New album “Universo” by Giovanni Zarrella: This is a desired guest for his ZDF show

Giovanni Zarrella (47) released his new album “Universo” on May 2, which revives the Italo disco pop of the 1980s. In an interview with the news agency Spot on News, the German-Italian musician tells what he connects with time, why he devoted a song on the album to his parents and how he looks at a new moderation task at the end of the year.

Giovanni Zarrella: I tell about my universe and what is going on in my world, but I also tried to cover a lot of it and meet a lot of what is important and happens among people in their universe. In the very first line, the relationships that make life towards friends, family, to work colleagues and, in my case to the pets, they are just as important (laughs). All of these are very special constellations, some of which have accompanied you for years or your whole life. Of course, music and football also belong to my universe.

Zarrella: Firstly, “Italiano Vero” because this is the song that I devoted to my dad and thus also my parents. This means, no matter where my father is, he will always remain a “real Italian”. It is a thank you to my parents for what you gave up as children when you left your country, but also found a loved one with Germany. I find this courage that was needed in the 1960s at the time and I think I was humble to be able to experience it that way because my parents showed it that way. On the other hand, “Fantastico” is very personal because the song stands in my life that you always have to believe in the good. That you try to take life to always take positive and look ahead. The third I would call La Discoteca Italiana, because the song describes the nostalgia and the attitude to life that I have when I think of the Italy of my childhood. As I went to four in the car with my parents and my sister at ten or twelve years, my brother wasn’t born. How we drove over the burner, stopped at the first autoGrill, dad drunk his espresso and we got an aranciata and a panino. How we were on the beach in Italy and the music from the beach bar could be heard. These memories are simply beautiful.

Zarrella: I’ve been trying to drive two or three times a year. That is important to me. In summer I mostly manage it and then actually again when it comes to football when the AS Roma plays, we go on a little excursion and my son and I go to the stadium in Rome. We also have family in the capital, which is why Rome is mostly our goal.

Zarrella: Yes, exactly. It started three or four years ago when “Sarà Perché Ti Amo” beyond Milan [Lied gilt als inoffizielle Hymne des AC Mailand, Anm. d. Red.] has become a big hit again. The Italo disco wave was started and artists in Italy like The Colors have devoted themselves to the topic correctly. I thought that was so beautiful. This revival did not pass me without a trace. After all, it is the music that my childhood shaped. That’s why I wanted to breathe life back with songs like “Fantastico” or “Danza”. The exciting thing was to bring songs from this time to the current time. With today’s technical possibilities, but without losing the nostalgia from back then.

Zarrella: I see it as my responsibility, at concerts before my own song is played by me to tell people about the song and its background story and not to assume that everyone speaks Italian. I want to give the viewer the opportunity to put himself in the emotion and understand: “He is now talking about the love for his wife or the relationship with his parents.”

Zarrella: Italian is an incredibly round, beautiful, romantic and harmonious language and her melody is very moving. I personally believe that it is the language of love. The French believe that too, we are not yet in agreement (laughs). Of course it is very easy for me to express my feelings, but I also want to make a German album at some point. That in the country I was born in which you know my story best can also tell it in such a way that everyone understands it without having to explain it. Whether it’s the next record or in five years. I don’t know, but it will definitely happen.

Zarrella: The music is of course crucial. On my summer night I have songs from “Universo” with me, but also music from the last three albums with the big German classics in Italian. Added to this, and for me it is just a part of a pizzeria visit, of course Italo-Pop classics. Something like “Semper, Semper”, “Sarà Perché Ti Amo” or “Volare”. You want to hear Eros Ramazzotti on such an evening, you want to hear Gianna Nannini. I find it my responsibility to make it because I do not make music for myself in the very first line, but for my audience. I always say to the band before the appearances: “Let’s remember that outside there are now X people who have taken up this evening who have decided to spend this evening with us, have invested money and time, maybe let us knock everything out here.” If the audience is sitting there, it would also like to get a lot of Italy on such an Italian summer night, which it will get. The Aperol Spritz is ready (laughs).

Zarrella: It was a nice feeling. When I started in 2021, it said: We are now doing two shows in September and November and then let’s see how things will go. And then I got my first three-year contract at the time, which was already an incredible statement. To get this extension again was to say for me like a proof of love from the transmitter and also from the audience: “We want to have you with us, we want to see you on.” At a time when you say more and more that the TV has to find solutions next to the streamers. My team and I are still convinced that television will always be there. We just have to be ready to change. We have to give people special live moments and emotions. We have to ask ourselves: “What can we do even more?”

Zarrella: You always look at it. Of course, you want many people to see the show. That the people who work for this program are also rewarded. This is the pressure I feel to my team.

Zarrella: I already had such great guests. Singing with Michael Bublé was, for example, a blatant moment. For example, I would be totally happy if Celine Dion, if she was completely healthy again, would come by. There are already desired guests who may not be in Germany so often and would then be on stage with me. The most beautiful thing about the show for me is that it is a music show without a drawer. A Johannes Oerding comes as well as a Roland Kaiser or a Shirin David. The musicians are all open and I think that’s totally beautiful. That was probably the last time at “The Dome” or the “Bravo Super Show”.

Zarrella: I’m very excited. This is something very special and a premiere for me. In this case, of course, one wishes that a lot of donations can come together and that many people can be helped. I will prepare for it very reasonably and with a lot of desire. We have to offer great content so that people stay tuned and feel well informed about where the money goes. Trust is the most important thing. And then in the end I can hopefully hold up a check with many zeros.

Zarrella: I was very happy. It is a way to play with a victory with a victory, which I find very important and what VfB deserves. When it went to the Champions League last year, a relegation came from where you managed to keep the first division. I find it remarkable to set up in all areas of the association and also with the players to shop Smart, to put the club on safe legs. I am very regular in the stadium and to experience how such a club grows again and develops a real football in the south that does not come from Munich, but comes from the Swabian country, is such a nice feeling. I really keep my fingers crossed for the final and hope that I can also live at the end of May.