Column: Mina, a living legend

"Who is Mina?" I asked my teacher at the language course. She was silent for a moment. "Have you really never heard of Mina?" No, I really didn't. And that was clearly not only a little strange, but just as good as unimaginable. Mina is in fact the most popular Italian singer of recent decades in all of Italy. And I didn't know her? Incredible.

Now I understand why it was so bad that I didn't know Mina. Mina is amazing. She is the only Italian singer to have been number 1 in Italy with an album in six different decades. Yet in the Netherlands she only has one hits scored, in 1962 with the German speaking Heisser Sand.

This song eventually became known mainly in the Dutch version burning sand, sung by Anneke Grönloh. So it's not so strange that we don't know Mina very well in the Netherlands.

Despite Heisser Sand Mina's only number 1 hit was in the Netherlands, this is certainly not her best song. Mina comes out much better in her native language, for example in her first hit in Italy, Tintarella di Luna.

This incredibly catchy rock 'n' roll song from 1959 is about a girl who doesn't sunbathe like everyone else, but instead sits in the moonlight for a nice pale tint (tan) to get. You will definitely not get this song out of your head.

Mina shows her vocal abilities in the song written especially for her Brava. In this she sings about her own singing qualities: she sings low and high like a nightingale and she has even more breath than a whale under water. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but with a vocal range of more than four octaves you can brag a bit.

Mina's voice also comes out beautifully in quieter songs. My favorite is the emotional song E se domani. In this, Mina imagines what it would be like if she could no longer see her beloved from tomorrow.

The Italian text is beautiful, especially the second sentence, which subtly makes it clear that this future scenario is almost too terrible to contemplate.

Mina's sensitive rendition makes this one of her most moving songs. It has become a classic of Italian music and over a hundred covers have been made in Italy and abroad, including by Julio Iglesias.

After being in the public eye for more than twenty years, Mina withdrew from publicity for good in 1978, having previously moved to Lugano, Switzerland.

Yet she remains active in music by releasing an album almost every year and thus regularly ending up in the Italian charts. Despite her invisibility, Mina remains a living legend in the Italian music world to this day.