The last Italian in Russia

Toto Kutunho died. He was loved in the USSR and Russia, and he reciprocated. We tell the story of another pro -Russian European

On Tuesday, at the 81st year of his life, the Italian singer Toto Kutuno, the performer of the world hit L'Taliano, and the author of songs for Joe Dassen and Adriano Celentano, died in the Milan Hospital.

Kutuno received the greatest fame in the eighties, but in the post -Soviet space the singer remained popular until the last years. Kutuno traveled several times with concerts to the Soviet Union, and then played repeatedly in modern Russia, where his songs became a symbol of nostalgia for the late USSR. The singer himself called Russia the “second homeland”, performed along with the ensemble of the song and dance of the Russian army and congratulated President Vladimir Putin on his birthday. The correspondent of Novaya Gazeta Europe tells why the Russians loved Kutuno, and Kutuno - Russia.

In 2016, the Italian singer Toto Kutuno was going to fly with the Aleksandrov ensemble at the Khmeimim air base to speak to the Russian military who took part in the fighting in Syria, but could not. The trip, which he miraculously avoided, turned into a tragedy: December 25, the Tu-154 Air Force Air Force, after departure from Sochi to Latakia, collapsed into the Black Sea. 92 people were killed in the plane crash - all passengers on board, including participants in the ensemble, journalists of Channel One and NTV, head of the Fair Help Foundation Elizabeth Glinka, as well as the crew.

- I am shocked by this tragedy, because a month ago they contacted my manager to invite me to Syria to participate in the same concert on December 29. It is very likely that we had to fly first to Moscow, and from there to Syria, but we already had plans, and we had to refuse, ”the singer told reporters after the disaster.

The very fact of an invitation to Syria, where Russia has officially officially participated in hostilities on the side of President Bashar al -Assad and fought not only against the terrorist ISIS, but also against the secular opposition free Syrian army and struck the civilian population, and did not embarrass the musician.

Most of his career Toto Kutuno was known not only by music, but also by Russophilism: the singer repeatedly came to the USSR first, and then to Russia, many times gave concerts in the Kremlin and said that in Vladimir Putin’s gaze “power is felt”. The Russians reciprocated him.

Who is Toto Kutuno?

Salvatore (full name of Toto) Kutuno was born on July 7, 1943 in the Italian Tuscany. He was introduced to the music by his father-a non-commissioned officer of the Marine Corps, who loved to play the pipe. When the future singer was still a child, together with their father they participated in the concerts of the civilian orchestra of the town of Spice, where the Kutuno family moved from Tuscany.

At the age of 14, Kutuno wrote his first song, and when he became older, he made music the main way to earn money. He gathered his first Toto EI Tati group in 1965 and began to tour Italy with her. The musicians enjoyed such a success that they were able to get a contract with a large Italian recording company Carosello Records.

As a soloist of Toto Kutuno, he became known later, after participating in another Albatros group in the Italian festival of San Remo-the main national music competition, where their song took third place.

After that, Kutuno will perform 15 times at San Remo, win Eurovision in Zagreb in 1990 and will become known to the whole world with the song L'Taliano .

In different years, the singer collaborated with Mirei Mathieu, Dalida, Michel Sarda and other famous performers. Adriano Celentano Kutunho called his best friend and wrote music both for the film “ Taming of the Polib ” with Celentano in the title role and for two dozen other films.

In the past twenty years, he has still remained popular, however, among the inhabitants of the countries of the former USSR, where he repeatedly performed. Kutuno even called Russia the "second homeland."

Brotherly people

Historian, researcher at the University of Naples named after Friedrich II and author of the telegram channel Russia E Altre Sciocchezze (translated from the Italian “Russia and other nonsense”) Giovanni Savino calls Toto Kutuno one of the symbols of Italy of the 1980s, but it is stipulated that the singer is not particularly popular in the country used. According to him, ordinary Italians have always fun that in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former USSR he was still famous.

- Any Italian who traveled or worked in these regions has always been surprising to hear Toto Kutuno’s songs in a taxi, minibuses, cafes, and indeed anywhere. His song “Italian” can be called “Cranberry”, but, on the other hand, it is really a sign, ”says Savino. - She tells stereotypes about Italians, but from the side with which they loved to show themselves.

In the USSR, Kutuno became famous thanks to the songs of L'Taliano and Serenata , written in 1983 and 1984. The first in the post -Soviet space is better known not even by name, but by the sound of the first line “Lashate Mi Cantare!”, Which translates as “let me sing!”. In 1985, Salvatore for the first time visited the Soviet Union at the invitation of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev. The USSR at first seemed to him a “distant country”, but Kutuno quickly got used to it. In 20 days in Leningrad and Moscow, he gave 28 concerts that gathered almost half a million people.

According to a musical critic Artemy Troitsky, this phenomenon is simply explained - in the USSR, the Italian Estse was even more popular than in Italy. The Soviet Union was loved by Ricchi E Poveri groups with the songs of Mamma Maria and Sarà Perché Ti Amo , Matia Bazar with the famous “ Roman holidays ”, duet Al Bano and Romina Power with the song Felicità and, of course, Adriano Celentano.

A window to Italy for Soviet citizens opened a music festival in San Remo. The competition began to be held annually in the resort city of the same name in the north-west of the country back in the 1950s, later it inspired the European Council to create Eurovision. Now it is at the festival in San Remo that performers are selected for the main European competition from Italy. In 2021, after the victory on it, the Eurovision Supervision went to the rock band Måneskin, where she also took first place.

In the Union of San Remo and another Italian, they learned in the 1960s thanks to the records of the participants-the singers Claudio Villa and Robertino Loretti were popular (the voice of the last astronaut Valentina Tereshkova even wanted to hear during the flight around the land in 1963). In the late 1970s, the songs from the festival were first scrolled on Soviet television in the program “Melodies and Rhythms of Foreign Estroda”. The excitement around the show led to the fact that Italian songs began to be included more often in the program, and after a few years, individual programs dedicated to the competition in San Remo even began to appear in television and radio broadcasters.

Following the songs, performers granted the union. Concerts of Toto Kutuno were not the first performances of Italians in the USSR. Back in 1983, Gianni Morandi came to Moscow, Leningrad, Riga and Tashkent (because of this, as well as rumors about his income, the singer received the nickname “Communist-millionaire” in the foreign press), in 1984 Matia Bazar performed in the premises of the Moscow Theater of Opeetta, and Al Bano Bano Pauer filmed in the film of the Soviet director of Eugene Ginzburg "Magic White Night."

According to Savino, the main reason for the popularity of the "Italians" is the availability of these singers in the USSR. At first, because of the Khrushchev thaw, and then, due to the milder relations between the USSR and Italy (in the late 1960s, gas from the USSR began to supply gas to Italy, and in the 1970s a joint declaration was signed between the countries that was supposed to strengthen their relationship), Italian culture was not subjected to such a boycott as American or British.

And besides, in the songs of these performers there was usually a stereotypical image of Italy, which was pleasant to the Soviet man.

- Kutuno sang that in Russian culture it is associated with Italy. This is sole, cuore, amore - the sun, heart, love. This played a role in his success, ”Savino points out.

Trinity, however, in his opinion, the Italian and Soviet pops also brought the “sweetness” of songs - the Italian hits resembled the songs of Yuri Antonov, Leo Leshchenko and other famous performers.

- In Soviet cinemas, they always showed many Italian films, especially comedies and films about the mafia. For the same reason, the festival in San Remo and Italian artists was shown on central Soviet television. It was simply impossible to imagine in those years on the screens of any American and English groups, ”says a musical critic.

Kutuno L'Taliano's song appeared even in the Blue Light - it was recorded in Ostankino during his tour. The new year 1986 in the Soviet Union was met with him, Sofia Rotaru and Alla Pugacheva.

Italian in Russia

Inspired by Moscow, Kutuno wrote the song Buona Notte. A trip to the USSR was the beginning of his long relationship with Russia. He said to reporters that during his first visit he did not know anything about the country, but was impressed with the "romance of the girls" and the "sincerity and pride" of people. This made him love the country at first sight. Since then, he "carried this love in the heart."

In Russia, Kutuno was answered with love. As the singer admitted , he repeatedly performed in the zero at the corporate parties of the oligarchs: he played for the wife of businessman Roman Abramovich and “for Russians” in Austria and in the French ski resort Courchehel.

In 2001, Salvatore Kutuno became a headliner at the San Remo concert in the Kremlin (after which he looked into Rostov on a day). In 2004, he participated in the concert " Incredible Adventures of Italians in the Kremlin." In 2006-in the "benefit with friends" (also in the Kremlin). The role of “friends” then played about two hundred artists who sang songs of the musician. Among them were the main stars of the Russian stage of that time: Sergey Trofimov, Igor Nikolaev, Nadezhda Kadysheva, Vladimir Presnyakov and others.

In different years, Kutuno acted as a duet with Mikhail Boyarsky and Irina Allegrova . The duets were bilingual: the artists sang in Russian, Salvator - in Italian.

Kutuno loved to be not only in two Russian capitals - even on the contrary, called them "too European." The Italian singer liked more in Tyumen and other, less tourist cities in Russia, because there is a “special atmosphere”. In 2010, he went on a tour of the Far East and gave concerts in Novosibirsk, Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk.

All this happened at the moment when the popularity of the musician has run out in his homeland. According to Giovanni Savino, Kutuno went out of fashion in Italy back in the nineties, but retained listeners in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc (for example, in Albania and Poland), like many other performers of that time. So, in July of this year, the Italian singer Enzo Ginatsi, who performs under the pseudonym Pupo, came to Belarus to the Festival “Slavic Bazaar”. Vitebsk Ginatsi decided to visit, despite the political situation and sanctions.

According to Savino, the musicians go to these countries, if only simply because they have fans left there.

Kutuno himself explained his popularity as follows:

- Russians, it seems to me, is very tormented by nostalgia. They like to listen to music that was popular many years ago. Perhaps this reminds them of youth, ”the singer said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.

According to Troitsky, Kutunho fell into a trap typical for Western people, which is in wait for not only musicians, but also actors, politicians, scientists and businessmen.

This is first Soviet, and then Russian cordiality against foreigners. On the one hand, these are big fees, bribes and all kinds of offers. On the other hand, the attention of women.

The singer spoke a lot about them and even in the “future life” promised to marry Russian, because Russian women are less emancipated than Italians, and it is easier to “be a man” with them.

- In Italy or any other European country, Toto Kutunho was not an universal person, but it cannot be said that he gathered many thousands there. He is the middle hand of a pop artist. In the USSR and then in Russia, on the contrary, the people fell on him with a rampart, ”Troitsky notes. - A mixture of big money and attention of women had a completely indelible impression that is now called Russophilia, which was not very famous Kutuno.

About women, Kutuno said that they were his passion, not alcohol. Despite the fact that the musician spent 50 years married with his Carla, he did not deny himself novels. When the singer recalled the USSR and Russia, the image of the "fans" arose constantly. For example, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Kutuno said that in 1987, one girl in a row for 14 days in a row waited for him with flowers under the same tree after the concert. Then he said that when he came to Russia, he often met the girls on the street and invited them to drink.

In 2004, the artist even admitted the love of the Russian singer Svetlana Svetikova, the performer of the Esmeralda party in the musical Notre Dame de Paris, with whom they performed together. On stage, he made her a marriage proposal. Svetikova at that time was 23 years old, while Kutuno had already exceeded 60, and he was still married to his only official wife Carla.

The last Russophiles

In 2013, Toto Kutuno performed at the 63rd festival in San Remo. At that time, he went not alone on stage: he was accompanied by participants in the Aleksandrov song and dance ensemble. Together they performed the famous “Italian”, as well as “Moscow Regions”.

-In my opinion, I managed to present to my viewers a gift-the same as I came out of the song Gli Amore, which I sang with Ray Charles in 1990. And now there were 40 soldiers and three officers on the stage, who spent L'Taliano without the slightest accent. It was an amazing, amazing job! - Kutuno told in an interview with Rossiy Gazeta after the performance and on the eve of the next concert in Russia.

According to Savino, despite the fact that this performance took place before the annexation of Crimea, in Italy it caused bewilderment - the choir of Alexandrov, first of all, was associated with the Red Army in the country. Some laughed and said that all that Kutuno could “play with his friends from the Putin state,” others were surprised that he was still known, besides in that vein.

Kutuno stayed with Russia after the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of hostilities in the southeast of Ukraine in 2014, despite the fact that he performed many times in Ukraine. In 2015, the singer congratulated Vladimir Putin on his birthday: his video message appeared on the YouTube Canal “Friends of Putin in Italy and around the world” (Amici di Putin in Italia E Nel Mondo), along with congratulations from Al Bano, Riccardo Foley and Ricchi E Poveri.

At the beginning of the video shows the record of Kutuno's performance along with the ensemble of Alexandrov, and in the end the singer says to the camera in Italian: “The best wishes, president! Congratulations, congratulations! " - and sends an air kiss.

The appeal turned out to Kutuno with accusations of “pro -Russian positions”, including in support of the annexation of Crimea: in 2019, a group of Ukrainian deputies appealed to the SBU demanding that the singer into Ukraine on the date of the planned concert. Nevertheless, the musician entered the country and stated that he did not agree with Putin’s actions in Crimea. According to him, he was repeatedly offered to speak on an annexed peninsula, but he refused. And Ukraine also called Ukraine in 2017 his second country after Italy.

“I think Kutuno himself was sincerely surprised that he was on the list of Putin's friends, as he repeatedly unhindered in other countries that were previously included in the USSR, including Ukraine,” Savino believes. - He himself then said that he was engaged in art, not politics.

Nevertheless, Artemy Troitsky compares Kutuno with the French actor Gerard Depardieu and American producer Stephen Sigal - a cohort of aging artists who are trying to make retirement in Russia. There are not many people like them at all, the same Adriano Celentano after the only visit to the USSR in 1987 no longer went to Russia, although, according to Troitsky, he was repeatedly called. And there will be no more new ones either.

-To imagine [that one of the Western artists will begin to go to Russia now] is impossible, because it will automatically mean the end of their career. There will be media scandals, their friends, recording studios, management and so on will turn their backs from them. Imagine what would happen if Frank Sinatra, say, went to speak in Nazi Germany in 1943? There is exactly the same story, ”says Troitsky. - Of course, such characters can be, but these are purely marginal artists. Back in the early 2010s, Deep Purple could come to Russia at the invitation of Dmitry Medvedev ( on the eve of a concert in Moscow in 2011, rock musicians visited the presidential residence in Gorki. - Ed. ), But these times were irretrievably passed.

Последние концерты Тото Кутуньо в России регулярно отменялись . Певец должен был выступить в Кремлевском дворце еще в апреле 2020 года, но из-за пандемии выступление перенесли сначала на ноябрь, потом на октябрь 2021 года, а затем и на ноябрь 2022 года. Прошлой осенью концерт также не состоялся. Официальные причины не назывались.

За отменами могут стоять не только коронавирус и политическая обстановка, но и здоровье певца. В 64 года у Сальваторе обнаружили рак простаты. Он прошел курс химиотерапии, а также перенес операцию по удалению почки.

Несколько месяцев назад болезнь вернулась. 22 августа в четыре часа дня Тото Кутуньо умер в больнице Сан-Раффаэле в Милане.