Exclusive: Italian composer Matteo Bocelli speaks to WION ahead of his first trip to India

When Italian composer Andrea Bocelli suffered from Glaucoma at theage of 12, he was completely blind, but that did not stop him from recording 15 albums of pop and classical music, nine operas, which sold over 70 million records.

His son, Matteo Bocelli plans to continue his father's legacy, but with a personal touch of his own golden voice.

In his music videos, he is high on style, glamour and ambitions. Days before his first trip to India, WION got an exclusive opportunity to speak to the singer-songwriter, who joined us from Italy via Zoom call.

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Bocelli was in a fresh mood to start the conversation. He had hiskeyboardand guitar ready in place. It happened twice in the middle of the conversation when he simply played a few tunes to express himself because he couldn't find the right words.

Even in his cheerfulness, Matteo had an aura of a calm composer. Throughout the fifteen minutes of the conversation, and ten minutes of setting up the cameras, audio equipment, he didn't seem to be in a rush to give an answer.

When Matteo switched on his video, he was seated in front of a bricked set-up. What set the mood was the designed off-white wall in the background whichhad a glow that reflected from a lamp placed near it.

WION: Let's talk about 'Solo', which is your first single. When we watch a music video set in the mountains, and with a title like 'Solo', we immediately imagine the protagonist with an intense expression. But you had the hint of a smile.

Matteo Bocelli: Well, it's true that the songmay bea little far from what the video is, but you see, the video reflects the essence of the music, the meaning. 'Solo' was a song that I wrote, the inspiration came from fact that loneliness is a very fragile aspect of my character. Solo means lonely in English. This was caused by the fact that when I was little, I used to see my father travelling the world, for a kid it is not easy to see your father leave home. Today, I see myself a little bit in the same place you know the same route, travelling all over, leaving home, all the family, friends, leaving home, the people in general that I love, it's not been easy. Allthisis of coursemovedfromthe biggest passion I had, that is music.

WION: Your music comes with a classic touch of cello, piano and modern touch of the drums. That is why you possibly have a separate fanbase. What kind of practice do you do to get such a fusion?

Matteo Bocelli: I was born, of course, with opera and classical music, but at the same time, I was born in a different generation where my friends were listening to Eminem and now Ed Sheeran and so, I always see that we are the sum of all our experiences, especially here is the music experience. And it is not easy for me to describe myself and say what I am today. Today, I am Matteo, and I prefer to receive from people a description of my music. But I have always been open to any genre of music. Theones that I love most are pop and opera.

WION: Do you remember the exact moment when you decided to follow in your father's footsteps?

Matteo Bocelli: The first important moment for me was when I approached music at the age of six or seven yearsold andstarted playing the piano. Singing was just something I did for myself and only with myself because I was very shy, and I couldn’t sing in front of people. So, I was mostly singing in front of my mother. My father's house was always full of people and there wasn’t much privacy until the day for some reason I opened up and said let's try to sing in front of my father. He was surprised and that's when I started to open up and sing in front of him. Then I got the technique and suggestions. Then 2018 had been the most important year for me, it was when I did the duet with my father, 'Follow Me'. That was when I understood that my passion for music was going farther, you know, something more.

WION: When you started playing, what were your regular practice pieces and which ones were you addicted to?

Matteo Bocelli: When I started to play the piano, I was into Chappell, he was my favourite composer. I have always considered myself a very romantic guy and Chappell, I think, is the most perfect example of romanticism and deep emotional composer.

WION: Now let's talk about the most awaited question, India. This is your first trip to the country, what are you waiting to experience?

Matteo Bocelli: I'mreally looking forward to discovering and learning about this amazing country, which unluckily I never had the chance to visit. I have been travelling the world my entire life but unluckily never had the chance to visit India. So, I'mvery excited and it will be very important for my career.

WION: Which Indian stars are you looking forward to working with?

Matteo Bocelli:I don’t know if I can say the name, but I will keep you in the surprise. I did a collaboration that I can't wait to share with all of you. It is a love song, and I can tell you that I will be recording the music video in India next week. Lots of exciting things coming up next month.

WION: Music lovers in India are exposed to widely different genres of music. How do you plan on establishing yourself?

Matteo Bocelli: Well, the project is quite homogenic. The sound of the project is not too far, we don’t have opera and the project of pop. In the last few years, I wrote about 70 songs and now is the moment to choose which one. It is not easy because you want to have an album of 70 songs butit'snot possible. It is an exciting moment for me but not easy because you have to pick the song which you think is the right one for the historic moment we are having. Before the end of this year, my first album will be out.

WION: Tell us about the musical composition you listen to on a repeat mode.

Matteo Bocelli: I have always been very fascinated by Ed Sheeran. He has been able to reach and develop a lot of incredible things. The way heapproachedhis live performance, I have never found anyone able to entertain 80,000 people in a stadium with just his voice and a guitar, it's truly impressive. The way he writes his lyrics, he is a storyteller, and I only listen to his songs. You can fall into what he writes, he has written some amazing melodies, he got the most successful ballads inmusichistory. He is aphenomenonthat happens once every hundred years. I also listen to Adele. She released her beautiful album. We have many amazing artists on this planet.

WION: Lately what do you think about the entire cultural boycott that has happened in Russia?

Matteo Bocelli: Well, I always try to send a message of love, hope and now, more than ever, I think we artists have to concentrate our energies to spread love and hope to people who are sufferingatthis moment. Even if I feel like a little drop of water, even if I'm just a little drop of water, we can be a big ocean of love in this world. We hope that this horrible situation ends very soon.

Watch |Hitting the right notes: Matteo Bocelli speaks to WION ahead of his first trip to India