Enzo Jannacci: 10 years since the death of the Milanese singer-songwriter

Ten years after his death, Enzo Jannacci (Milan, 1935–2013) is remembered as a multifaceted artist: singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and physician. His music gave voice to the marginalized—prostitutes, exploited workers, immigrants, the lonely—using a blend of surreal humor and biting social satire. In 1958 he co-founded I Due Corsari with Giorgio Gaber, a duo mixing proto-absurd rock and cabaret that ended in 1960 when both pursued solo careers. Jannacci's solo work, deeply tied to Milan, critiqued consumerism and political corruption through allegory and dialect. His 1964 song "El portava i scarp del tennis" movingly depicts a homeless man's death. He collaborated with Dario Fo, performing "Ho visto un re" in 1968. In the 1970s-80s he focused on society's underbelly, later releasing "Pensione Italia" with his son Paolo to denounce corruption. His film career began in 1964 with Carlo Lizzani's "La vita agra" and included roles in Marco Ferreri's "L'udienza" (1972) and Lina Wertmüller's "Scherzo del destino" (1983). He composed soundtracks for Monicelli's "Romanzo popolare" (1974) and Renato Pozzetto's "Saxofone" (1979). In theater, he debuted at Teatro Gerolamo in 1964, founded the Gruppo Motore at Teatro Derby in 1965, and later the Gruppo Repellente in 1977. In 1991 he performed Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" with Gaber. Jannacci also practiced medicine until retirement, viewing his art as a continuation of his care for others.