Mourning 🖤

Today is the fourth anniversary of Leonard Cohen’s death, and I intended to commemorate him with one of his poems.
But I’ll do it tomorrow, because Italian music is in mourning: last night Stefano D’Orazio, historic member of the Italian band “I Pooh”, died of Coronavirus at the age of 72. He was vocalist, flute and drum player of the band, and last March, together with another member, Roby Facchinetti, he conceived an anthem for rebirth after the pandemic, called “Rinascerò, Rinascerai”.
The song was a tribute to Facchinetti’s hometown, Bergamo, which was one of the country’s worst-hit communities of the coronavirus pandemic. They wanted to write a song that would offer hope and help people take their minds off the crisis, if only for a few minutes.
It all began when Facchinetti saw the footage on the news of army trucks taking away coffins from Bergamo. So, he went to his piano “and the melody and harmony just came”, as he said. He immediately rang Stefano D’Orazio, told him about the tune and asked him to write the lyrics. And in just a few hours, D’Orazio wrote them. Since nobody could leave their home, due to lockdown, they organized the recording, the post-production, the chorus with a young choir from Bergamo, all of whose members recorded themselves individually at home.

Rinascerò
Rinascerai
Quando tutto sarà finito
torneremo a riveder le stelle

Rinascerò
Rinascerai
La tempesta che ci travolge
ci piega ma non ci spezzerà

Siamo nati per combattere la sorte
ma ogni volta abbiamo sempre vinto noi
Questi giorni cambieranno i nostri giorni
ma stavolta impareremo un po’ di più

Rinascerò
Rinascerai

Rinascerò
Rinascerai
Abbracciati da cieli grandi
torneremo a fidarci di Dio

Ma al silenzio si respira un’aria nuova
ma mi fa paura questa mia città
Siamo nati per combattere la sorte
ma ogni volta abbiamo sempre vinto noi

Rinascerò
Rinascerai

I’ll be reborn
You’ll be reborn
When all this ends,
we’ll see the stars again.

I’ll be reborn
You’ll be reborn
The storm that is overwhelming us
is bending us but it will not break us

We were born to challenge fate
but each time it was us who won.
These days will change our days
but this time we’ll learn a little more

I’ll be reborn
You’ll be reborn

I’ll be reborn
You’ll be reborn
Embraced by great skies
we’ll trust in God again.

But in the silence we breathe a new air
but I’m afraid for this city of mine.
We were born to challenge fate
but each time it was us who won.

I’ll be reborn
You’ll be reborn