Renowed for her amazing vocal range covering almost five octaves, she would blend musical and composing skills with an unique vocal interpretation. The mix of all of these qualities makes Giuni Russo one of the most interesting and unique artists ever in the Italian and international musical scene.
Giuni's family took lyrical music into the utmost consideration. Her mother was a natural soprano,as Giuni herself was. At a very young age, Giuni had her first singing and composing lessons, quickly developing her great natural talents.
In 1967, under the name of Giusy Romeo she won the Castrocaro Festival with the song "A Chi" (an italian cover version of Hurt by Timi Yuro). She was awarded the right to participate to Sanremo Festival, Italy's most important musical event, to be held the following year.
In 1968 she sang "No Amore" - her first single - at the 18th Sanremo Festival. On the same year were released two more singles, including L'onda and I Primi Minuti, the italian cover of Aretha Franklin's "I Say a Little Prayer".
In 1969 Giuni moved to Milan were she was to spend most of her life. There she met Maria Antonietta Sisini, a musician who would share with Giuni the ups and downs of a 36-year rare artistic union and friendship.
In the seventies, Giuni changed her name in Junie Russo and recorded a few tracks for some minor labels.
Her first album, Love is a Woman - with English lyrics - was released in 1975. All the tracks are signed by Giuni and Maria Antonietta Sisini.
In 1978 - for the first time with the name of Giuni Russo - she got good exposure with the single "Soli noi/La chiave", hitting the French market, too.
In the early eighties Giuni's lifelong collaboration with Franco Battiato begins. In a recent interview Franco recalled: "... a natural talent. Amazing! Yes, the first time I heard Giuni sing it was in my home. I was struck with wonder by her vocal strength (...) matched with her musical sensibility. An uncommon feature since if one has a powerful voice often lacks subtlety. She mastered the most refined nuances."
In 1981 Giuni released the fine album Energie, but the big hit came the following year with the single "Un'estate al mare". The song won Giuni the 1982 Festivalbar contest and a huge popularity. The single stayed on the top ten charts for months. On the wave of this success Energie was reissued.
On one hand, the large success brought by "Un'estate al mare" gave Giuni a great popularity, but on the other hand biases the artist's career. It isn't easy to keep a balance between popularity and the musical research and experimentation that are the unvarying elements of Giuni's artistic journey.
The albums released in the following years - Vox (1983), Mediterranea (1984), Giuni (1986) and Album (1987) - display a constant artistic evolution. Giuni was able to blend the easy melodic strike of her many hits (Good good bye, Sere d'agosto, Limonata cha cha cha, Mediterranea, Alghero, Adrenalina) with a truly unique vocal experimentation.
In 1988 the album A casa di Ida Rubinstein marks the end of Giuni's easy pop phase. With uncommon and stunning influences, she performs popular arias and romances by Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, a repertoire confirming her natural talent for an innovative musical approach. This album made Giuni the first and only representative of borderline music.
The release of A casa di Ida Rubinstein led the artist to tour with important lyrical and cultural associations. In contrast, recording companies look upon Giuni's experimentalism suspiciously and the relationship between them soon grew more and more precarious.
In 1992 Giuni released Amala, an album of greatest hits with two previously unreleased singles - "Amala" and "Alla spiaggia dell’amore".
In 1994 the new album Se fossi più simpatica sarei meno antipatica reached the shop shelves. Based on an imaginative interpretation of a writing of Ettore Petrolini, the album features the single "Fortunello".
Giuni followed an increasingly personal path that led her to collaborate with writers and poets. She read ancient holy texts, while touring a lot and writing new songs. It is during this period of her life that Giuni came in contact with Carmelite spirituality and began to study and appreciate Saint Teresa of Avila, Edith Stain and St. John of the Cross. The writings by these exalted personalities proved to be a constant source of inspiration for her.
In 1997 Giuni was called to work with Giorgio Albertazzi (one of the most popular and renewed italian actors) for the theatrical show Verba Tango. She sang lyrics by Jorges Luis Borges. On the same year the single "Gabbiano" was released, to be followed in the intentions by Gelsomini d'Arabia, a discographic project that never came to be.
In 1998 Giuni releases her first live album Voce Prigioniera.
In 2002, after four years of absence from the recording market and of an intense schedule of live performances, Giuni released Signorina Romeo live. The album is a selection of songs performed live in the preceding years.
2003 was the year of the great comeback to the mass audience. Giuni performed "Morirò d’amore" at the 53rd Sanremo Festival. This song also gave its name to the new album. Irradiazioni was released on CD the same year. It contains singles like "Gabbiano", "Fonti mobili" and the previously unreleased "Voce che grida", along with new versions of Giuni's greatest hits.
At the end of 2003 Demo De Midi was released, featuring fourteen new unreleased tracks from the '80s and the '90s in demo version.
In 2004 Napoli che canta, a suite for Roberto Leone Roberti's film (1926) was released on CD and DVD.
The night between 13 and 14 September 2004, Giuni Russo died at her home in Milan. Her last wish was to be buried at the Carmelite nuns' cemetery.
Ciao amore ciao
Giuni Russo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Il grano da crescere, i campi da arare
Guardare ogni giorno se piove o c'è il sole
E sapere se domani si vive o si muore
E un bel giorno dire basta e andare via
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Andare via lontano, cercare un altro mondo
E poi mille strade grigie come il fumo
In un mondo di luci sentirsi nessuno
Saltare cent'anni in un giorno solo
Dai carri nei campi agli aerei nel cielo
E non capire niente e avere voglia di tornare da te
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Non sapere fare niente in un mondo che sa tutto
E non avere un soldo nemmeno per tornare
La solita strada bianca come il sale
Il grano da crescere, i campi da arare
Saltare cent'anni in un giorno solo
Dai carri nei campi agli aerei nel cielo
E non capire niente e avere voglia di tornare da te
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Ciao…ciao…
Ciao amore ciao amore
Ciao…ciao…
The lyrics to Giuni Russo's song, "Ciao amore ciao," depict a yearning for escape from a mundane life and a longing to find a new world. The song begins by describing the usual white salted road, the wheat to be grown, and fields to be plowed. The singer looks at the weather every day to ensure whether they will live or die tomorrow. The lyrics seem to suggest a sense of constraint and monotony in life. Then, the singer decides to leave everything and go away. They bid goodbye to their love and the yards, hoping to dream and escape to explore the world.
The next verse talks about experiencing a thousand gray roads that lead them into a world of lights where they feel like nobody. It talks about the transition from the carts in the field to the planes in the sky, signifying a rapid change in the singer's life. They also long to come back to their love as they do not understand anything about the new world they have encountered. In the end, the singer describes their situation of not knowing what to do in a world that knows everything and not having enough money to go back home. The lyrics portray a sense of loss, despair, and nostalgia.
Overall, the song "Ciao amore ciao" expresses the desire for freedom and exploration, but at the same time, it portrays a sense of loss and longing for the past.
Line by Line Meaning
La solita strada bianca come il sale
The usual white road that is as mundane and unexciting as salt.
Il grano da crescere, i campi da arare
The constant work of growing crops and tilling fields.
Guardare ogni giorno se piove o c'è il sole
Watching each day to see if it will rain or have sunshine.
E sapere se domani si vive o si muore
Knowing if tomorrow will bring life or death.
E un bel giorno dire basta e andare via
One day deciding enough is enough and choosing to leave.
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Goodbye, my love.
Andare via lontano, cercare un altro mondo
Going far away to search for a different world.
Dire addio ai cortili, andarsene sognando
Saying farewell to the courtyards and leaving while dreaming.
E poi mille strade grigie come il fumo
Then facing a thousand gray roads like smoke.
In un mondo di luci sentirsi nessuno
Feeling like nobody in a world full of lights.
Saltare cent'anni in un giorno solo
Jumping a hundred years in a single day.
Dai carri nei campi agli aerei nel cielo
Going from carts in the fields to airplanes in the sky.
E non capire niente e avere voglia di tornare da te
Not understanding anything and having the desire to return to you.
Non sapere fare niente in un mondo che sa tutto
Not knowing how to do anything in a world that knows everything.
E non avere un soldo nemmeno per tornare
Not even having a penny to return.
Ciao amore ciao amore ciao amore ciao
Goodbye, my love.
Ciao... ciao...
Goodbye... goodbye...
Ciao amore ciao amore
Goodbye, my love.
Contributed by Gabriella Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@paolodona782
Eccezionale interpretazione. Gioco immenso di alti e basssi, passione. Una grandissima cantante penso la più grande degli ultimi 50 anni
@z24fant4stik
Qui siamo oltre delle doti vocali e tecnica sublimi, siamo di fronte ad un vero talento musicale. Giuni riusciva ad entrare (in punta di piedi) in ogni pezzo facendolo suo.. donandogli una classe che non è frutto delle sue svariate ottave ma della sua anima. Ci manchi Giuni.
@giuseppinagerardi2187
Veramente sublime!!!!
@gianfrancovolpe4526
Un dono di Dio....
@ivanarocchi3100
Giuni è l’altra faccia della mia anima… piango sempre ascoltando ciao amore ciao lei e Tenco vittime e maestri delle nostre coscienze
@mariabonanno9307
Non conoscevo la profondità vicale di Giuni, sono grata di averla riscoperta 🎉
@vittoriosalvato
Luigi Tengo sarebbe stato orgoglioso di sentire questa sua canzone dalla voce di Giuni Russo. Soltanto lei poteva darne un' interpretazione così magistrale. ❤❤
@antoniovalente4285
Non conoscevo questa opera
Pelle d'oca
Grande Giuni.
Bravissima
@luigiguarino5196
Non è un'interpretazione. È un'opera d'arte. Immensa.
@mariogar766
Una interpretazione ASSURDA!... Già di norma sei sempre stata fantastica ma stavolta hai avuto una intuizione pazzesca... guidata dalla tua grandezza e dal tuo gusto...
Ti amerò sempre!