Daniel Speziale, who describes himself as 'Raahi Italvi' or Italian traveller, is on a unique journey of cultural immersion, bringing the Italian soul into the world of Urdu poetry. Hailing from Sovana, Italy, Daniel is a self-taught poet, who is passionate about Urdu, a language he studied at length during the Covid-19 lockdown. He came of age on Wednesday and had the audience spellbound at Lamakaan, with his wonderful renditions of Iqbal's ghazals apart from coming up with his own couplets.
Daniel’s journey began as a teenager when he left Italy to participate in a high school exchange program in Malaysia. Hosted by a Telugu family, he learnt a bit of Telugu and gained exposure to Indian culture, including Tamil and Bollywood, which sparked his initial interest in Urdu. “Listening to Bollywood songs made me learn words like 'pyaar', 'deewani' and 'mohabbat',” he says, smiling at the memories.
This early fascination with the language would eventually deepen during the pandemic when he dedicated himself to mastering Urdu through self-study, grammar books and the works of classical poets. His love for Urdu poetry found grounding in the ghazals of Mirza Ghalib, whose philosophical couplets inspired him to explore the language’s complexity. “Ghalib’s poetry has layers of meaning with each line revealing profound reflections on life,” he shares, reciting a couplet about the transformation of a droplet into a pearl.
This gradually led Daniel to the world of progressi.