Italian singer Zucchero has come full circle with his recent introspective album, returning to his roots and the missing values of the past. In the run-up to his Malta concert, he admits in an interview to Fiona Galea debono, that he no longer fits in and relate to today's world. Bus his music definitely does...

On July 30, Zucchero will be staging a concert in the open grounds of the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre, Ta’ Qali – his third on the island over almost three decades of success.

Malta has been included on his Chocabeck World Tour, which is promoting his latest album by the same curious name and which, he admits, is probably the compilation he is most attached to “because it is about my roots”.

Chocabeck does not necessarily follow the trends, or the music business and the charts.

“It is more introspective,” he says of what he terms an “album concept” that departs from the bassa Padana village he was born in and depicts a Sunday from dawn to dusk.

In it, through his music, he recounts “the faces, the emotions and the sensations that, unfortunately, have been lost”.

At 55, and having accumulated a successful, international career in music under his belt, Zucchero has gone back to his origins. “At almost 56 years old, I have finally allowed myself to do what I really feel inside of me,” he admits.

But despite the direct link to his past, Chocabeck is not a “nostalgic” album. More than anything, “it is a consideration of the fact that, unfortunately, the world has changed and I cannot fit in and relate to it any more – this world without solidarity, hard and arrogant,” he tells timesofmalta.com just before hitting the stage at the Arena di Verona.

Ironically, the world-famous singer may not be able to find his place in today’s society, but his songs have secured a spot.