Giuliano Sangiorgi recounts 25 years of Negramaro

Exclusive interview with the leader of the Salento band that has made history in contemporary Italian music

Among the protagonists of the Festa del Cinema di Mare - Mauro Mancini Award / Guido Parigi Award, held in Castiglione della Pescaia from August 23 to 27, is also Giuliano Sangiorgi of Negramaro. For the occasion we publish our interview with the singer, whom we interviewed on Milano the city of style 24.

Some voices do more than just sing. They vibrate with something deeper: a sweet nostalgia, a beauty that travels through the years without losing intensity. Giuliano Sangiorgi’s voice is like that: it holds the sincere heartbeat of his roots, the electricity of connection, the breath of dreams taking shape over time. With Negramaro, Giuliano created the soundtrack of entire generations. Twenty-five years of music, friendship, exploration and, above all, freedom. We hear him over the phone while he’s at a hotel in Milan. The city that welcomed him as a young man is now the port he returns to with new eyes. He talks to us about the latest album Free Love, about the tour starting in the fall that celebrates a story still being written, a story about the meaning of time and music as a refuge for the soul.

Giuliano, how did your passion for music begin?

Within the walls of my home, which oozed with music: Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti, Luigi Tenco, Bruno Lauzi. Every trip with my father from Puglia (where we were born) to Sicily (my mother’s homeland) was a musical journey through the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Then, thanks to my brother Salvatore and Luigi, now our manager, I discovered CCCP, U2… and at that point, I started dreaming of myself as a guitarist or singer in a big band. Like U2, exactly.

What was your first musical meeting like? When did you realize you had a special chemistry together?

It all started in Lecce, at university. I played with some bands, I had a very ‘70s look and loved the Doors and Deep Purple. Ermanno Carlà and Emanuele Spedicato were already playing together in another band; we watched each other from afar. Then one day they asked me to play together, and it was like lighting a fuse. The magic was completed when Danilo Tasco, Andrea Mariano and Andrea De Rocco joined us. At first, we rehearsed in a countryside house, then in the cellar of Ermanno’s parents, among barrels of Negramaro wine (which inspired our name) and dreams we wanted to share. That cellar was our stage. There was a magic that’s hard to explain. It was a “beautiful explosion,” as I sing in Congiunzione Astrale.

Twenty-five years together. What’s the secret?

Not thinking about time. Not counting the years. Music, if you truly love it, makes you lose the perception of space and time. It’s a dream you live awake, every day.

If, today, you met the Negramaro of 2000, what would you tell them?

Nothing. They wouldn’t need anything. We never set goals, never said “one day we’ll play in stadiums.” There was no strategic vision. Just one desire: playing together, forever. And maybe that’s what made us free and authentic.

What do you still feel when you step on stage ?

Time stops. I’ve learned to slow it down, to breathe it in. Before, it slipped right past me. Since San Siro in 2008, I’ve begun to hold it inside, to live it slowly. I slow down and think of everything: the first breath, the setlist, every glance. I want to carry every single emotion with me.

If you had to choose one song to represent the Negramaro’s soul, what would it be?

Mentre tutto scorre. It’s the song that made us take the big leap. Then there’s Fino all’imbrunire, which was another push, another launch into the unknown.

The new tour will start in Jesolo on Sept. 27 and will touch many other Italian cities in the fall, including passing through Florence on October 12. What should we expect?

This tour is the symbolic end of a journey that began with Amore che torni in 2018. We never stopped, not even during the Covid pandemic. This tour is a thank you. There will be songs from the new album Free Love and our classics. The shows in arenas will be more intimate, yet powerful. We’re inside a journey, both musical and human, and we don’t want to leave it.

How important were artists like Elisa and Jovanotti in the latest album?

Very important. Elisa is a beacon, we’ve known each other for over twenty years. Jovanotti has been my idol ever since I was a child: I used to call myself ‘Giulianotti’ and collected all his concert gadgets. Today, my daughter dresses like him. We share not just music, but a vision of the world and of life.

Do you have a ritual before going on stage?

We hug. I start warming up my voice, the others harmonize. A vibration builds up and then explodes in a scream. Then I isolate myself. I listen to Dust and Water by Antony and the Johnsons three times and hold a photo of my father in my hands. That’s my spiritual connection to him.