2003, Gemini Sun - Gemini Rising
Riccardo Buono, known as “GOLIARDO,” is the newest Neapolitan voice, currently under BruTaLabel. Bittersweet adolescent dramas and an apparent lightness masking the anxiety of choosing the right path “in time”: these are the ingredients of his music - the perfect soundtrack for those moments when you wonder what the fuck you have to do with your life. As a Gemini, Riccardo was already communicative and very curious from a very young age; this is what made his journey start.
“I actually started by simply watching my brother play the guitar and then trying it by myself - I was very nervous because he already knew how to play it while I didn’t. So, in the beginning, I was all into guitar stuff: Tracy Chapman, Pink Floyd, Passenger, Pino Daniele, etc. Then, out of curiosity, I moved to the piano, and from there began my ‘doing a bit of everything’: classical, pop, rock, and so on. As for the piano specifically, with classical music, I still carry with me a bunch of artists I listen to and enjoy even today, like Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Satie. Then I felt the need not so much to make my own music, but to write: I like to write even more than singing and playing, probably. I felt that I needed it to alphabetize my emotions, for the analytical evaluation of actions and ways of speaking, I considered it something too fundamental that I was neglecting. And so, bada boom, bada bing, so far I've released only two singles, one in April and one a few days ago, ‘15’ and ‘Amici,’ both under BruTaLabel. To me, they still belong to a very early period, very embryonic: I already like much more what I'm doing now and what will come out soon, to be honest.”
In its meaning, the “GOLIARDO” is a very free and seemingly frivolous character - carefree - just as Riccardo is as an artist. “First of all, Goliardo comes from my appreciation for a Sicilian writer from the early 1900s, Goliarda Sapienza, after reading ‘The Art of Joy,’ which they've also made into a series directed by Valeria Golino, which I discovered not too long ago but admire a lot. It seemed like a concept more than just a name, obviously also because it matches the last name well, but I think it suits me quite well. I believe so.”
However, if one takes a deep dive into his music, they discover that there is actually much more - a whirlwind of emotions and introspection. Where does this dualism come from? Is it thanks to Riccardo, rather than the constructed character? How much of him is in what you do today, and how much of your childhood have you retained?
“That's why I was saying that it suits me quite well as a name. I wanted to convey exactly what you said, which I think is just part of my being. When I discovered that there was some response in the world to this idea, it was like an ecstasy, a thrill: Joker, the difference between comedy and humor of Pirandello, this is what I mean. The importance of GOLIARDIA (merrymaking), amateurism, and irony is, in my opinion, enormous - it's total survival. In our most spontaneous form, childhood, we don't take ourselves seriously but we play, or even end up taking very ‘seriously’ in the sense of ‘important,’ the act of playing itself. That's why another thing I despise is the theme of the ‘adultification of children’ - to be interpreted as the adult hypocrisy that interferes with the enormous potential of childhood freedom and creativity; I experienced it a lot around me and couldn't stand it, and maybe that's where this attitude of putting introspective content into the play box comes from. Maybe also as a challenge, like: are you sure it's just what you see? For me, bullshit-profundity is a very tight correlation.”
15 is a piece that has marked me (and I think every person in his 20s) a lot - it's a story of growth, a troubled journey, a tale of loneliness. What is the most vivid memory you have of the period when you wrote it and how do you hold on to it during difficult times? But most importantly, who are you addressing in the piece?
“From the period when I wrote it, I only remember that I was full of debts, so I wouldn't hold on to anything from that time. It wasn't a great moment, it was one of those quite confused and especially anxious times, not for any particular reason but because of a series of emotional states (perhaps due to hasty decisions) that, strung together unconsciously one after the other, faded my emotional clarity, which I always try to seek - at least to avoid going crazy. For me, it was the ‘classic’ period where, at the end of any given day, the questions and frustrations remained the same. Maybe I'm not even addressing anyone in particular, I just made a mix of this period I've described and my actual 15 years, that's why for me it's like an experiment to see how the language of memory changes, from when it was experienced to when it reaches a ‘catharsis,’ perhaps a new awareness. At least now I don't do those rolled-up cuffs on my jeans and gelled hair I did at 15.”
When I think of 15, I think of myself and it's a punch to the gut. I think I've taken a thousand paths and haven't finished one - but life is a strange journey. What would Riccardo at 15 say to you, Riccardo at 20, today?
“At this moment, I think everything's okay - it’s okay to feel good and to feel bad, anything that saves from nothingness is okay. Between feeling bad and feeling nothing, I have, at least so far, always been on the side of feeling bad - it’s better to feel bad than feeling nothing. The 15-year-old me would say to the 20-year-old me ‘thank goodness you don't suck as much anymore,’ at 15 I think I looked like a blobfish. I don't even remember if you're already in high school or middle school at 15 but I think it's high school, right? At least the people I remember from that time were from high school, so I think so. Anyway, from 14-15 years old, I would hold on to those moments when I already identified certain social reverences that I would come to repudiate and hate completely today, but at the time I let them slide off me. Now maybe, in some occasions, I get more stuck on them. But for sure now, fortunately, I have a greater capacity for emotional literacy while before I was a bit too generic about moods and feelings, the same with details and gestures, I let them slide by quite a bit too. However, what I wouldn't want to lose is the adolescent ‘rebellion,’ because I think when you have more argumentative awareness, then it's okay to bring up the cliché again: to the sincere pulse of the latter, you add the greater capacity for developed reasoning, and then you can say something without being a stereotype. But maybe I'm talking a bunch of shit.”
