10 QUESTIONS TO TIZIANO
[An exclusive by website RESPECT!]

Hi Tiziano, welcome to RESPECT!
Hi and thank you so much for having create such an original website about me!

First of all thank you for giving an interview to our site: as you know, we have been really surprised by your music and have decided to dedicate a piece of our time to discover where and how the artist Tiziano Ferro is born. Let's begin with our questions...

1. Your songs have been immediately associated to R&B and black american music, to important names like R Kelly. When and how did you meet this genre and these artists who, in Italy, aren't known?
This meeting has been almost casual. I was working in a radio of my town (Latina) and was proposed to deal with black music. I began listening for the first time to artists like Mary J Blige, Brownstone and R Kelly... It was love at first listening! In the meanwhile I entered the gospel choir "Big soul mama" and these events contributed create my love for soul music and R&B.

2. One of this site's targets is to deal with music not only as a business but also as a real art, and your music is so mature. So we want to ask to you: How could a so young boy composite sounds with words in such a fantastic way?
My music is made to make you enjoy, think, it's ironic or sad... it's music! Luckily one of the few "virgin" things is the emotion born from a melody.
My album is called ROSSO RELATIVO really for this reason. The same song can touch you, or enjoy you or leave you indifferent... Everything is relative... the emotions born from a song are relative too, and I'm doing my very best.
I keep on writing simply what I feel hoping to light many red fires... red relative according to the different souls who will listen to it.

3. Your music has black roots, but you also could have melt it with our language, as noone could before: there's no artificiosity, the words flow following a rithm to which they have always seemed not to be able. How much important is italian musical overview for you? Which artists do you like?
Italian culture is very important for me. Italy has a rich musical overview, with many talents and ideas. I like Battisti's records, Cocciante's ones or DeGregory's. And also the more recent works by Bersani, Venuti, Consoli and Elisa.
Having an international mind is useful but you can't forget your italian roots, whether for the language or for the heart.

4. There are many teenagers who dream to sing, but often the dreams don't turn into reality. Which advices can you suggest to who has a deep passion for music?
First of all... you have to trust in your passion!!!! You have to work on your dreams to take something out! Producers want "ready" plans and not only ideas; they invest less and less in young people and they invest when risk is low. Producers prefer to count on someone who has ready songs ahd knows how to realize them.
You have to devote yourself and find your way, then you have to get on labels' nerves... hoping that someone could understand what you've written.

5. One of the themes of your songs (for example in L'OLIMPIADE) is "fighting": you talk about fighting to create your future, fighting against social hypocrisies, fighting to affirm your own reasons. Did you have to fight a lot? Which are the fields in which it's necessary to fight and not to lose trust in future?
I have much faith in hard work and we are masters of the beautiful things in our destiny. I've sweated, worked hard and given up many things myself. Pain is a part of the way everyone walks to grow up and get his own spaces, not only in music. You have to fight everywhere, outside and hinside yourself.

6. Which are your resources to fight? Where do you find your rest-time? Which are the situations (friendships, family, music itself, sport...) in which you recover your energies to face the difficulties you meet along the way?
Surely... my home! Since this fantastic adventure has begun I've understood more and more the beuty of passing your days with your family, watching a movie and eating good things preparade by mum! I think there's no better way to recover your energies!

7. What do you read, if you like reading? Poetry,novels, ...: is there any author or any book that you like in a special way?
I know I'll result very unpopular but in reality I don't like reading! Perhaps this is a limit of mine and I choose very carefully what I buy in bookshops. At the moment I'm reading a book by Allan Poe.

8. In the thanks of your record you talk about cinema. Can you tell us which are the movies/directors/actors you like?
I'm very fond of cinema and I can say this is my second passion after music!
Then, about my preferences, I can say that a good movie is good apart from his genre. There can be great thriller-movies or fantastic comedies, but also interesting fantascientific-movies or moving cartoons, it doesn't really matter! If a movie succeeds in "capturing" me... that's all! I can say that I don't love movies about the art of self-defence, like Van Damme' ones... I don't bear them!!!
To have further news about my cinema tastes I invite you in my website www.tizianoferro.com which will rise from february and will contain a section in which I suggest which movies are to be watched and rented.

9. Your record is very beautiful and, apart from your talent and your own work, surely you've found a great team to make ROSSO RELATIVO out: musicians, mixers, managers... Is there any anecdote you can tell us?
Well, about my team I can tell you that I'm really happy to having found an equipe so massive and prolific. My artistic and musical producers have succeded in understanding myneeds finding the right way between art and marketing... and that's not so easy!
You know, befor finding the right artistic line for the album we have had to mix the songs three times!!!! It can seem absurde, but that has happaned! The labels weren't persuaded by our arrangements and so we chose other ways! A day Michele Canova has come and everything has gone as the best! Since that day I can't leave my work-team which is composed by Mara Majonchi, Alberto Salerno (my producers), Michele Canova and… me!!!!

10. Your life has been changing during the last seven months: being recognized, signing autographes, discovering websites devoted to you are not such normal things, they can upset a 21 years old boy. How do you face this reality?
If there's a thing that's fundamental for me is this: remembering to everyone that I am a person!!! There's no doubt!!!
When you have a job like mine someone seems to forget that you deserve respect as anyone else. Receivinlove by people is fantastic, but when there's cheek it becomes embarassing and tiresome. There are many ways to support and there is someone who is immoderate and excessive... shaving hysteria... I don't like it. Then I understand that it's right to be so and I try to cohabit with this as well as I can, since there is also much educate, kind and nice people.

That's all, TzN, we hope this experience will be repeated in the future. Thanks so much for the time you've dedicated us. SEE YOU SOON!
I hope to be supported by this site also in the future so that noone forgets that, behind covers and videoclips, there's... music!!!
All the best!!!
TzN

January 31rd 2002