There was a time, once, I remember, when internet did not exist, when radio rocked me through my teenage nights. I remember waking up to songs with a smile on my face, getting ready for school with Nirvana when Kurt was still there, practising my English singing along with the Beatles in the background, dancing on Alanis Morissette joyful sounds, feeling emotional listening to “runaway train” in the school bus, getting a rebellious vibe with “cannonball”, losing my religion with R.E.M, wishing I had someone to hold a candle in the cold November rain, thinking it don’t matter if you are black or white, wishing I was special and not a creep or a wierdo, feeling sad cuz everybody hurts sometimes, wondering finally are you gonna going my way and that sometimes a little  bitter sweet symphony just says it all.

I remember laughing so hard listening to my favourite radio shows when auditors would call and share their stories, when anything could happen and you could never know what the day would bring. I had some kind of admiration for those people running radio shows… the way they manage to capture the audience attention with their voices and their personnality… I like the mystery not knowing what they looked like, they were “just” a voice in the night,  and I enjoyed how they would bring a topic to life and interact with the auditors and go along with what the story would bring. I guess deep down I have always been curious about what it looks like on the other side of the radio. So of course when I got the opportunity to appear as a guest on the Tuesday show VIBRAZIONI hosted by the famous and talented Michela on Radio Italia Uno, I took my chance! And as I always say, living abroad is the best opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and experience new things because anyway that’s a total new life so better embrace it and seize the day ❤

I must say  it was absolutely fantastic! I laughed so much and I did not see the time flying by. It was one of those magic moments when everything just flows. Michela was interviewing me in English and she would translate some parts in Italian to the audience. So the idea was basically to talk about italian songs that are connected with a special memory or a moment in my life in France. And because on a radio show, it is improvisations also and you never know what can happen, I ended up singing in karaoke which was hilarious because let’s be honest my Italian is limited to a few words only and my singing is … let’s put it in a nice way not my strongest asset!

So the first italian song I remember hearing, I was about 8 and it was the first time I went to the movies to watch a film and not a cartoon! I went with my mother and my sister and I must say I was pretty excited and quite frankly the movie was really good, it was called “L’effrontée”  and there was this joyful song in italian “Sara perche ti amo” that was played during the movie and somehow I could understand a few words as they are a bit similar to French (Que confusione / quelle confusion – que emotione / quelle emotion).  This song has always been somewhere in the corner of my mind ever since and I really enjoyed sharing this story on the radio with the auditors who kept phoning and reacting on social media as they were intrigued and amused by the topic of the day. The second song, that comes to my mind, is called “la solitudine” with the beautiful Laura Pausini. I was 16 when it was played in France and it was pretty popular especially among teenagers, first love, first kisses, first heartbreaks…. Italian songs are often played in France during parties such as weddings, probably because we associate “italian” to “romance”, it has this beautiful sound and melody, this joy and sometimes melancholy that just works perfectly.  The third italian song I really like, is a classic, it is called “Il mondo”  and I discovered it while watching this  2013 very sweet romantic comedy called “About the time” with the beautiful Rachel McAdams as this song is played at a wedding as the bride is walking down the aisle. Such a good movie and obviously with a good music selection 😉 and to quote the dad character in the movie  “Jimmy Fontana, Il Mondo: Greatest record ever recorded by an Italian who looks like he’s got a dead badger on his head.” lol Please whatch this movie, I promise you won’t regret it!

I hope you will enjoy this article, those beautiful Italian songs and those movies as much as I do to brighten your day. Sadly as I m writing these words, the world is experiencing a human tragedy. Many countries have been tragically impacted. Health Organization called the COVID-19 viral disease a pandemic. Italy is going through a major health crisis and my heart goes to this nation who is fighting everyday, every minute, every second for its people. Plenty of acts of solidarity and messages of hope are sent to Italy to stay safe and soon  ‘andrà tutto bene’ (everything will be all right). I know that Adelaide is lucky to have a very active and caring Italian community and I take the opportunity of this article to send them and their family words of support  xxx

Radio Italia Uno Adelaide 87.6 FM

Program: Vibrazioni by Michela on Tuesdays at 4.30pm

Website: https://www.italiauno.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RadioItaliaUno/

Telephone: 8212 3177