He won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1971 and 1972. In 1972 he represented Italy at Eurovision Song Contest with I Giorni Dell'Arcobaleno.
He is also well-known in South America for his albums recorded in Spanish.
An honestly serious singer whose greatest sin perhaps is his excessive modesty, Nicola Di Bari, whose real name is Michele Scommegna has been on the scene since 1961 with his tact and courtesy sometimes making him appear outwith the melting pot of Italian music.
Doubtless one of the most popular and well-loved Italian singers the world over, he was born at Zapponeta (Foggia) on 29 September 1940 on the feast day of Saint Michael the patron saint of the small town. “This is a lucky day” said his father, “and the baby will be called Michele so that he will always be protected by this saint.”
When he got to primary 5 at school (school-leaving age of 10), the Scommegna household began to discuss what young Michele would be when he grew up. It was decided he wouldn’t follow his father’s and brothers’ footsteps and become a farmer, but rather they would have him carry on with his studies. Thus it was that his father enrolled him at the Istituto Arcivescovile Sacro Cuore in Manfredonia.
All the years he was at high school he had never felt the desire to sing – he had a coarse, gravelly voice. Then suddenly one day…….
It was the 29th of September, the local saint’s day in Zapponeta and a teenage Michele was traipsing around the booths set up for the feast, between shooting ducks, merry-go-rounds and stalls selling toys and sweets when he was struck by the presence of an old man standing sadly beside his ice-cream cart.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, “business not good?” The old man was distressed because he had hardly any voice left and couldn’t shout to attract customers. Everyone was going to the other ice-cream vendors, the ones who were shouting their wares. “Folks don’t even realize I’m here” he moaned with tears in his eyes.
Michele was moved by the situation and taking up the megaphone he started to shout “ice-creams, ice-creams, the best ice-creams in Puglia!” It was at this point that his friends had an idea. “Why don’t you sing one of those songs you sing during the interval at school?” Just for fun Michele began to sing and he noticed that people were coming near, gathering round him, applauding, wanting more songs. Meanwhile the old man sold all his ice-creams. Michele wanted to stop but the crowd insisted “sing, sing again…”
When he got home, Michele had decided – he wanted to be a pop singer.
He began with small regional competitions, then the Jesi Festival, La Caravella dei successi and Castrocaro then, at the age of eighteen during the summer he made friends with the Principe brothers, two accordion players well-known at the time, who suggested he went with them on tour on Lake Maggiore.
Michele’s father didn’t like the idea, but in the end the youngster got his way and gained his father’s permission to leave.
In this way he left his home to go “looking for dreams” and in 1958 he moved to the hinterland of Milan. At that time Milan was sort of the capital of pop music; it was there that most of the big record companies had their head office.
“….I loved music and I wanted to sing. I used to go to places like the Galleria del Corso in Milan where music was being born at that time because it was there in the Gallery that the biggest record companies had their main offices. I thought it would be easier to make it there. And in the Galleria del Corso I met the “genovesi”: Michele, Tenco, Calabrese, the Riverberi brothers and others.”
Straight away Michele took part in a competition for new voices where the jury, impressed by his strangely different voice, gave him first prize. One of the jury members was maestro Leoni of the SAAR record company who offered him the opportunity of taking singing lessons and shortly afterwards a contract with the company.
With SAAR he recorded a series of fortunate singles like “Piano, pianino”, “Amor non farmi pianger più”, “Perché te ne vai”, “Amici miei” and in the meantime he took part in the Cantagiro song contest.
In 1964 he recorded the song “Amore ritorna a casa” which is the official beginning of what was to turn out to be a wonderfully long career. People liked this song; they especially liked this young new singer’s voice and his record was one of the best sellers.
Then came THE test, i.e the Festival of Sanremo the next year, 1965, when the SAAR took him to the contest with “Amici miei” in a duo with Gene Pitney and they arrived second.
For the next two years he appeared with the American singer at the Festival with “Lei mi aspetta” in 1966 and “Guardati alle spalle” in 1967.
By this time the singer had been engaged for some time to a pretty, sweet-natured girl called Agnese Girardello who came from the Veneto region but he also used to travel back and forth between Milan and Zapponeta in his light-blue two-seater sports car bought with the first money he earned: Nicola has always been very attached to his family, especially to his father, who at the beginning of his career when things were a bit difficult had always encouraged him to carry on along his chosen path.
But the outcome of “Guardati alle spalle” was not as expected: it only takes one mistake to have to start again from the beginning. The 1967 edition of Sanremo was made even sadder for Nicola by the death of his dear friend and colleague Luigi Tenco as a tribute to whom shortly afterwards he recorded the very charming album “Nicola Di Bari sings Luigi Tenco”.
Agnese never stopped encouraging him. She decided to marry him. The wedding was fixed for the 21st December 1967 in Peschiera del Garda, where they were married by Father Giuseppe Girardello, Agnese’s brother, a Franciscan monk.
……… and so Nicola Di Bari’s becomes a love story …….
It was 1968 and the singer from Puglia was again taking part in the Cantagiro contest with the intention of regaining ground with a lovely song called “Eternamente”, a real highlight in Nicola’s repertoire. The music was written by Charlie Chaplin for “Limelight”, the words were Nicola’s, having taken them from a letter written to him by Agnese the year before from Buenos Aires where he was on tour. It is a delicately romantic song which has to be carefully listened to in silence to be fully appreciated. Nicola took part in the Cantagiro with this song too and although he was somewhat bewildered by the course the music scene at the Cantagiro was taking with the participation of numerous beat groups which attracted an audience of wild youngsters, he still did fine.
The evening the Cantagiro show stopped in Massa Carrara, Nicola stepped on to the stage to sing “Eternamente” with a strangely excited, happy aura about him. What had happened? A few minutes beforehand his brother had phoned him to tell him he had just become father to a bonny baby girl, named Ketty.
The journalists who had found out about the happy event immediately bombarded him with questions: “Nicola are you happy?” “It’s a great joy for me but I would have liked to be near Agnese” and as soon as he finished his turn he shot off to Milan.
The arrival of Ketty was the start of a wonderfully fortunate time for Nicola.
In the spring of 1968 there was a French song which was all the rage and Nicola thought that if it was given a good text in Italian it would be perfect for him. He recorded it towards the end of the year with the title “Il mondo è grigio, il mondo è blu” and the song was an immediate hit, selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the space of a few weeks. Fan letters start to arrive by the sackful, telephone calls from admirers, from journalists, from impresarios offering concert tours.
He moved to the RCA record company at this point, where he worked alongside two worthy collaborators, Gianfranco and Gianpiero Reverberi.
To those who ask him what he thinks of the 1960s he replies: “ it was a really lucky time for Italian pop music. We sold a lot abroad too. Music reflected what was happening then in Italy, a country with so much joie de vivre, a strong desire to make it, to flourish again; song-writers and composers were influenced by this newness and record producers were keen to find new talent and invest in it.
Then with the “revolution” in 1968, the deep changes which it brought about within society were reflected in the music: singers and song-writers changed the way we expressed ourselves.”
“In the 1960’s there were lots of song contests that young unknowns just starting out could take part in. Nowadays you hardly hear of song contests any more. Someone who has decided to become a singer starts out by self-recording, inventing a label, going on tour as supporters of better-known names”.
Un Amor Sincero
Nicola Di Bari Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pescador lejano del mar
Yo quiero beber de una
Fuente reseca al sol
Soledad y la melancolia
Hoy son mi unica compañia
Algun libro una poesia
Sobre el piano
Tu y yo
Un gran amor y nada mas
Tu y yo
Un gran amor en su final
A donde esta la cabaña
Que nos cobijo
Donde tu me dijiste que si
Amor mio si
Esta noche si
Noche,noche de amor
El silencio tu nombre
Y mi nombre
Y no desborda el agua
De un rio
Tampoco tu amor
Retorna hacia mi
Soledad y la melancolia
En cada noche en cada dia
Te haran ver una sola cosa
Que debias al menos
Decir perdon
The lyrics of Nicola Di Bari's song "Un Amor Sincero" delve into themes of distance, longing, and sorrow following the end of a great love. The singer expresses a deep sense of separation from their beloved, feeling like a distant fisherman without the comfort of the sea. They yearn to quench their thirst from a dry fountain under the sun, metaphorically portraying their emotional and physical isolation. The solitude and melancholy that accompany their state of being become their only companions, with only a book, poetry, a piano, and a photograph serving as solace in the absence of their love.
The refraint in the lyrics, "Tu y yo, Un gran amor y nada mas, Tu y yo, Un gran amor en su final," speaks to the bittersweet nature of a love that has come to its end. The mention of a cabin that once provided shelter and where promises of eternal love were exchanged reflects on lost moments of intimacy and connection. The imagery of a night filled with love and silence, with the echo of the singer's and their lover's names, emphasizes the void left by the departure of the beloved. The singer acknowledges that the love they once shared has not returned to them, adding to their feelings of isolation and heartache.
The recurring themes of solitude and melancholy pervade the lyrics, underscoring the deep sense of emptiness and longing the singer experiences in the absence of their beloved. Each night and day is marked by a poignant reminder of the love that has slipped away, with thoughts of regret and longing for reconciliation becoming a constant presence. The final lines, urging the singer to at least say "perdon" (forgive), suggest a yearning for closure or a chance to mend what has been broken, even if it may be too late. The lyrics capture the complexities of love lost, the weight of regret, and the enduring hope for reconciliation and healing in the face of heartbreak.
Line by Line Meaning
Yo muy lejos de ti
I find myself far away from you
Pescador lejano del mar
Like a distant fisherman away from the sea
Yo quiero beber de una
I long to drink from a
Fuente reseca al sol
Dry fountain under the sun
Soledad y la melancolia
Loneliness and melancholy
Hoy son mi unica compañia
Are my only companions today
Algun libro una poesia
Some book, a poem
Sobre el piano
On the piano
Una fotografia
A photograph
Tu y yo
You and I
Un gran amor y nada mas
A great love and nothing more
Tu y yo
You and I
Un gran amor en su final
A great love in its end
A donde esta la cabaña
Where is the cabin
Que nos cobijo
That sheltered us
Donde tu me dijiste que si
Where you told me yes
Amor mio si
My love, yes
Esta noche si
This night yes
Noche,noche de amor
Night, night of love
El silencio tu nombre
Silence, your name
Y mi nombre
And my name
Y no desborda el agua
And the water does not overflow
De un rio
From a river
Tampoco tu amor
Neither does your love
Retorna hacia mi
Return to me
Soledad y la melancolia
Loneliness and melancholy
En cada noche en cada dia
In every night, in every day
Te haran ver una sola cosa
They will make you see only one thing
Que debias al menos
That you should at least
Decir perdon
Say sorry
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Peppino di Capri
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
JOSEMADRIDish
Cuánto nos emociona esta música tan romántica en un mudo tan insolidario e inhumano como el actual. Yo también creo en un amor sincero, que dé sentido a nuestra vida y justifique nuestra existencia, hasta el punto de poder llegar a decir como decía Luis Cernuda, "si no te conozco no he vivido, y si muero sin conocerte no muero, porque no he vivido."
Ele Texas
Soy un hombre d salvadoreño de 33 años q a vivido en tx, USA. Desde Los 8 años . Solo, por influencia de mi hermano (4 años mayor) me gusto la musica de nicola dibari pero no me déjà de sorprender con musica nueva para mi. Esta cancion es una hermosura.