Marta.

Avete ragione. Io che arrivo fresca fresca nel Mika's world mi trovo a pensare che l'immagine di Mika sulla quale si è puntato fino ad ora non gli ha reso molta giustizia. Certo, lo ha fatto conoscere in tutto il mondo, ma ora ha trent'anni, è un uomo, e zompettare su e giu' per il palco gridando "we are golden" comincia a risultare, forse, meno credibile di un tempo. E' una condizione che rischia di incatenarlo o di schiacciarlo sotto una pressione enorme. Ditemi voi, che ne sapete ben piu' di me sull'argomento, se sbaglio. E' stato difficile fino ad ora per il grande pubblico andare oltre, bisognava proprio volerlo e approfondire per conto proprio. E allora scopri un mondo. La mia sensazione è che l'immagine di icona pop internazionale non lo rappresenti in pieno. E' solo un lato della luna, ma il resto rimane in ombra ed è la parte piu' interessante secondo me e forse quella che adesso gli è piu' vicina. Ma è anche quella piu' difficile da scoprire e da fare conoscere, ci vuole tempo e un cambio di approccio, di immagine, di strategia promozionale...forse un po' meno internazionale e un po' piu' mirata all'interesse di questo o quel paese. L'esperienza a XF (e ora a The Voice) io l'ho vista andare un po' in questa direzione, proprio verso quella parte di luna un po' in ombra. E' vero, Mika è stato buffo e divertente, ma è anche riuscito a dimostrare cultura, intelligenza, e una cifra artistica di livello ben superiore a quella che si intravedeva dai suoi hit in classifica. Sbagliero', ma io ho l'impressione che Mika di essere un'icona pop ne abbia un po' piene le tasche.

I have a question: in your opinion, why an album in different languages than english, should be a problem? Mika is a citizen of the world: who should try to do something like that? Mika should be perfect. Of course, a choice like that implies different goals, different strategies ... but i really think he is perfectly able of doing everything. Able and credibile. It would be a different project, ambitious and original, a different starting point. Exciting, I think. Dangerous but very exciting.

e vabbè dai...è tutta pubblicità... In fondo in Italia prima di XF Mika non è stato trasmesso poi cosi' tanto...quindi ben venga tutto, per me...

An interview with Mika's vocal coach, Rossana Casale during XF -Hello , how are you? -Well, but we are all a bit tired ... a lot of work for everyone ... -Tell us about Mika , we all adore him ... Does Mika have any faults ? -His faults are also his strengths ... he is a picky man , very strict ... but he is an extraordinary musician who lights up in the energy of music ... but during the preparing of songs, all things must be carried out in detail. He has a way of thinking so international... Italians are more passionate... we get excited right away ... "oh my god I'm shivering" ... but no, he says no , the thrill is not the most important thing, you have to see and understand ... everything has to be perfect. With him you have to work much earlier in the project of a song ... everything is written , decided, organized ... We first met , and well understood , and now he gives me the maximum trust ... and when the work is well done, he repays you very much, he is so happy and he shows it in his face , he lights his face ... Mika has the idea of ​​asking the girls of his team what is their "manifesto", their idea of artist and it is a right choice because it is not an easy thing to understand at the beginning. Even for me it wasn't easy to understand . [ They talk about the team of Mika and about Rossana, who does concerts and teaches at the Conservatory of Parma ] Rossana says also that Mika knows very well Italian music : Francesco Guccini , Tenco , Jovanotti, Tiziano Ferro ... he have studied so much ... but it is natural for him to propose a different kind of songs than those of the great Italian songwriters . [ They talk about Rossana's career and liric music... ] It 's true that Mika is always late ? It ' is true ( laughs) ... but now I have to run because he's waiting for me...

But we have to say that Chiara Galiazzo is doing only ads. This is the point. A great voice, great succes in XF, all the people were waiting for her but...but after XF what a disappointment.... in spite of her presence in Sanremo with a lot of promotion, she published almost immediately a boring album (not written by her, but assembled in someway as soon as possible)....and then, in spite of some gigs performed in front of a few people, in spite of Sturdust with Mika...well, actually, for now, she is only the ad-girl . I don't really think that this is the same case of Mika.

If Mika says he is working, I believe it. I have no reason to doubt him, I have no valid elements, I cannot see anything from here, from my position of "fan". I see only the presence of a different scheme than the one used previously. Just this. I can see the presence of changes. Maybe it's changed himself, his way and timing of writing, his artistic world. Maybe he wants to have new experiences, change course, to try new things and explore new worlds. Maybe it's changed the confidence in the label, maybe it's changed the strategy of promoting the new album, to try to avoid some of the problems he had before. Maybe he wants to start over again. Maybe it will start working step by step, perhaps in France and Italy first, where he is now more 'known, and then he will go on slowly, country after country, leaving "most' difficult" countries as last...maybe he will do the opposite. I do not know. But he remains an artist. In my opinion, he is only an artist in changing. That's all for now. Obviously, it's only my little opinion.

I agree, it could be really smart. And I think that could be his intention. I would also underline that during XF or the Voice che has always shown himself as a musician, a singer or songwriterr. I mean, he wasn't in a cooking show. All around him there was music. I don't really think he wants changing his job but presenting himself quickly to a large amount of people in an intelligent way, to become popular and in this way to become powerful. I think it would be absurd if behind all of this, there wasn't a new musical project. All of this is thought and organized for the next album, i think

The "taste" of this article still does not like me, especially because it wants to suggest that Mika is a kind of fashion, a clever and funny character who was able to hypnotize an audience a little bit stupid who was blinded by his funny faces, by his curly hair and by a few jokes said in Italian . But this is not true . In my opinion, Mika has risked his neck in XF. He could have come out of this experience with broken bones . He could have be considered the snob guy who comes to Italy only to make the star . He could have be seen wired, arrogant or distant. He could have be hated by the other judges , who are not artists who give the scene to the first comer so gladly . But people loved and respected him immediately , because they felt loved and respected by him as well. People laughed with him and not of him. The press loved him because he is a clever man and an original artist. Experienced journalis, writers, musicians, songwriters..all they had a good impression of him. And it's also happened that a Nobel Prize for literature , a man of great culture, of social and politician engagement , anarchist and free-thinker ...well, he said in television he liked Mika so much . Yes, Mika. That guy who sings "relax"...and perhaps something more. In this moment here in Italy Mika is "the man of the day" He's also doing two ads (two ads, and not one million ) on television and perhaps he is a bit overexposed. All of this can be boring for someone, in the same way it can be fun for others. All this attention will end, sooner or later...but this is so normal and predictable. This is not the point for me. The point is that NOW (and not before) so many people know who Mika really is and this memory will remain. When he will want singing again, performing again, that memory will return in minds of many people.

The comments under the article are all in favor of Mika. Most people assume that the author of the article only wants get publicity using "the name" of the moment. I completely agree. With people who comment. The tone of the article is emphatic and aims to draw attention, but the arguments are very weak in my opinion. All this type of advertising, at the end, is boring , because it is shown continuously, in every channel, everytime. Mika has nothing to do with this. And about all the other things, well, i don't really see a real link with Mika. I think that this article is quite silly.

But you HAVE to see and hear him. Absolutely. So, try this. http://www.mediafire.com/watch/y388zi6ncg7ygzw/Underwater_170114.mp4

Vi ringrazio moltissimo delle vostre spiegazioni. Immaginavo una cosa del genere...e ora capisco meglio le scelte di Mika nel tentare di trovare un mezzo alternativo di promozione, bypassando la casa discografica. Le alternative non sono moltissime, purtroppo. Ma non è detto che quello che ha funzionato per il primo album, possa funzionare anche per quelli successivi nè che si debba insistere in eterno a rincorrere quel tipo di successo "planetario". Forse procedere piu' lentamente, paese dopo paese, potrebbe permettergli di lavorare con piu' calma, di stabilire un rapporto piu' profondo con il pubblico e di farsi capire per il fine ed intelligente artista che è. Mi ha colpito particolarmente cio' che ha detto Mika nell'ultima intervista con la Bignardi, riguardo Underwater. Gli ci è voluto due anni per trovare la giusta collocazione di quella canzone, per farla arrivare davvero al pubblico. "Ho capito che ci vuole del tempo", ha detto...forse questa volta vuole prendersi il tutto il tempo che gli serve. Grazie ancora per le spiegazioni.

Welcome!

Yes, I am. I am not what you think I am...I AM GOLDEN! I AM GOLDEN! :naughty:

So, today hails so I,ve translated also the third part...Dario Fo and Mika together...enjoy! interview at LE INVASIONI BARBARICHE 17 January 2014 - part 3- Dario Fo and Mika together (Dario Fo enters and embraces Mika) F: Oh...you are so good-looking! (they laugh) [Fo is concerned about the steps which are in the studio, maybe he does not see well anymore, but Mika takes him by the hand and accompanies him, warning him about every steps of the studio...then he takes strongly the chair and expects Fo to be sitting] D: So, when I went at Dario Fo's home, our Nobel Prize for literature, to talk him about Mika, I didn't know if master Fo already knew Mika in someway M : oh, no...I don't think so ... D: Mika , do you know what he told me ? He said: "I 'm a big fan of Mika!" M : No, but how is it possible? F : When I listened to Mika for the first time I was watching television and... I jumped ! I heard there was a force of nature ... a rhythm... and especially I heard the mathematics of the music ..but more later I discovered that Mika cannot read music: and this can only mean that he has the music inside!...in his skull , inside the stomach , inside his heart ... everywhere .. M: Oh, but are you really Dario Fo ? But I can't still believe... F : Do you know what I thought when I heard you the first time ? I thought: "I would love to sing with him!!" D: It's possible? M : Yes, we've talked a little before entering the studio ... ehm ... (Mika 's so emotioned that he can not talk ) ..ehm... I asked Mr. Fo if he knew some of my songs...and I was expecting maybe Grace Kelly ... but no, he knew The Origin of Love! ... incredible for me ...I think that Dario Fo is one of the most important symbols of freedom , not only in his work but also in his life, he is a symbol of freedom and tolerance , the most important things for a culture and for Love in general D: ok , Dario...do you feel ready singing with Mika ? F: But I want to sing with Mika ! I am excited ! Come on Mika, sing your song about the origin of love ... I'll follow you...and please, give me a good vote! (Mika starts playing visibly emotioned and sings his song ; Fo follows him singing with his famous Gramelot, a set of onomatopoeic sounds without a real sense. ​​... lots of claps from the audience ... ) F: (laughs) it was so simple! M : oh, I have studied the work of Dario Fo in english, even if I can not figure it out in Italian ... [ and I believe it , it's almost all dialect ! ] D: But you have in common many things ... there's a movie that puts you in comparison (a movie starts ... and actually their gestures , the way of moving on the stage...are quite similar ) F: Mika, you're crazy ! M : Oh no , not me ! You are crazy ! I have learned from you ! Q: The madness seems to be fundamental ! F: Oh yes, with the madness you can go out from normality, from obvious things, trivial and risapute ... all the more great men of culture and especially of art have always been regarded as fools ... even Michelangelo or Leonardo because they went out of the banality Q: Let's try to sing even the Dario's song ... Can someone bring me the drawings you have done before? F: oh, yes I made a gift for Mika and one for you Daria, my drawings are here.. D: oh thank you! But these lithographs are of inestimable value! Thank you so much! F: I know that Mika knows one of my songs, "I've seen a King" [a satiric song about a king and his horse] and now we can sing it together ... Mika, if you can not read the song's music, you can use the drawings that I've given to you...they represent just the lyrics of my song.. M: Oh, but these drawings are perfetc for me, beacuse I can not read the music of the song... Ok ... then ... "Re maggiore"? D major? F: Yes, Re maggiore. M: ok ... uh ... "oh mamma!" ... Oh my god I'm a little 'nervous ... (he starts playing) (Fo begins to sing in the dialect spoken in Milan and Mika ... he continues to sing in Milanese dialect!] . D: oh, you are so wonderful together![audience does not stop clapping] D: Mika, I think next year Dario Fo will be one of the judges of XF ... now you are a couple that you can not split ... Dario, you have to expect a proposal from Sky M: (to Fo) Would you like to be a judge? Having to say "yes or no". F: well, it depends ... I have to know people before judging them .. Mika, I know you...and when I see you ... it always comes in my mind an idea of clarity, developing, sincerity, intelligence ... oh yes, INTELLIGENCE! M: Oh, no...I'm not intelligent ... I have a too simple brain, it's so confused .. F: ah, but you've got a double brain, two brains that run together (Mika does not understand well, Fo notices it and uses his hands to describe the two brains in motion ... Mika laughs and understands immediately) M: oh but no...i don't.. F: But yes, it is true, I tell you! You have one brain of spare! D: Another thing you have in common is the language ... there's your "Gramelot" Dario, but even Mika has his own "Gramelot," when he speaks in his language a little invented, a mix of many languages ​​he speaks ... M: Yes, maybe .. F: It is true, Mika! ...Listen, you made me an extraordinary remark ... "Italian language is a beautiful language ... but you need to learn Italian dialects, those are important to understand Italy in the deep ... and this, said by a foreigner, is extraordinary... M: I've learned a little dialect spoken in Piemonte ... very difficult Q: tell us something ... M : Oh no , I've only learned bad words ... but this night I also learned a bit of the dialect spoken in Milan ( and says a few words ) D : well, I think you are also similar in the body ...both tall, handsome , with large teeth..let's see... ( a video starts with images of a young Fo ... he reminds Mika a little bit) F: Oh I have never seen that video... I was so young, I was 23 ... D: Ok, now we have to say goodbye ... [Daria still talks a little bit about the book of Fo's wife, Franca Rame, who died recently, his partner in life and work ...and about the next show of Fo in the theatre. Fo says that in Rome, even now as in the past , someone tried to censor him... the theatre where he had to play the show is a Vatican property and "someone" was not happy...and tried to stop him. - Fo's shows often attack "the power", including the Church's one -] M : I know your problems with censorship... F : Well Mika, this is the proof that I still get annoyed someone (he laughs) ... and this is important ... a musician, a poet, a clown, an artist must always give annoyance to the power ... otherwise it means they are not worth anything [ Daria still talks a little about the book and greets - the audience stood applauding - Mika accompanies Dario Fo outside the studio ]

thanks I've corrected!

The weather is getting worse, so i've translated also the second part. A good exercise for my english. Sorry for the mistakes guys, I've done my best! interview at LE INVASIONI BARBARICHE 17 January 2014 - part 2 D: So, It was your experience with Italian XF that convinced you to say "yes" also to The voice in France ? M: Yes. Two years ago, they asked me to do The Voice but I said no. But after saying "no" to The Voice, I said "yes" to XF....even if I do not speak the language..i said "yes" because ... oh , I do not know ! D: You make always the things that you want, that you feel... M : oh not always... but this is my intention, even with music. Even my choices are not very commercial, they are fine for me because after thirty years I will look back at my work just saying: yes, here is a true story, my work, my shows are not fake, they are sincere... D:: Many of your songs are about self-discovery , about how to be themselves M : Oh , for me identity is the most interesting thing to talk about ... the identity and tolerance are so interesting and important... D: Before, I asked you about the school , because there are many children or adolescents at school that suffer so much for things that the adults do not understand , but that for children are so important...they suffer because they have glasses , or beacuse they are too fat or because they are a little different from the others ... M : a little? oh I also say very different ... D: Yes, because they are not "homologated" M: Yes , many things that make life difficult during the school , are not unimportant things , they are very very important. Those are the very things that can make a person different. D: how did you get out from all of this? M : with the music, which for me was a sort of revenge ... with my songs I created a movie in my head for planning my future ... but all the people do the same thing, even with the love songs ... the best love songs are written when you're not in love because you can imagine everything! You can have an imaginary love, which is the most beautiful, the most perfect, the more romantic .. more of what happens in reality! but this happens for all the songs: the imagination and the projection that you can find in a song are the most important things. D: I'll show you a video with your crazy months in Xf - a video starts - D: Have you talked again with Elio, Morgan ...? M: Yes. They are three people so beautiful and different ... the intelligence and the strength of Simona , the culture of Morgan , the irony of Elio ... they have been nice encounters ... D: Will you make XF again ? M : I'd like to ... I 'd like doing it again... D : Well, if you say that you 'd like ... then it is sure!... look at the happy faces of your fans ... you remove a weight from their shoulders... they were terrified, destroyed at the idea that you wouldn't make XF again... (the audience claps, Mika smiles ) D: I was very impressed that in the newspaper La Repubblica XL you wrote a letter to yourself octogenarian. You write: "The gay marriage is seen well in America and in Europe .. but not in Italy ... God knows why" ... and then you says, talking to yourself: " I wonder if you've got kids ... How did you get? I know that you haven't had them with a girl ... but I hope you have kids and that they are like to you" ... Mika, this letter to yourself is very tender, for me ... I can see your children, all these little-Mika all around you, so colored, with large teeth ... (he laughs ) D: Now I ask you a private question ... you'll understand why ... I read that you have a partner for many years ... you're still in love with your boyfriend? M: Yes, I am. But love changes ... love grows, is an evolution ...I mean, we can think that a person is so horrible ... but after a while we think he is not! Or we can think that we are in love with a person for a reason but two years later we can change idea ... love is constantly changing. There is one thing that people say, especially in France: "ah, do not ever change!" But I say no, I change always! If I do not change, I'd die. And with love, i have to do the same thing: changing. I saw my mother and my father, who have been together since the beginning, with all these ups and downs, good times and so many problems and I saw that love is always changing ... well, not always and not for everyone ... not for my aunt, for example ... it was important for her not to continue with her love. Because love is different for each of us ... but when love changes, let it changes... because in this way, there is a possibility...if love changes, it can continue... D : It seems the lyrics of a song M : well, I'm not my mother or my aunt ... In 7 years I have had so much pressure on my private life ... but ... we did it ! [meaning...we're still in love, me and my boyfriend!] ... for now, we did it ... Oh, I don't know anymore what I'm saying ... Daria , you are very dangerous ! D: why?? M : Because this conversation seems to me as a conversation done in the morning , in front of a cup of tea and some biscuits without cameras showing all ...but what I'll think tomorrow about all things I've said tonight ? I've said too much ! D: Well, this morning I read in a newspaper an article by an anthropologist , Elen Fisher: she says that romantic love is the only positive drug ... and it is what you say in your song... I had just heard it ! M: Yes , it's the song that I sang tonight with Dario Fo ... (he recalls the words of The Origin of Love: "love is a drung and you are my cygarette ..") oh, I am sick of love , give me some medicine ... (they laugh) I agree , love is the only positive drug .. D: yes...and you can abuse of it... of this positive drug... M: ehm...abuse? oh oh... also talking about this could be dangerous ... D: oh no, "abuse" is a nice word .. sometimes it's good to abuse of something .. M: yes, I agree D: do you know that all pleasures are dangerous in some ways: chocolate, alcohol ... but not romantic love...and I'm not talking about sex, but about love ... M: ...both... D: oh yes, even sex ... uh .. don't throw it away! What do you think? M: Oh I really don't know [he startst to blush and laughs] ... well, that's enough, now let's talk about you, Daria!... (laughs, audience applause) D: Ok, but you never talk about sex ... M: I always talk about sex! In the words of my songs! D: I remember something only in "Popular Song", where you says something like ... "calling me crazy .. a fagot ... " but this has nothing to do with sex..." where do you talk about sex?" M: oh, I talk about sex in a different way ... When I was doing my music in Miami I met a prostitute named Carolina. I wrote for her " Love today" ... but even when I wrote "Lollipop" for a girl... [audience laughs, it seems to me people suggest him: your sister!] ... (he laughs) ah, no, we can't talk about all these things! (he laughs) [back to serious] there is the way to talk about sex with all the freedom of the world ... we can do this in extreme terms, or we can be a little more clever and talk about sex with images..using vulgarity, you lose a bit of tolerance ...you know, it is a sort of mix D: (very seriously ) what a nice thing you said Mika...(the audience applause) M: But I also have to say that i like vulgar artists , even in my art collection ... I was speaking only about the way I write...there are many other singers who speak in a very vulgar way, and this is an extreme choice ... I like the extreme choice or the imagination choice.. the one or the other... D: Tell me something about the song you sing tonight M : uh .. underwater ... I wrote this song with Nick Littlemore .. It's the first song I wrote of the album The orign of Love. We worked at Underwater for a year and a half to put in connection [ I think this is the meaning , but he uses a word that does not exist, "connettare" ] the song with the audience ... even in France with popular music ... we always try to find the value of a song in the approval of the public or in the commercial success... but this is dangerous because with Underwater I realized that it takes so long , and that we have to do many things before finding it ... D: I think Underwater is a song that touch you in the deep ... now we can listen ... are you ready? M: Yes ! [he sings ]

Today it's a rainy day in Italy...a real stormy weather...and so I've translated the first part of the interview...it's too interesting and emotional...the second part will arrive. Enjoy. interview at LE INVASIONI BARBARICHE 17 January 2014 - part 1 D : and now we are all here for him... a great artist and a great person ... Mika! M : Good evening ! D: How did you spend this hour in the dressing room? Have you seen all the kids? there were my daughter, her little friends... M : Oh yes ... but I've also talked some more with Dario Fo ... D: How was this meeting? M : completely surreal ... and for this I have not even realized that it was true, that he was here...l think tomorrow morning I will say to me: " but why have you not said everything that you wanted to say? Why have you not touched a little more that man?" But perhaps he would not like to be touched much more (he laughs) D: You can remember him from his pictures , the pictures he gave to you ... M : Oh yeah , I looked at them ... D: I think you'll keep that pictures with you in your house...that you won't give them to your mom ! [ before he said that all his awards are in his mother's house] M : Oh yes, that pictures will be in my house! (he laughs) Well, I started studying Fo when I was 14 .. I had a teacher named Mr. Reece [ this could be the right name, i hope] ... he was a very polemical man... he had lost his job 3 times , just because it was a very free and anarchical man.. now he is dead ... he saw me and said : ok, you are my project . I worked with him to make an artistical work by Peter Shaffer [ i think ] ... and then we made in english the work of Dario Fo "the accidental death of an anarchist". From that moment I began to study Dario Fo with this French teacher ... and he's dead now .. and this is the price he paid for a life so free ... I realized that for me, for Mr. Reece and for many other people, Dario Fo is one of the last "enfant terrible" that we have in the world...we have seen the artwork of Jean Cocteau, Fellini ... the most ' important in the world ... but we have also Dario Fo ... I think he's the last one .. D : I am so glad of this meeting... M : Thank you for this wonderful gift! One of the most beautiful gift in my life! D: I had read that you define Fo as your "hero" ... and then I wondered what was the story behind this word ... because you're not a person talking nonsense ... there's always something behind your words ... "hero" is a strong word .. and in fact behind this word there was so much to discover.. M: ehm...yes ... D: Tell me something about yourself M I'm just the result of all these people , my French teacher , my Russian teacher of singing , a very tough woman who taught me to sing D: Oh , but let's start from the beginnig, since you were born .. M : From the beginnig ? since when? D : yes, you have a biography so incredible and I want to know more ... M : yeah, but then we have to talk with my mother , she is here ... D : Oh, let's see if your mom wants to ... [ Mika smiles and looks in the direction of the mother to see if she wants to come close to him, but his mom does not want ...] M : No, she does not want D: Oh , I see ... but maybe she is without makeup, does not have the right outfit .. she's right ( they laugh ). So, you was born in Beirut but you lived there only for a few months... M: Yes, I'm the third of five children. D: But when you were there , that country was a disaster, there was a war ... what are your memories ? You've felt the pain of the stories from your parents, of your brothers ... M : I have no memories , I was a too little baby ... but from the stories of my mother , I realized that it is always possible to find a sort of contrast, the contrast that exists between all these horrible things and the feeling of joy ... it's a mix of feelings that is very Lebanese, this idea that also in the midst of so many horrible things, you can always find the life ... D: I wanted to ask you that ... what did you get from Lebanese culture? M : maybe this mix of feelings , even in the most difficult moments of the life , in our family there is always this anarchical joy .. D : You are a large family ... M : Oh yeah , we are 5 ...i have three sisters and a brother D: Tell us the name of all of them... M : oh I don't want to say who is the older of my sisters...it would not be so polite ... so, I say the names in no particular order ... Yasmine , Paloma, Zulaika and my brother Fortunato ... D: I see all of you in this photo [ they see a photo on the screen] M : Oh yes, but i can't see my brother in this photo ... now he is so perfect, he looks just like me , we are a photocopy D: Which are your memories of the period in which you lived in Paris ? M : oh at first, my father had found a good job in a bank, and we lived in a nice neighborhood, very chic ... but we were always the Lebanese family , too noisy, with too many problems and too many scandals ...(he laughs)... then we lost everything ... then we recovered the money ... and then we lost everything again ... we had to sleep in the car, in our " Toyota Previa " ... and then we moved to London ... always "up and down " for our entire lives... D: and in London your problems at school have started... M : well, I was studying in Paris in a nice school, a small school ... and in small schools there is much tolerance ... children understand each other...but when I went to London, I passed from this very protected environment to a big school , a big and bad school ... it was a ... a French school, a " Lycée ". And in that school I had so many problems, especially with a teacher who was ... ah , I don't know ... I don't know why, but with me and with other children she was...ah, i really don't know...but for me that period was a real disaster... D: Have you ever been a victim of bullying? M: Yes, from that woman ... that woman has destroyed the lives of so many children ... D: A sadistic woman? M: I don't know. I can't say. I don't want to say. But at nine years old I've had a sort of "shutdown", I forgot everything, how to read, how to write how to read music ... a very strange thing ... and now I'm very dyslexic D: dyslexia is a common complaint that many children have ... your problems are related to that trauma? M: Yes, but the dyslexia can come from many things and can be worsened by many things ... I was thrown out of school and I have not been studying for a year D: Have you been rejected? M: expelled. D: What did you do to be expelled? M: oh..my sister saw this woman in action ... and my father came to school and told her all that things she said to me, in face of her...in front of all the other parents and so ... I was expelled ... D: and that teacher..has she ever hit you? M: It was a psychological violence... D: And how were you as a child, before all this? M. ah, I was always "in trouble" ... but they were not real problems, I was an anarchist, full of life and joy ... and I put all the clothes that I liked (he laughs) D: You were already an artist! M: Yes ... but with that woman...ah, all things have changed ... after that period, however, I found the music ...oh, I studied only music, for a year I didn't go to school ... something of illegal in effect... D: It was a decision of your mother? M: Yes, she said: ok, let's do another path with this guy, let's try .... so I started to work, in a theatre in London ...I was eleven years old...I was an opera singer ... and they paid me! And then I discovered another world, it was so important for me, it was a real job, not a game. And then I said: oh sh*t! In this world I can going to work and having money... So what should I do ... working or going to school??? oh, I really want to work! And so I started working very young ... it was totally accidental, a case in fact! D: Have you written your first song at seven years old? M: Yes, and it was horrible. Q: how was it called? M. oh no, it was too horrible. I had learned these chords [he sings them: tum, tatum, tatum] ... and than I wrote 40 songs only on these few chords...(he laughs) D: Do you remember the advertising of toothpaste? M: Oh yes! [he sings the little song written for the toothpaste advertising] Q: I have written others songs ... even the music of the British Airways ... one day, when I was 21, I had a big problem with British Airways and so I called the office to complain ... but they put me on hold ... and at the phone I heard in the background my music, my voice when I was 14. So ... I hung up the phone . D: you said before, that what happened to you was a case ... but there was a sort of engine inside you ... M: It was a case, as it is a case for all other people i think... D: did you know that you would become a pop star? did you imagine it? M oh, but what does it mean pop star?? D: well, a star! M: no. I wanted to be a director of theatre, of an opera. Just this. The theatre was what I understood ... [the correct italian verb for "understood" is "capivo" but he misses and says "capiscevo" ... the audience laughs and he gets angry a little bit] ah, this is not good ... I can not speak Italian so bad...because being a clown as Dario Fo is, can be okay, it means playing the fool with intelligence ... but being funny for the way you speak a language...no, is not good ... D: but you are pretty good in learning Italian! ... But I understand that you always want doing things in the right way, in the perfect way ... i think you speak other languages perfectly M: I speak fluent French ... I speak Spanish ... but now...oh, when I learned Italian I forgot all my Spanish...in my little head there is not enough space ... D: I read that the show The Voice in France is having an incredible success ... the other judges say that you are smart, that you're a small fox, and that you steal them the scene M: But how it is it possible? There is only a chair in front of a stage with talents on it... what could I do in that situation? D: but are you aware that you are able to communicate in a very special way? M: well, I don't know...I said "yes" to The voice only after this positive experience in Italy with XF ... which for me was a surprise "bellissima". D: Well, we'll talk about it later. -pause-

I just had a look around the web to find articles or news on the meeting last night between Mika and Dario Fo: there are dozens and dozens. Incredible. And this is a tweet of Daria Bignardi: "@dariabig: Grazie Dario Fo, grazie MIKA. Un bell'incontro. Una serata indimenticabile." "@dariabig: Thank you Dario Fo, Thank you MIKA. A beautiful meeting. An unforgettable night."

Well, I think last night they simply have not talked about the future: they had other things to talk about. The meeting between Mika and Fo was at the center of the scene and moreover i think the comparison between Mika and Dario about the way they use to communicate, has been very gratifying for Mika. And about the next XF, he only said that he would like to do it again. I think that his Italian period has given him much more 'than what was expected.

As Teresa is saying, their eyes talked for themselves: they were sparkling of madness, intelligence and sensitivity . The old man who see himself in the young man. I think that Mika this evening has shown himself as a real artist. Visionary and creative. As an artist of very high-level. Impressive.

Briefly: a very long and interesting interview . They started talking again about Dario Fo and about how Mika loves him , because symbol of anarchy and absolute freedom, and how Mika discovered him and why he studied his work so long. Then they talked about XF and his experience: he said he'd like to do again XF next year. And then he talked about his childhood, his family and his mother , who Daria has tried to get on stage but she did not want to . In particular he spoke of his parents, who love each other even after so long and so many problems , about his school problems, about a terrible teacher who traumatized him as a child, about the importance of the personal identity and of music in his life, and finally about love. About the fact that love can be considered a sort of positive drug , about how love changes over time and how important it is in his life along with sex, and also he talked about his boyfriend , how much he still loves him after 7 years, and about the way he likes talking about love and sex in his songs . At the end Mika told Daria that she was very dangerous , because she has been able to make him talking about many intimate things , which usually does not speak. He has shown himself in the deep. Lovely.

a brief summary : Daria after a few jokes about Italy and its love for him, gives him a platinum record for his album . And then he announces the surprise of Dario Fo. Dario is a real column of italian culture, loved an respected, but now is an old man , although he still plays in the theatre, and the way in which Mika has offered his arm and accompanied him to the chair, was really tender . Daria tells Mika that when she called Fo to invite him, and to tell him that there was a foreign singer named Mika who wanted to meet him , Fo not only said that he knew Mika very well, but also that he was a real fan of him . Mika can't believe it , but Fo makes him a lot of compliments (you're so intelligent, i think you have two brains!) and asks him to sing The Origin of Love . Mika is so happy. They sing , and Fo, who does not know the words , sings in his famous " Gramelot " , a tool that combines different sounds, onomatopoeia, words with no precise meaning inside a speech or a song. What results is a highly expressive and hyperbolic acting, a sort of musical expression , able to communicate emotions, colours and ideas . It was used by jugglers , actors, comedians and touring companies of art in the Middle Age. Daria comments that the Gramelot of Dario is very similar to the language of Mika, joining together words from different languages that he speaks. She says that the two artist are so similar in many ways and shows old videos of Dario comparing them with those of Mika . Fo agrees, saying that the madness joins them , and also the fact of coming out of tha banal sense of thinking and acting. He says that also Leonardo and Michelangelo were considered crazy and that they gave a little annoyance to the powerful people of that time, as it happened to him so many times in the past and also in the present. Fo delivery Mika his drawings that represent one of his famous song , I saw a king , to help him to sing and understand the text , since he can not ' read music. So Mika starts to sing, and amazingly he can sing a so difficult song , not written in italian but in the dialect spoken in Milan. He really enchants the audience that does not stop of clapping. Those two men were so excited and happy to be together. A beautiful moment for me.

I can't believe what I've seen! Wonderful! For me it is incredibile that a column of the Italian culture as Dario Fo, a nobel prize for literature, knows Mika and his songs and declares of being his fan. And is also incredibile that Mika knows Dario Fo, his wife Franca Rame and their work, so difficult to understand for a foreigner because it's often in dialect. Mika, another time, has shown his intelligence, his culture and his deep respect for the country in which is. And his great sensibility, in his eyes and in the way he was watching the old Dario. Franco who sings The Origin of Love! And Mika who sings in the dialect spoken in Milan, "Ho visto un re"( I've seen a king), the most famous and original song of Dario. For an italian this will remain an unforgettable moment. Believe in me

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She has only made the first presentation. Now she is interviewing a political man. After him, i think it will be Mika's turn.