Who was Oliviero Malaspina: from De André to the premature disappearance

Fabrizio De André had been so fascinated by his talent that he decides not only to let him open the concerts of his last tour but also to ask him to help him work on an album that was then unfinished because of the death of the Genoese singer -songwriter, “night”. With Faber, who paid homage to in 2000 when he performed at the concert-tribute “Faber, a fragile friend” in Genoa, singing “Father’s song” from the album “History of an employee”, had also conceived another project never finished, a book entitled “Dictionary of the corner”. Oliviero Malaspina, an Italian songwriter, writer and poet, considered a cult artist of the Italian author song of the last thirty years, has disappeared prematurely yesterday at just 63 years due to an intestine cancer. Born in 1961 in the Pavese, from a secondary branch of the noble family of the Malaspina, the singer -songwriter made his debut in 1995 with the album “Caravaggio”, before conquering De André’s estimate. Among the first to remember him on social networks was the son of the voice of “Bocca di Rosa”, Cristiano, for whom he composed the song “on the border” in 1995:

I recently learned the very bad news … Oliviero Malaspina, a dear friend, a great author, songwriter and collaborator in various records, passed away. A poet. As there are no more. I am amazed and grieved by this horrendous news. I remember affection every year and the nights spent together to write and the many moments where you have been of real comfort and support, as only a dear friend can do. I tighten with a hug to the family. That the earth is mild oils and that your journey can be wonderful.

Speaking of his collaboration with Fabrizio De André, Malaspina said:

My story, with Fabrizio, begins, not very well, at the Smerald theater in Milan, in 1992. An hour before the concert, I present myself with a friend’s degree thesis. He was, as always, very tense and already projected towards the stage. He did not give much importance to the thing, he turned to me just two or three questions of the ritual and the paper was held. The true relationship began in 1994, after the writing of “Nights of Genoa”, with Cristiano, who gave him to read my collection of poems “Live in front of the cold moon”. While I returned by car from Milan to the Oltrepo Pavese, I received a phone call from Cristiano. I thought there were problems with the song, but he said to me: “I pass you a friend”. The friend, in question, was Fabrizio, who said to me: “Write very well. You must be an interesting and cultured person. I would like to meet you. You can come the day after tomorrow, in my house, for 15. 30?”. I skidded, with the car, for the emotion. We saw each other, after two sleepless nights and a few minutes were enough, because I seemed to me to know him always. After that meeting, we never left each other. He had made me a three -year contract, exclusively. He wanted to get involved in the “Anime Salve” project, after the separation from Fossati and we started thinking about “night”. He would also have had to produce my album “Welcome Monsters”, which, unfortunately, did not happen, but he worked on some texts that I keep in a safe case together with the “night”. We also had in mind to write a dictionary of the corner and a novel. In 1998, I did as an Opener during his last tour and worked on the “night” until his death.

About the “night” project, the songwriter had revealed:

Fabrizio was a revolutionary. Several times, he had triggered a paradigm change in the history of the Italian songwriter. The first time, he had done it, collaborating with a rock group such as the PFM, the second with the album in Genoese dialect “Crêuza de Mä” and, finally, he intended to do so with the “night”. In this case, we are talking about four suite of 20 minutes each, with a change of writing compared to the past, no kissed rhymes, only assonances, alliterations and rhymes in the vehicle. We and musicians, who should have composed the music, had all of the reference books. Unfortunately, due to his death, the work remained unfinished and unpublished.

After the disappearance of Faber, Malaspina collaborated with his Christian son at the “Scaramante” albums of 2001 and “a new day” of 2003. With “A new day” De André Jr. He introduced himself to the 2003 Sanremo Festival: Malaspina was co-author of the song. The collaboration between the two was renewed in 2013 for the album “as in the sky as on earth”.

Between 2007 and 2010 he collaborated with Raphael Gualazzi for the album “Reality and Fantasy”, which the video co -author of several songs.

At the 1995 record debut with “Caravaggio” he followed the album “you have! You have!”. In 2002, then, Malaspina sent in the shops “Welcome Monsters!”. The singer -songwriter engraved three other unpublished records: “sailors of land” of 2005, “Malaspina” of 2014 and “The deepest need” of 2021.