Another new translation of Maneskin interview
I planned on translating the interview last week, but the day I was free the whole area where I lived had an issue with the WiFi, so through out the week, when I had a bit of free time I translated the interviewer piece by piece.
The translation is of this video: https://youtu.be/4Meslb_X9Fg
I thought it was best to include the video of the interview because there are videos and images relevant to their answers.
So this interview is by the VK which is basically like Russian Facebook.
In the original video the host speaks in Russian and Maneskin reply in Italian with Russian subtitles shown.
(Text which is bold and in brackets during the translation are some notes I added, to add come context)
Interviewer: For the first time, Maneskin is visiting Moscow, who are the winners of Eurovision. And today we are welcoming them in our studio. Guys, hello. (If you translate exact its: Guys, big hello to you)
Maneskin: Thank you very much
[0:17] Interviewer: The site Kontakte is one of the biggest sites in Russia and also one of the biggest music platforms in Russia, where people listen to your music. In our top charts of most listened songs you are one of the very few international musicians/bands that are included in the chart. In general the chart includes mostly songs in Russian language, so this shows how very popular you are in our country.
Maneskin: That’s very nice!
Interviewer: Please tell me - your international success just happened in 3 months: charts in Russia, charts in Billboard, I think this is the first time ever since ABBA that a musician/band became famous even in America after Eurovision. How did your life change in this span of 3 months?
Damiano: yeah there was a big difference/change.
Damiano: We could say that it was sudden and how we saw everything explode after Eurovision, but we are very happy
Damiano: Ofcourse this means a lot of work is expected because everything that we did before for Italy, we do now around the world. But we are very happy: this what we wanted and why we worked so hard -we are very, very happy/lucky.
[1:30]Interviewer: Going back to Eurovision, I was present at backstage and at the final, sharing happiness about your winning. I’d like to ask, did you know and how did you react to the fact that all artist for the past two weeks were saying that you were the obvious winners, even though the genre of your performance is a complete contrast to most competitor’s songs. How confident were you.
Interviewer: To solidify my words (about being at Eurovision) I have a photo *shows a photo on iPad of Interviewer and Maneskin on the night they won Eurovision*
Maneskin: oh it was you!
Victoria: We weren’t exactly confident. When we went to Eurovision, we thought only about being able to carry our music to a very wide auditorium, but we didn’t expect that we would be able to win - especially with the type of genre we play and sing in Italian - it is not something that appears often in this competition
Thomas: Yeah, that’s true, it was very unexpected and even the people - in Eurovision - were saying “You will win, you will win” - of course to us it was nice, but we completely didn’t expect it. And same with what happened after.
Ethan: (he said something, but they didn’t add a translation to what he said)
[2:45] Interviewer: I’d like to say a few words about our Manizha - Russian Woman (she represented Russia in Eurovision 2021) - were you able to meet her and chat with her? And are you planning to see her in Moscow
Victoria: yes yes, she even sang an Italian song
Damiano: it was something “Ti amo, ti amo”
Thomas: No, no, no, not that one!
Damiano: “Felicità”?
Thomas: No, no. I don’t remember.
Interviewer: (I didn’t hear him but I think he agreed with Damiano)
Maneskin: “Felicità”, yes, “Felicità”!
Damiano: They even sang in multiple voices! (Manizha had back singers with her, who joined her for Eurovision)
Interviewer: So after you won Eurovision, you were congratulated by Eros Ramazzotti, Royal Blood, and Franz Ferdinand. Which congratulation towards you was unusual and unexpected? And what did it mean to you
Victoria: Probably the big groups, which we always listen to, which always inspired us. It was also really nice, already the fact, that they talk about us - it was unbelievable. And because, of course, for us it was very important, that they liked us/valued us. And what most wild/unusual out of is that we got to collaborate with Iggy Pop.
Rest of Maneskin: *agreeing with Victoria’s answer*
Victoria: He is one of our main idols, he is one of the people who created/established punk-rock.
Thomas: Yes, of course, support from big musicians, from people who we listened to from the very start - it’s really wonderful and important/valuable recognition
Interviewer: tell us about your work with Iggy Pop. How did it happen, did he contact you or you were able to reach out to him?
Victoria: We were always huge fans of him. And when everything so well, he saw who we were and what type of music we have, and we asked him, if he would’ve want to produce something together. He said, that he really likes the song “I wanna be your slave.” and wanted to make a collaboration.
Interviewer: I saw that Miley Cyrus made a repost video of where you are performing a cover of her song and said you are her friends. Is there a possible collab with Miley?
Maneskin: Anything is possible.
Damiano: (in English) Who knows
Interviewer: with who would you want to collab?
Victoria: with many, with many! Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, I don’t know.. with so many!
Interviewer: An interesting thing - the group BTS became the symbol of South Korea, making kpop genre popular. You are becoming...you became, the symbol of Italy. Do you feel any responsibility and are you planning on promoting Italian language/ making Italian language popular?
Damiano: We are thinking about making our music, and if our country will choose us to be their representatives, we would be happy. But no, we don’t feel this responsibility, we are thinking of own work/ business.
Interviewer: I can’t not ask very important question which is interesting for the fans - are you preparing an album, can you share some hints/ secrets? Because everyone is waiting for it. And the fact that in one of your songs which was released years back reached the top world wide charts, now we all can’t wait.
Victoria: Its all secret!
Damiano: We can say, that we are preparing new music - this is the secret which we can reveal.
Thomas: Yeah, and we are trying to find time, to write, to work on music. Certainly/undoubtedly, you can expect multiple surprises.
Interviewer: you are a unique group - from the point that your centre/focus is towards all of the members, which is different to other bands where bands are seen as the frontman and the rest of musicians. But each member of your group is seen a big celebrity. Did this happen accidentally or is this the concept you made, and how does your friendship help you with you work?
Damiano: We always tries to avoid the stereotypes of bands/groups, where only the vocalist is recognized/known. We always tried to push not only the group as whole, but also the 4 individuals of the group. And this is probably also happens because of our close friendship. Luckily, nobody feels like they are in the shadows pushed by others.
[7:38] Interviewer: It’s really cool that you change/ remove the stereotypes and create new trends.
Maneskin: We try, We try. We carry our little contribution.
Interviewer: Damiano, I would like to ask you personally a question - from what I am aware of, at the start, the band didn’t accept you into the band, something didn’t work out, could you please tell us in more detail?
*Maneskin laughing at Damiano*
Victoria: He became older, and his voice became magically/suddenly different!
Interviewer: what I understood was that it happened was because you originally sang more pop music, not rock with the band.
Damiano: In reality/to be honest, nothing changed, I stayed pop. Let’s say, I grew, and my voice changed, and I started to sound more earnest/persuasive.
[8:22] Interviewer: How did the band form? You first place of performance was at the street of Rome?
Maneskin: Yes, we started to play in school
Victoria: and since then everything went with the flow. We started to play on the streets, at small establishments, at school - anywhere where we could have an opportunity to perform
Interviewer: what was the hardest in those performances?
Thomas: To find a place where we can perform
Victoria: Yes, exactly, where to perform. And later, it was very small establishments and the audience at the start didn’t take us too seriously. But together as a band we supported each other - in the end, it was our dream, we even liked to perform in front of just a few people, which is why we continued.
Thomas: Exactly, yes. At the start we sometimes performed to an auditorium with a few people, but even then you had to stay convincing/conclusive. Over some period of time, in the crowd, people start to appear who valued our music, what we did. But for me, it was probably, the main challenge was to see, play, perform well and stay yourself in front of 2 or 3 people.
Ethan: Yes, there were times when we performed in front of an audience in which there were only parents. We gave out the same level and the same energy.
Interviewer: I think it is common thing to happen when a musician/ band performs at private party, where Russian musicians performed for one person in the hall.
Maneskin: oh this is something very very private
Interviewer: I think I’ll get in trouble for telling you this, but Little Big told me this story.
*Maneskin recognizing the bands name*
Maneskin: Aaa, Yes!
Interviewer: Ed Sheehan, in his time, took a challenge, he also started from street performing, to make 300 performance in a year. Are you ready to start your world tour and to perform nearly every day?
Thomas: Of course, definitely. The other way it won’t happen.
[10:25] Interviewer: I’d also like to know/ask, if you often spend your time together, as friends, if you have any common hobbies, and what do you do as a break/rest?
Victoria: We practically don’t have any life outside the frame of music, we spend all our time in work. But when we do find spare time, we just go somewhere to relax and have fun.
Interviewer: What simple tip/advise would you give to young musicians which at the moment are street performing but dream to perform in big stadiums?
Victoria: I think, you should continued with your journey and don’t change due to other people’s opinions.
Ethan: Yes, that right. Be always yourself.
Interviewer: your time of fame happened in Italy a few years ago from the show X Factor when you performed the cover from the band the Four seasons on their song “Beggin”. Did you expect that your cover would become a world hit in a few years? And a lot of people associate the song more with you (like more than the original band)
Ethan: Yeah. It’s.... weird!
[11:33] Interviewer: I’d like to show you an interesting photo. The photo illustrates when it was the last time Russia saw Italians. It’s a movie from the year 1974 which is called “the unbelievable journey of Italians in Russsia” do you see any similarity?
*at [11:48] you can see the image of four people: on the left two men happily hugging each other, in the centre a woman, and on the right a tired looking man*
Maneskin: Nooooo *laughing*
Ethan: Wow (the exact words that were written in subtitles were “Да ты что!” Which in Russian is used as an expression of surprise )
Ethan and Thomas point at which person they think they are in the left
Ethan: I am the one in the left
Interviewer: This is actually a very popular Soviet comedy and the movie is about Italians which travelled to Russia in search of treasure, which left was by one of the main character’s grandmother. I would like to know after which treasure did you go after in Russia?
Victoria: I think, our fans, possibly perform, and play in concerts. All the love and affection.
Interviewer: It would be nice if you could watch the movie, maybe during your flight, and share your opinion on social media.
Ethan: ok, will do.
Interviewer: I’d also like to show you a very popular video which was spreading in Russia. Where it was comparing your lyrics from “I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE” and lyrics from a Russian musician Alla Pugacheva. Both songs have same repeating words: “master” and “gangster”
Maneskin: (idk who said it) I saw it in Tiktok
Interviewer: just in case, I’ll show you the video
*[11:58] shows the video which interviewer talked about*
Thomas: You already saw it.
Interviewer: Your Russian fans, went further, started to look for famous Russian performers who wore similar outfits that you wear. But it turned out that all the similar outfits were worn by on person, his name is Valery Leontiev. I’d like to show you the pictures to show you just how similar his outfits are.
*[13:35] you can see the image comparisons, in the background you can hear Damiano laughing and say “no no”*
Thomas or Ethan: Unbelievable! This is crazy, this isn’t possible.
Interviewer: Yes the similarities are on point/ are exact.
Interviewer: I’d like to conclude the interviewer with genuine admiration because for the past 3 months you exploded the whole music industry, which didn’t happen for ages. And to be honest, it is true what you said about saving your authenticity and believe in yourself. We are very proud of you, Russians love Italians (ik that a lot of old Italian movies and songs are very popular in Russia). Please continue to grow and make wonderful music.
Maneskin: Thank, thank you very much.
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Hopefully you enjoyed the interview and the translations made sense
