45 years after his death, Rino Gaetano’s ironic and biting voice continues to speak in the present. The singer-songwriter from Crotone, who died at the age of just thirty on 2 June 1981 due to a road accident, remains a symbol of a non-conformist Italy, capable of denouncing power and social contradictions with surreal and biting lyrics. But there is a theme, unfortunately still current, that emerges more than others from his songs. So recurring that it has become the leitmotif of the “Rino Gaetano Day” which is held in Rome on June 2nd. And it’s the constant celebration of free, autonomous women far from any stereotype of submission.
Born in Crotone in 1950, Gaetano moved to Rome as a child, in the popular neighborhood of Monte Sacro, where he took his first steps in music by performing at the legendary Folkstudio. National fame came with the album “My brother is only son” (1976) and participation in the Sanremo Festival in 1978 with the single “Gianna”. With that song he won third place and a success of over six hundred thousand copies sold.
His poetics, often “nonsense” and ironic, masked a ferocious satirical and civil streak. As proof of his foresight, unforgettable female figures stand out in the texts: from the emancipated girls of Gianna and Aida, to the women protagonists of his narratives, capable of overturning roles and social conventions even before they were widely talked about.
For this reason, the sixteenth edition of the “Rino Gaetano Day”, scheduled for June 2nd at the Rino Gaetano Arena Park, right in the Roman district of Montesacro, has chosen to put the spotlight on the fight against violence against women and on the need for a profound cultural change. Fifty years after the publication of “My brother is an only child” and 45 years after “A mano a mano” (which on this occasion is re-released on vinyl), the central talk of the event, moderated by journalist Metis Di Meoanalyzes how Gaetano’s work is dotted with «over thirty names of autonomous, ironic and emancipated women».
Celeste Costantino, vice president of the Foundation, will also take part in the talk “Una niente Centomila”, and the path started in 2025 with Gino Cecchettin and the foundation named after his daughter Giulia will be relaunched.
“It’s not the tightening of penalties that changes things, but the ability to educate respect and feelings,” Cecchettin declared while speaking at the event last year. And revealing that «Giulia loved “Sfiorivano le viole”, Gaetano’s song which talks about a love that never comes to fruition».
From 9pm on June 2nd he will take the stage the Rino Gaetano Band, the official formation led by his nephew Alessandro Gaetano together with Michele Amadori, Alberto Lombardi, Ivan Almadori, Fabio Fraschini and Marco Rovinelli, «for years”, we read in the event press release, “committed with rigor, continuity and passion in safeguarding and reinterpreting the singer-songwriter’s repertoire live”. Together with them, numerous guests will interpret the singer-songwriter’s successes in unreleased versions: Giulia Mei, Danielle, Davide De Luca, Diana Tejera, Vanessa Cremaschi, Artù, Fasma and Primogenito.
