Herbert Pagani: The Forgotten Multidisciplinary Artist Rediscovered

Herbert Avraham Haggiag Pagani, born in Tripoli in 1944 and passing away in Palm Beach in 1988, was a multifaceted Italian-French artist, singer, writer, and radio personality originally from Libya. Following a challenging upbringing in various boarding schools throughout Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and France, he relocated to Paris, where he began his career as an illustrator. In the 1960s, he returned to Italy to pursue music, releasing his first album, "Una serata con Herbert Pagani," in 1965. His most successful Italian track, "Un albergo a ore," was a reworking of Édith Piaf's "Les amants d'un jour." He worked alongside Dalida and Edoardo Bennato and hosted the "Fumorama" show on Radio Montecarlo. In 1972, he presented "Mégalopolis" at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, inspired by Roberto Vacca's "Medioevo Prossimo Venturo." Shifting his focus to visual art in the 1980s, he embraced informal and pop styles while passionately supporting the Jewish-Palestinian cause and advocating for Libyan Jews with appeals like "Lettera al colonnello (Gheddafi)." He succumbed to acute leukemia in 1988, and a tribute album titled "La mia generazione," by Marco Ferradini, was released in 2012.