Lithuania's Italian crooner, Mino

  • 2010-04-15
  • Interview by Linas Jegelevicius, Klaipeda

Thirty four-year-old Lithuanian singer Mindaugas Mickevicius, known by his nickname, Mino, is famous for being a charismatic performer crooning love songs in excellent Italian. Besides singing and teaching the Italian language at Kaunas Medical Academy, he has of late been exuberantly engaged in animal welfare activities. As he asserts, this is something that helps him to realize himself socially. One might think his rise to stardom is due to being born under a lucky star. Mino shakes his head at the notion, laughing, explaining that even a fortune teller once told his parents that cards didn’t show the son’s future as being related to singing. The Baltic Times sat down for an interview with the man who has duped the cards, and maybe his destiny.

In Greek mythology, Minotauras, otherwise known as the Mino bull, means a monster who is half man, half ox. You seem to be quite a sweet man. How did you come up with your nickname?
Do I not look like a monster? Quite honestly, the origin of the nickname is quite different. I have simply shortened my first name, thus, making it easier to memorize. Besides, since I have always been keen on Italian, I knew that there is the Italian name Mino. I do not know its meaning in Italian, but I liked it. Nevertheless, it has nothing to do with Greek mythology.

Does this mean that for your popularity, you have abandoned a bit of your identity?
I do not think that way. Everything was much simpler. My first name, Mindaugas, is nice, thoughtful, but is inappropriate for the big stage. I have been called Mino since my study years in Italy. My Italian peers could break off their tongues trying to pronounce my real name. Why should I have tortured them when there was this name?

When did someone, in your childhood, tap you on the shoulder predicting your bright singing career?
As far as I can remember, I always wanted to sing. In my childhood, I reminisced about being put in front of my little peers in a Soviet kindergarten to sing. I hated that exposure. My parents brought me to a local music school to enlist. However, instead of enlisting in singing class, they put me in piano class. It is funny to remember, but I was not admitted to the school. My parents were told that my fingers were too short to be a pianist. Other kids could be easily crushed, but I took it tearlessly and started learning to play the guitar on my own. However, I disagree with the notion that I was born under a lucky star. I have always worked very hard to be where I am now.

Who prompted your singing in Italian?
In my Soviet childhood, the San Remo song festival was probably one of the very few foreign musical attractions I could watch on Soviet television. One evening, during the contest, I remember telling my parents that I wanted to be like the legendary Italian singers Toto Cutungo and Adriano Celentano one day. They laughed in disbelief. Nevertheless, after I graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in journalism, I went to Italy to further master my Italian. The Italian language and culture had been my true love. When I started feeling that my command of the language was quite good, I began singing in Italian. It was something I have always dreamt of.  Even now, when I am quite an established singer, I teach the Italian language at Kaunas Medical Academy. However, the teacher’s salary pays only my bills for gas. Teaching is not a foreign thing to me, as both my parents are teachers. Honestly speaking, I have an inner need to convey my knowledge to others. No matter whether it is singing, teaching or something else.

What do Italians say about your Italian?
They do not believe that I am not one of them! Most Italians I have spoken to attribute my accent to a particular region in Italy. It is so funny!

You came to show business from a TV reality show. Most people view reality shows as producing serial music mediocrity. Do you share that opinion?
I came to participate in the show as a mature personality. I had had my previous musical preparedness. The point of the show was to take a bunch of amateur singers and performers straight from the streets and try to mold something out of them publicly. The producers threw us on the big national stages, switched on the TV cameras and monitors, gave us a few pieces of advice, and teased us publicly, watching us flounder. However, all the participants had a unique chance to prove themselves, not just from a musical standpoint, but from personal maturity and tenacity as well. I have been lucky to be at the top, but I have achieved it through exhausting work. I may be quite far from being a world class performer, but on the national level, I am quite a professional. My success consists of my devotion, talent, being a splendid actor and, most importantly, hard work. Real professionalism can be measured by time. I mean, how long can an aspiring performer hold on to the initial ‘drive’ boosted by a TV reality show, or something like that. I have seen many singers who come, glitter and sparkle for a bit, and they fade away for good. I am not boasting, but I am not this kind of performer. Even during the crisis, I have my audience with me.

Was the return from the TV reality show life back to ordinary life easy?
Quite honestly, it was quite hard during the very first days after it. When you live with cameras and microphones for four months, regardless your personal maturity, you get used to the publicity and the settings. I can admit that I personally felt very weird during the first days when the cameras and microphones were turned off. I was hooked up to them for months. Maybe it sounds wacky, but I treated the gadgets like my good friends that I could talk to and feel. You can play tricks with people, and you may get away with that for some time, but you hardly can cheat a buzzing camera or a mike. They are alive.

Do you make your living singing?
Yes, I do. However, the situation in showbiz has deteriorated considerably lately. Nevertheless, I still keep gathering my audiences. It is not a secret that many performers, trying desperately to hold on  to the stage, now cut their show expenditures, letting go of their supporting vocalists and trimming their appearance. I have done none of that. I keep singing ‘live’ and bring my dance group to my concerts. I may now earn considerably less, however, I see the set-up as an investment into my future career. Besides, talking about my making a living, I am engaged in other activities. For example, I host events and shows, as well as organize them.

When another Italian singing prodigy, Eros Ramazzoti, gave his concert in Vilnius a few weeks ago, I know that you were there in the audience. Did you feel any envy of him and his success?
Well, you cannot quench entirely your envy when seeing a performer of this kind. However, one has to admit he deserves to be where he is. If under other circumstances I were a musical prodigy, naturally, I might be on the same level as him, or even higher. I do believe that, nationally, I am quite a successful performer. It shows in the attendance numbers. I produce a high quality show according to our Lithuanian standards. To tell the truth, sometimes my concerts do not pay off, as local people are poor and cannot afford a good performance. It makes me sad. From that sense, I feel a bit jealous about the biggest foreign stars who manage to attract crowds under all circumstances, even in the crisis-hit Lithuania.

What do Lithuanian performers need in order to scramble up the best European and world stages? Extraordinary talent? Loads of money? Another passport?
First of all, we all here need excellent managers for those kinds of aspirations. The performer himself or herself doesn’t make themselves stars, but their managers do. In my case, I cannot afford the luxury to hire a manager, so I am one myself. My managerial skills may be enough to introduce myself in the Lithuanian market, but, obviously, they are not enough to let the world know about me. Of course, at that point, not only available human resources matter, but financial capabilities as well. I do not believe in the stories of the self-established stars. Being a high caliber sperformer is about the invisible people that surround him or her. Those unseen people often are backed up by huge money and well-known brand names, like Sony.

Nevertheless, do you believe that some day Lithuanian performers will be in the limelight, in Europe at least?
Well, even now, we have some performers, like Happyendless, Lithuanian New Wave, Rock and Electronica band, which is relatively known in certain layers of the music industry in Europe. Will Lithuania ever have a star like Robby Williams? Maybe. But only in the case where somebody will come to Lithuania, pick up some interesting and charismatic performer who has great vocal skills and bring him or her to another big country, Great Britain, for example. Having nurtured his or her talent and formed an image there, they would stick a glimmering label on him or her, trumpeting that the star has come from a poor banana republic in the Baltics. If this happened, people would get hooked on the performer. Maybe I sound a bit cynical, but that is how it works in big showbiz. I do not know when the whole thing could happen in Lithuania. Or if it could happen at all.

I’ve read that you were trying to pursue your vocal career in Italy. How did it work out?
That is not the complete truth. The news popped up in the media as a gimmick. To make the story short, some Italian producers had come to Lithuania, well before the TV reality show, when I was relatively unknown. They met with me, since they were promoting an Italian singer, Andreas, who was kind of my friend. We had sung in a duo. They were kind of interested in me and my songs. However, the collaboration has not worked out. We split up.

What is more important in your life - somebody you love or your career? Could you sing not being in love?
No! No way could I sing without love! As I not only sing, but create my songs as well, I am convinced that love is essential. Furthermore, it has to be refreshed and rekindled periodically. I have estimated that it should be done after the creation of five or six songs in a row. Thus, there always has to be a special person around who can provoke me, ultimately rekindle and refresh my love. Otherwise, the love will not last long.

Lately you have enthusiastically engaged in animal welfare activities. Is it a part of the PR, or the inner need?
For some time I have been giving concerts in order to raise animal abuse and animal welfare awareness. Some ambassadors’ wives, for example the wife of Austria’s ambassador to Lithuania, have eagerly supported me in this. The bottom line is, I do want to face and be engaged in social challenges. There always comes a time when you start thinking about your true essence and the meaning of life. The showbiz life is rather glitzy and glamorous when you are one of the best. However, being on top, you face the threat of becoming vain and, worse, asocial. I despise the traits. I am taking care of the animals not in the chase for more points to my fame or out of sheer egocentricity.  It is something I have matured at, naturally. The zest derives from my lively, charismatic, loving and giving nature, and I am happy to see it is producing certain results.

How many pets do you have at home?
I have two rabbits and two cats. I wish I had more, but I cannot allow myself doing that, as I am not home a lot.

Do people respond to your pleas to shelter waifs and strays?
I am not so naive to expect that after my encouragement all will rush to take the poor animals home. First of all, I aim at raising awareness of the issues. However, I admit that, so far, Lithuanians are not particularly keen on donating for animals. Only highly publicized animal welfare projects reach the goal. What cheers me up is that people with modest or little income tend to donate. It is really nice.

Do you see yourself in showbiz ten years from now?
In a certain sense, I do. However, if I won’t be able to cling on to the big stage, adapt myself to rapidly changing circumstances in the industry, in this case, I would rather prefer being a good show organizer and promoter.