Etta Scollo was born in Catania, where she majored in Arts in high school. … Read Full Bio ↴Etta Scollo was born in Catania, where she majored in Arts in high school. At the age of 18, she moved to Turin and began studying to become an Architect. She abandoned her studies, however, in order to devote herself to music completely.

She won first prize at the "Diano Marina-Jazz Festival", which was directed by Jazz composer Giorgio Gaslini. Around this time, she also attended a three-year course in singing at the Vienna Conservatory.

Between 1983 and 1987 she worked with artists such as saxophonist Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Sunnyland Slim and Champion Jack Dupree, both in the recording studio and in concerts. She attended singing seminars with artists such as Bobby McFerrin and Sheila Jordan during the same period.

Chance encounters with producers from the Pop music scene led to cooperations such the recording of the Paul McCartney song "Oh Darling", which Etta adapted with Italian lyrics. This song immediately shot to No. 1 in the Austrian charts.

In the 1990s she was busy in Hamburg where she, along with the musical Ensemble L'art pour l'Art (see also Palimpsest by H. J. Hespos), undertook experiments with contemporary music. She composed film scores – for example Come la pioggia for the film "Für immer und immer" (for ever and ever) by Hark Bohm and "I tuoi fiori" for the film "Bad Guy" by Korean director Kim Ki-Duk. Due to her musical tours and her albums Blu, Il bianco del tempo (Orbit Rec.) and Casa (Mongebel), she is one of the most popular Italian artists in Germany today.

Resident in Berlin und Sicily, she is currently devoting herself to composing and to exploring traditional music.

The success of her Canta Ro' symphonic concerts, which were performed as part of the Palermo summer Festival in July 2004 featuring Etta Scollo and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, conducted by Angelo Faja, has confirmed the contemporary relevance of Sicily's traditional music, which until then was known only to a limited audience.

The live recording of this project was awarded the «deutschen Schallplatten KritikerPreis 2005» and together with Canta Ro' in Trio won the RUTH-Preis 2007.

Around the same time, she went on tour with Les Siciliens, a performance documenting the dreams and reality, history and myths of her native island. From this, a live album was produced. In addition, she gave a concert together with Franco Scaldati und Enrico Stassi, La mia vita vorrei scriverla cantando – omaggio a Ignazio Buttita.

For the "Festival delle Orestiadi" in Gibellina ,she composed Il fiore splendente (Edel Classic), a poetical-musical project drawn from an anthology of Arabian poets in Sicily, published by Francesca M. Corrao.

The resulting CD was released in September 2008.
The project has been enriched by the much appreciated contribution of several outstanding figures of the international music scene, including Maestro Franco Battiato, cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima, Nabil Salameh, singer and leader of the multicultural band Radiodervish, the composer and Trumpet player Markus Stockhausen, the soprano Cécile Kempenaers and the actor and singer-songwriter Alain Croubalian. Il fiore splendente is also published in Italy (Edel Italia) France (Integral Classic) and USA (Allegro).

A due passi da te
Etta Scollo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I tuoi passi
Quando mi lasci
Si allontanano tristi da me,

Poi però
Quando a me ritornano
Hanno un sorriso in se.

Dei tuoi passi
So la personalità
Ovunque van:
Quando li sento per le scale,
Il mio nome sembran chiamar.

Passi per la via
Vengono e van via
Ma alla fine del dì
Ti riportan qui
Più presto che si può,
Felici di esser quì.

Passi per la via
Vengono e van via
Ma quel che vorrei è
Che un giorno restassero
Sempre, per sempre qui.

Dai tuoi passi
So di che umore sei,
Loro mi raccontan di te:
Son veloci e un pò nervosi
Se accompagnano i miei.

E se un giorno ti fermerai
Sarò a due passi da te.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Etta Scollo's song A due passi da te, which translates to "Two steps away from you", revolve around the idea of distance and longing. The opening lines talk about how the persona's steps, when they leave, feel sad and distant, but when they return, they come back with a smile. It highlights the contrast and the emotional weight that each step holds. The persona recognizes the distinctiveness in the steps and how they reflect the individuality and mood of the person taking them. The persona wishes and dreams that the steps would remain with them always and forever.

The lyrics are a poignant expression of the feeling of loss and the ache to be close to someone. The use of the metaphor of steps, which carry our physical presence, is used to illustrate how simple things like the sound of footsteps have the power to tell a story, evoke feelings and memories, and embody the essence of a person. The chorus is particularly impactful, as it emphasizes the yearning to be close to the person, and to have them stay and never leave.

Line by Line Meaning

I tuoi passi
The steps you take

Quando mi lasci
When you leave me

Si allontanano tristi da me,
They move away from me sorrowfully.

Poi però
But then

Quando a me ritornano
When they come back to me

Hanno un sorriso in se.
They carry a smile.

Dei tuoi passi
Of your steps

So la personalità
I know the personality

Ovunque van:
Wherever they go:

Quando li sento per le scale,
When I hear them on the stairs,

Il mio nome sembran chiamar.
They seem to call my name.