiative, which remained unfinished, is the Scuola dei Giullari, a widespread training center dedicated to song composition.

The funeral will take place on Tuesday 31 March at 11 am at the Church of the Artists in Rome, in Piazza del Popolo.