Jack Savoretti has said he thinks people in the arts have a responsibility to carry on creating during the coronavirus crisis.
The singer has released his first song in Italian after co-writing it with fans during an Instagram live session during the early stages of the lockdown.
The track, which he recorded in his home studio, is called Andra Tutto Bene, which translates to All Will Be Fine, the slogan currently being shared by Italians around the country.
All proceeds will be donated to one of the worst-affected hospitals in northern Italy, San Martino di Genova.
He told the PA news agency: “I think it’s very much the responsibility of everybody who is involved in the arts to lead the way in the department of connection.
“I think the one plus side of everybody who works in the arts, whether it be film, theatre, music, literature, painting, you’re used to getting up in the morning and re-defining yourself every day and giving yourself a sense of purpose – how can I make today mean something?
“You create, you write, you paint, you dance, you sing, you do that and that is sort of how you are wired.
“A lot of people aren’t wired that way, they live with an identity and they need that identity, and without it they feel very lost.
“A lot of people have lost that, whether it be their job, their role, how they dress for their job or the seniority they have within their job.
“I think it’s very much the responsibility of those in the arts to go out there and show people how every day you have to decide … you have a choice every morning of how you want to approach the day and what you’re going to do with your days.
“My father said to me when I was laying low and being quiet ‘doctors are going to work, you need to go to work, you need to get on there and entertain people, you need to get on there and connect with your fans because they need reassurance and they need hope, and they need to be entertained because they are at home doing nothing for the greater good’.”
Savoretti said he was inspired to write a song with fans over social media by “a lot of Italian artists, singers, actors, philosophers, doctors, politicians, writers” who had been using the platforms to connect with people
The singer said he believes Italy has “set the example, at least culturally and socially, of how to confront a tragedy”.
He added: “Up until that point everything we had seen coming from everywhere else in the world it was very sort of clinical, it was people are infected, lockdowns, you see people in white masks, doctors walking around streets deserted, it was quite apocalyptic, and then suddenly you get to Italy people are on the balcony singing opera music, old couples are dancing, listening to classical music, piazzas where everyone’s waving to each other.”
Andra Tutto Bene is out now.