STORIES OF TRENTINO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
MARCO CALLIARI MUSICIAN WITHOUT BORDERS
We asked some descendants of the Trentino people who emigrated in recent decades to tell their stories firsthand, emphasizing how much their origins guided and influenced them in life. This would not have been possible without the active and friendly collaboration of the Trentini nel Mondo Association, founded in 1957 with the aim of social solidarity and as a means of aggregation and assistance for Trentino migrants and their descendants. The first individual to discover is the musician Marco Calliari.
I always wanted to be a musician, a singer. Since I was a child I have had the desire to learn to sing and play the guitar and other instruments. And luckily, being a singer-songwriter has become my profession. But it wasn't just "luck". If I have been performing on stage for three decades, I owe it to my family, to the place where I was born, to the friends I have had and to some personal qualities: the passion for beauty, the curiosity for diversity and tenacity. My name is Marco Calliari and I was born on 27 August 1974, in Montreal, Québec, Canada. I am the son of emigrants. My parents, Franca Pagliarulo and Mario Calliari, were both born in Italy. My mother in Milan, to a family that arrived in the Lombard capital from Foggia, in Puglia. My father was born in Cressino (or Crescino), a hamlet of Campodenno, a town in the Non Valley, in Trentino.
They arrived in Montreal in the same year: 1961. My mother, the last of nine children, had come because both of her parents had died, following her older sister, Aunt Ada. My grandfather on my father’s side, Luigi, had already worked in Montreal in the 1950s, then returned to Italy to prepare for the move of almost the entire family to Canada.
I was therefore born in an Italian environment but in a French-speaking context: in Québec, out of a population of around eight million inhabitants, French is the mother tongue of almost 80 percent of the population. I am a "child" of the so-called "law 101", i.e. the "Charter of the French language", which ensures the protection and promotion of French in Québec and contemplates the use of French at all levels of society, from public services to businesses. Immigrants are also invited to enroll their children in French schools.
I therefore grew up learning French and English (the other official language of Canada) but also Italian and I also speak a little Spanish. And these four languages are also those with which I expressed myself in music.
At 14, with some friends of mine, Carlos, born in Santiago de Chile, and twins Daniel and Oscar, sons of Spaniards from Barcelona, and therefore Catalans, we founded the group «Anonymus». We played heavy metal music and the lyrics of the songs were in the four languages mentioned.
Our first album was released in 1994, entitled Ni Vu, Ni Connu (Neither Seen, Nor Known): it was the first heavy metal album with songs in French. There were no groups of that musical genre in France either. I played with them for seventeen years, before embarking on my solo career. But our bond is still very strong and in January I went on stage with them again, for a spectacular concert with which they celebrated thirty-five years of uninterrupted activity.
An important stage in my personal and professional growth occurred in 1994, when I had the opportunity to take part in the "stays" in Trentino, which were organized by the Emigration Office of the Autonomous Province
An important stage in my personal and professional growth occurred in 1994, when I had the opportunity to take part in the "stays" in Trentino, which were organized by the Emigration Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento, reserved for children and descendants of Trentino emigrants all over the world, to introduce them to the history, culture, economy and traditions of the land of their ancestors. I had been in Trentino with my parents when I was six years old, but those two weeks spent in Candriai on Bondone, the mountain of Trento, at the age of twenty left a profound mark on me, they made me understand that I belonged to a world made up of relationships, attachments, bonds handed down from generation to generation.
After the "stay" in Candriai, during which I met relatives from Trentino, my stay in Italy was extended for another few weeks, with stops in Milan, Turin and Rome, arranging more meetings with relatives and friends. And in Igea Marina, where I went with my cousins from Turin, I improvised a concert in a hotel together with Franco, also a guitarist, whom I met in those days. As a repertoire I proposed songs from the popular Québec tradition. Franco played English songs. A spectator asked us if we knew any Italian songs. But neither was able to meet that request.
I confess that at that moment I was ashamed of not knowing any Italian songs. When I returned to Québec I felt the need to fill that gap. I began to listen and learn Neapolitan songs, such as those of Carosone, battle songs such as Bella ciao, and many other musical pieces, such as mountain songs. In 2004 I recorded Che la vita, my first album with songs in Italian, most of which were composed by me, both the music and the lyrics. I anticipated that fifty copies would be enough to give as gifts to family and friends. And instead it sold twenty-five thousand copies. An unexpected and unforeseen success, which made me understand that I had taken the right path to express my artistic abilities. I have been a professional musician ever since.
I have brought numerous Italian artists to play in Québec, because I believe in music's ability to create bridges between cultures
I have published another five albums, I have done hundreds of concerts in Canada and across the border, I have brought numerous Italian artists to play in Québec, because I firmly believe in the value of music and its ability to create bridges between cultures. I am proud to introduce Canadians to the Italian spirit through my music, in which there are traces of the most beautiful Italian musical traditions, from Alpine choirs to tarantella. And I am deeply grateful to my parents, who passed down to me their love and passion for music, who made me study classical guitar and singing when I was young, who always believed in my abilities.
My father is 82 years old and when he comes to attend my concerts I call him on stage to sing La montanara together
My father is 82 years old and recently widowed. He has a great voice. And when he comes to attend my concerts, I always call him on stage to sing La montanara with me: and every time it is a very strong emotion for both of us.
Marco Calliari
