upfront Q&A
Jack Savoretti wants you to know there’s more to European music than Eurovision
This smooth-crooning acoustician has a pleasantly cosmopolitan heritage – his latest album isn’t called Europiana for nothing – and even if he hasn’t any Welsh in him, its populace has been down with Jack Savoretti from day one, or thereabouts. Emma Way
How was it to finally play Europiana live on this past tour?
Amazing. I’ve never appreciated it more in my life. Being able to actually feel the energy off of a crowd: during lockdown, we were able to sort of still make music, but making music with people and for people is definitely why I do it. I think it even made me realise how much I used to take life for granted – re-evaluate the whole experience, and the power a crowd can give. The whole experience was actually very moving.
The Cardiff show was a big success. Yeah, that was wild. In Wales in general, we’re having a great time every time we play – the crowds are getting bigger and bigger. That was the limit for us in in Wales [so far], and this summer we’re going to push the boat out a bit.
What’s your favourite memory of playing in Wales? This last tour was pretty epic – but I remember the first shows we ever did in Wales. It would surprise me back then that we had an audience; it still surprises me to this day. Whether it be Wales, Poland, Italy, England, Scotland, and you can see people singing your words.
That’s the good thing about Wales too, everybody can sing! I know that sounds
like a cliche, but genuinely, the crowds in Wales always sing amazingly.
Did Europiana start life as a concept album, or was that something you decided while writing it? That’s a good question! I don’t think I set out to do a concept album; I think while I was writing, I realised there was a concept behind the album. Then I started leaning more towards that idea: I was digging for treasure, and then once I found what I wanted, I kept digging in the same place.
The whole concept of it excited me – not just for what we could make, but to be able to talk about European music in a way that doesn’t get talked about enough. European music is so varied and magical. It spans from Julio Iglesias to Daft Punk; Giorgio Moroder to Gypsy Kings to Abba. It gets a bad name a lot of the time – Eurovision has a lot to answer for; it’s sometimes great, but sometimes really isn’t. More to the point, it doesn’t really represent music: it’s a TV spectacle.
What’s happening musically across Europe is not really represented anywhere. There’s no European Album award at the Grammys or the Brits – there’s six different awards for the best Americana country
album, but nothing for European music. album, and Americana Folk
So how can we champion European music more in the UK? Getting rid of the expression ‘world music’ is a big step. I hate when people go “oh, this is very world music,” which basically means it’s not sung in English. Whether it’s Ali Farka Touré or Oasis, it’s world music. You can see the likes of K-pop and reggaeton and how they’ve spread around the world – all these different kinds of music that aren’t English language in origin. Måneskin, an Italian band who won Eurovision, have become global. That wouldn’t have happened many years ago.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Loads of festivals. Going to countries we’ve never been to before, which I’m really excited about. It’s really fun being able to travel again and I can’t wait to play outdoors in summertime. This album is a soundtrack for the summer.
I wanted Europiana to be the perfect soundtrack for the holiday we couldn’t go on. Hopefully we’ll have a really sunny day when we come to Rhyl… and if it’s raining, the music will make the sunshine.
Jack Savoretti,
Rhyl Events Arena, Sat 9 July. Tickets: £45. Info:
rhylpavilion.co.uk
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