Singing News: The Story of Italy’s Last Song – Still Performing in His 90s | music

When Franco Trincale was a boy barber, he would sing Sicilian songs in between customers, and his boss would play the guitar.

At that time, he never imagined that he would become the last of Italy’s greats when he grew up cantastoryea now dying tradition of touring musicians entertaining audiences by telling the news in song form. He could not have predicted that he would still be performing at the age of 90 – in a nursing home.

For six decades, Trincale has walked the streets of Milan singing about important moments in history, from terrorism in the 1970s to Berlusconi’s election and the Iraq War. He has released more than 30 albums, and has performed everywhere from the Soviet Union to the United States. He also played a major role in the labor rights movement in Italy, providing the soundtrack to labor protests.

He was born in 1939 in Militello in Val di Catania, a small town in Sicily, and has lived in Milan for 70 years. We met at Il Parco delle Cave, a living facility in a plain red brick building, which has been his home for the past two years. Trinkal has organized a concert for Valentine’s Day, and the main hall is packed with 150 people – elderly people and their relatives. He entertains them with a song he recently composed called “Long Live Love.” Trinkal’s voice has difficulty handling the high notes, but the audience helps him. After taking some time to memorize the chorus, they sing and clap to the beat. Trinkal’s wife, Lina, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and can communicate only through her eyes, sits in the front row.

Decades ago, when many Italians were illiterate, A cantastorye In town it was a big event. With the advent of television, their role evolved into that of itinerant musicians who entertained the audience as they narrated the news in a dramatic or satirical manner, accompanied by a guitar or accordion and large illustrated posters. Like other musicians traveling through Europe,… cantastorye They are descended from the “troubadours” of the Middle Ages, but what distinguishes them is that they only sing about real-life stories.

Traditionally, cantastorye They supported themselves through donations from the public and the sale of flyers containing the lyrics of their songs Anthem (or anecdotes) and then records. Popular between the 1920s and 1970s cantastorye Such as Ciccio Busacca, Otello Profasio, Rosa Balestreri and Marino Piazza sang covered in blood. Anthem It’s about a young woman who kills her rapist in revenge or the killing of women by their husbands. Other common themes include immigration, the mafia, and sometimes international news: “Nixon and Mao say to all wars: CiaoMarino Piazza sang about the two leaders meeting in 1972.

“canastory “I followed current events,” says Mauro Geraci, an anthropologist at the University of Messina. It is no coincidence, he says, “that it appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century, when public opinion was taking shape.” It was a social commentary: “Salvatore di Stefano, Sicilian cantastoryeHe used to say that when he saw something wrong, it was the right time to write a song.

Trinkal became a cantastorye Out of necessity: “I had just married Lena and left the Navy after serving for three years. I tried selling vegetables, and it wasn’t working, so I thought, ‘I’ll be cantastorye“In 1959, he moved to Milan. He began performing traditional Neapolitan songs in the city’s main streets, before playing outside factories that were housing thousands of immigrants from the south at the time. There he developed his distinctive style of “journalism in songs.”

traditional Anthem Working hours last long hours, but workers outside factories get only short breaks, so Trinkal has evolved Anthem Which only lasted a few minutes. Working conditions became a major topic: “The workers asked me why I didn’t write about their problems, like renewing contracts. They gave me some suggestions and I put them in the song.”

“Trinkal’s songs can capture an issue and denounce it in just minutes,” says Geraci. Workers and immigrants considered him their voice, and wrote him letters about their suffering.

Trinkal also took an interest in true crime. One of his most famous works is the story of the 1969 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Ermanno Lavorini. You expected a true-crime podcast: six separate recordings that followed real-time investigative reports, in which Trencal rapped about the frantic search for the child and clues and urged the kidnappers to come forward. He even did original reporting: “When Trinkal sang about a seven-month-old baby killed by tear gas while evacuating an occupied home, he talked to the mother. How is that different from journalism?” Geraci asks.

Later, Trincali began performing regularly in the corner of the Duomo, where he sang about Tangintopoli – the early 1990s corruption scandal that swept Italy’s political class – as well as Diego Maradona, the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa and the advent of mobile phones. In 2002, Silvio Berlusconi, the late prime minister, asked for the corruption trial to be moved away from Milan, arguing that Trinkale’s much-mocked performance was creating a biased environment.

In 2008, Milan awarded Trencal a medal. The government granted him a lifetime pension for his artistic achievements, and in 2018, a museum dedicated to him was opened in his hometown.

Today, Trincal’s life revolves around his wife. Because of her condition, he decided to move to a retirement home so they could be together: “Lina and I have known each other since I was 13 and he was 17, and I’m happy to spend the last part of my life with her. I visit her whenever I can. I sing songs to her when she opens her eyes and smiles at me. It’s like I’m recharging my batteries.”

Being in a nursing home hasn’t stopped him from performing: he now sings for other residents and recently performed a concert at a nearby public library.

Trinkal has filled his room with memorabilia: posters, awards, newspaper clippings, even figurines depicting him. He has a YouTube channel and shows a video that has received 400,000 views: “I am proud that I am able to sing and I will do so for as long as I can. I am happy that I am still able to evoke emotions, and also because I have received so much from others.”

Nursing home staff are supportive: “It’s great to see a resident still able to give a concert in the afternoon,” says Laura Sartori, director.

The San Valentino party was a success. But the party he threw for his 90th birthday, in September, was even bigger: “The hall was full – there was no room for anyone else,” Trencal recalls. He would like to hold a small music workshop for people with Alzheimer’s disease, like his wife. But he adds: “I have to watch them first to see if they respond to the songs. I hope that’s possible.”

Before leaving, Trinkal approaches his wife and sings a song to her. It wasn’t one of his kind – the love of his life had been given a screening of Era de Maggio, a Neapolitan classic by Roberto Morolo. Hearing the familiar tone, she opens her eyes and smiles.