Majesties, Royal Highnesses, most worthy authorities, distinguished awardees, ladies and gentlemen. Good afternoon.
Brevity has been recommended to me. It seems very prudent to me. In my experience, brevity is generally always appreciated.
In my university years, forced to supplement the meager study scholarship, before my skills in the world of music were remunerated, I had to resort, like so many of you, to temporary jobs. In one of them, for emergency cases among employees, the company had a telephone set up that worked on the basis of tokens jealously controlled by the manager, a trusted man of the house, who rationed time in a Stakhanovite style and jealously distributed the coveted objects.
“You only have three minutes, young man, it may seem like a short time, but when you have something important to communicate, three minutes are more than enough”.
I’ll try.
As you can see, I am an older man, looking like an old man.
I come from a long post-war period and from a humble family that gave me the best they could find in me. Along the random path I found the reasons to move forward and with the impulse of dreams I got here.
I am a person who feels loved and respected, who likes his job. Singing and writing songs.
I am a man in favor of life.
I prefer roads to borders, reason to force and instinct to civility.
I am a social and rational animal that needs man beyond the tribe..
I believe in tolerance. I believe in respect for the rights of others and dialogue as the only way to resolve issues fairly.
I believe in freedom, justice and democracy. Values that go hand in hand or they don’t.
Maybe that’s why I don’t like the world we live in, hostile, contaminated and unsupportive where democratic and moral values have been replaced by the greed of the market, where everything has a price.
I do not like to witness atrocities without unanimous and forceful responses.
I am not satisfied when I see dreams stranded on the other bank of the river.
When will the time come to harvest the dreams? I ask myself reluctantly, seeing my friends leave without harvesting.
I want to leave the memory of a good, fair and grateful man and I hope I have not reached today to show gratitude and affection to those who have generously given me their friendship, their company and their advice. but, just in case from here, I want to thank my teachers, who have been many, my colleagues, the friends who have shared the path with me and who have stimulated and helped me, knowingly or not, to travel it and above all I want Thank my wife for allowing me to share life with her.
Thanks to my parents who gave it to me and to my children and grandchildren who are my greatest pride.
Thanks to those who have made my songs their own and to all those who from the four cardinal points are happy with me to see my name joined to the resounding list of winners of this Award.
Thank you for your time and good afternoon.