My name is Roberto Cassani. I was born in Milan. I became quite a promising young songwriter in Italy, but I didn’t like the record business… so I did a runner! I fell in love with a Scottish lassie and I found myself in Scotland. I didn’t speak English, so I had to learn… then I started writing songs again and doing gigs. I started in pubs, graduated to Festivals, and I’ve been travelling the world for 10 years. I’ve entertained umpteen audiences. Sometimes I sang comedy stuff, some times protest stuff, but on this album I sing about stuff that happened to me. Some great songwriters I know told me it’s a very bad idea to be too autobiographical. I’m respectfully choosing to ignore them. Why? In 2018 I spent some time working with the legendary double bass player Danny Thompson. He taught me that nothing matters unless it comes from the heart. So this album is true and it all comes from the heart. But it’s definitely not as boring, don’t worry! Please, give it a listen.

The moon (La luna) explains how I was always quite weird and disenfranchised, but when I saw the moon as a child, it kind of made everything ok…nothing makes sense really, but I know it’s ok.

Milano, Estate 1998 is all in Italian; a little pseudo-reggae that follows me around Milan, exasperated by the heat and the not-fitting-in, hence deciding to emigrate.

Goodbye to mamma paints the picture of me leaving my mum at Malpensa Aiport, never to return. I still haven’t recovered from that!

Kyer, 70 Maybank tells you about my friend Kyer, a Jamaican young guy in Birmingham with profound disabilities. He gave me a roof in exchange for help with his personal care, and saved my life in the process.

And I’m in love is the story of me and my wife Lara getting together. Blame the romantic air of Birmingham, the Venice of the north….and a few pints of Guinness…

I found my eyebrows on my pillow happened when I had cancer and I was having chemotherapy. I consider myself blessed to have had cancer; not only because I survived, but also because it showed me how many people love me. I will never forget that, and live by it.

Lullaby for Ruby is for my daughter. She is 6 years old now. It’s like a little photo album.

Ale’ Marino starts at my dad’s funeral. He was barking mad, but absolutely lovely! My whole town loved him and I adored him too. He was so good that St Peter gave him his personal fluffy cloud and he regularly drinks wine and plays cards with St. Peter…it’s a big party in Paradise, as the song shows you…but we miss him madly down here.

Finally Oh!…L’amore!, the title track is a reflection on what I have learnt thus far. By focusing on myself, I had built a little wall around my heart. The light was getting in through the eyes, but slamming against the wall, so I felt nothing… As soon as I meet the right people, the wall went down and when I looked at the world, bingo!…I was in love with everything. I still am!

I recorded the album with producer Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm studio in Glasgow. I played everything: guitars, double bass, percussions and whatever else crops up. It was done in 2 days. On every instrument, I played every track live from start to finish, no “dirty” tricks, not even a click track. I like it that way, because it’s true.

There is a lot you can read about me on my website www.robertocassani.com. There are reviews, quotes and a biography, blah, blah, blah…Still, the paragraphs above is what you really need to know. I hope you can find some time to give this album a listen and then please get in touch with me, if you want. Thank you for your time.

Roberto

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