The Many Meanings of Mina: Recent Episodes
Rachel Haworth
In this episode, we explore Mina's career after that retirement from public and television performances and 1978. Despite not performing live anymore, Mina has continued to release new singles and albums, and has 'returned' in lots of surprising ways! She has been an agony aunt and newspaper columnist, and has also lent her voice to lots of different advertising campaigns. It was in this guise that Mina returned to the Sanremo Festival in 2018, performing on the hallowed Ariston stage in holographic form as an alien no less, as part of an advertising campaign for TIM, telecommunications giant and sponsor of the Festival. And when the (very) odd photograph of Mina appears online, fans are thrilled to once again catch a glimpse of their star. Such photographs help because Mina's album covers hardly ever portray the fan by means of a photograph. Rather, they make use of concept art, cartoons, and reimaginings that allow Mina to entertain, shock, and astonish her fans, revealing another side to her innovation. Then again, Mina has always been a modern, innovative star who loves to experiment. But is that all Mina means?
1963 was a watershed year for Mina. In January of that year, she had announced that she was expecting a baby. The father was Corrado Pani, an already married actor with whom she had been having an affair. The scandal was front page news, with lots of magazines and articles criticizing Mina's behaviour and the decision to have a baby out of wedlock in such a public fashion. RAI banned Mina from appearing in any new programmes that year, too. But the birth of baby Massimiliano in the April would bring a new significance to Mina's star meaning: she was now a mother. And this meant the opportunity to embrace an appropriate role in society as an Italian woman. Family would become increasingly important to Mina's star significance during the 1960s. The tragic death of her brother in 1965 received much coverage in the press, with newspapers talking about how the loss would impact the whole family (including Pani) and how the family unit would be a source of strength for Mina during this difficult time. Ideas of family were also part of Mina's advertising of Barilla pasta in the second half of the 1960s. The opulent evening gowns of her musical performances were paired with everyday dresses of the ordinary Italian housewife, as Mina told the wives and mothers watching to prepare pasta for their man and for their kids. But Mina is clearly the star of the show, and her popularity meant RAH would invite her back to host programmes from 1965. That year, she would front yet another series of Studio Uno. She would then host her own programme, Sabato Sera, in 1967, demonstrating her return to dominance and her appeal as a star.
Mina is an icon of Italy, part of everyday life, and, according to her website, 'a part of Italian cultural heritage of which her countrymen and women can and should be proud'. The Many Meanings of Mina podcast celebrates Mina's status and her sixty-year-long career. In this episode, the focus is on the period 1961 to 1963. Rachel Haworth, author of the book The Many Meanings of Mina, explains that in 1961, Mina was on the crest of a wave and, despite a bit of a setback at the Sanremo Festival of that year, her career would go from strength to strength. Host of television series Studio Uno, the face of Italian beer in television advertising, and star of several popular musicarelli movies, Mina was established as the national star of the moment. But an announcement in January 1963 would threaten that status...
The Many Meanings of Mina podcast celebrates the sixty-year-long career of the Italian popstar Anna Maria Mazzini, or Mina as she is known. She rose to fame in 1958 and although she withdrew from public and television performances at the end of 1970s, she still continues to release albums that regularly make it to the number one spot in the charts. Mina is an icon of Italy, part of everyday life, and, according to her website, 'a part of Italian cultural heritage of which her countrymen and women can and should be proud'. In this episode, Rachel Haworth, author of the book The Many Meanings of Mina, explains who Mina is and why she's so important to Italian pop music. The focus is particularly on Mina's early career, and what happened between 1958 and 1960 that helped to establish her as 'Italy's national star'.