LigaJovaPelù: “My name is never again” is republished
“My name is never again”: a title and a refrain that are a declaration of intent, a position of denunciation against any war which, like any act of violence, seems humanly difficult to justify. With this slogan, in 1999 Luciano Ligabue, Jovanotti and Piero Pelù expressed a message of protest against violence, in reaction to the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and in particular to NATO's military intervention during the Kosovo war. Twenty-five years later the single “Il mio nome è maipiù”, originally released on 17 June 1999 as an anti-war cry, will be re-released as announced by the same three artists on 6 September, in single CD and vinyl versions. As then, the proceeds will go to support Emergency.
“On 17 June 25 years ago, 'Il mio nome è maipiù' was released, which became the best-selling single CD ever in Italy”, we read in the post published by Emergency on social media in collaboration with LigaJovaPelù: “The proceeds came delivered to a young Emergency, for projects in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and the former Yugoslavia”. And again: “Every word said today risks appearing rhetorical, considering that that cry “never again” remains unheard, although the drive that motivated it 25 years ago today is still strong, painful and disconcerted and full of hope. Hope must be kept alive , even with just an emotional 'thing' like a song. A song that will continue to help support the work of Emergency, to translate hope into concrete action.”
To explain the humanitarian meaning of “Il mio nome è maipiù” (here is the complete text), accompanied by a video signed by the Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores, on the back of the single Ligabue, Jovanotti and Pelù published this phrase:
“A few months after the 'turn' of the millennium, our so-called 'civil' society has 51 ongoing wars within it. At the same time, being against war (any war) seems to mean taking a political position. Well, we want to be free to feel beyond any such position by saying that for us, there will never be a valid reason for any war.”
All three artists together performed the song live on a few occasions such as, among others, during one of the two shows held by the artist from Correggio at the Verona Arena in September 1999 for his “Miss World Tour” and witnessed by the video recording “Ligabue in Arena” in 2000. “Il mio nome è maipiù” was subsequently performed live by Luciano, the singer-songwriter of “Serenata rap” and Piero Pelù also in 2005 at the “Live 8” concert, held in the same moment in Rome and in the other G8 nations, and on the stage of “Italia Loves Emilia” in 2012 with Fiorella Mannoia and Claudio Baglioni.
Despite the few live reproductions, the song had a lot of luck and thanks to the success obtained “Il mio nome è maipiù” turned out to be the best-selling single in Italy in 1999. Piero Pelù decided to include the song in his collection ” Presente” of 2005, released a year after the Litfiba leader's third album “Soggetto stravati”, and Jovanotti in his greatest hits “Backup – Lorenzo 1987-2012” of 2012.
