“It felt very normal growing up with Mina as my grandmother,” says Axel Pani. By “normal,” the singer’s grandson describes a woman who has never been swept up in her stardom, never allowed it to define her sense of identity, and certainly never allowed it to enter the home environment. “Normal” is a grandmother who, like most others do, sees her role as the family’s protector

But Axel’s grandmother isn’t just any “Mina”. She is la Mina. Based in Lugano, Switzerland (where the singer first moved in 1966 and raised her family out of the public eye), Pani grew up watching his grandmother and his father (Massimiliano Pani) run the show at PDU Music & Productions, the record company and recording studio Mina founded in 1967. The “family business,” as Axel refers to it, has produced all of the singer’s albums since the early 2000s including Veleno (2002), Bula Bula (2005), Todavía (2007), 12 (American Song Book) (2012), and Encadenados (2022). Even before officially joining PDU three years ago to work alongside his father and their team, Axel had intimate insights into the business of professional music-making like few others (as you’d imagine, with Mina as your grandmother). He says that her “normalness”–whether at home, around PDU’s headquarters, or in the recording studio–is because she always kept her work and home life fiercely separate, even at the peak of her career. Mina “the star” and Mina “the grandmother” were, are, two very different women. 

“My grandmother refused to live in a bubble of stardom. She decided to renounce her public life to have a private life with her family, which says a lot about her perspectives on fame, career, and success. She is my grandmother, first and foremost, and it also happens that she is a very well-known singer. This dichotomy is strange in one way, very natural in another,” Pani explains. 

It’s difficult to define the extent of Mina’s legacy on the global music, cultural, and creative landscapes. It’s probably even harder for Axel, given his personal and professional relationship with her. From her influence on fashion and entertainment to the way she explored social attitudes and gender stereotypes, Mina has held a mirror to our lives since the late ‘50s, challenging the status quo for artists around the world. Despite her enduring status as an international music icon, however, Pani says that his grandmother’s greatest legacy includes her professionalism and the values of humility and modesty she has displayed in both her public and private lives over the decades. Her conduct and composure offer valuable learnings for everyone, particularly for young and emerging artists in today’s music industry. “Today, we’re living in a world where it’s more important to be first than to be. We’re living in a world where we know people, but we don’t know what they do. Mina, on the other hand, is a person who has done everything and never mentioned it once at home,” Pani shares. 

“At the peak of her success when the world was at her feet, my grandmother decided to turn her back on fame and raise a family,” he adds. His grandmother’s personal freedom, it seems, is another defining element of her legacy. You can put a price on almost anything these days, except Mina.

A songwriter and musician himself, Pani has worked more closely with his grandmother in a professional context since joining PDU Music & Productions. He has written several of her songs over the past two decades–including “Per poco che sia” (Bau, 2006), “Con o senza te” (Facile, 2009), “Il frutto che vuoi” (Facile, 2009), “Il povero e il re” (Caramella, 2010), “Fly away” (Piccolino, 2011), “Only this song” (Piccolino, 2011), and “La sola ballerina che tu avrai” (Selfie, 2014)–sharing that the creativity inherent in the songwriting process is “essential” for him. 

Just like you and I, Pani discovers something new in Mina’s music each time he listens. “I think I have a stronger emotional attachment to Mina’s more recent songs because her voice feels more familiar to me, it feels like a woman I know. Her songs from the more distant years seem to me like they’re by another singer.” Mina is still making music today, and people can’t get enough. She is as much a mythical artistic enigma as she was in the ‘70s, and perhaps even more so, considering she hasn’t given an interview or live performance for decades. Her latest album, Gassa d’Amante, was released in November last year, produced and arranged by her son Massimiliano Pani. Described by critics as a “timeless” album, Mina’s artistic integrity and zest for self-discovery still resonates with soul-stirring power. 

But Italy’s commercial music landscape continues to evolve. Energized by the world’s current state of uncertainty and instability, enthusiastic young artists are experimenting with music-making as though they have nothing to lose. Axel Pani has been watching closely, turning his attention to this upcoming generation of emerging artists who are creating what he believes to be “some great music on the periphery of the spotlight.” 

Committed to nurturing the careers of these emerging artists who represent a dynamic new frontier for the industry, Pani recently established Zefiro Records as a separate label last year, which he believes was a matter of necessity. Given that PDU Music & Productions is (and always has been, understandably) predominantly Mina-focused, Pani wanted to provide emerging singers, songwriters, and musicians with an opportunity to explore recording, creative, and editorial projects via their own platform. With a knack for spotting new talent with artistic integrity, charisma, and that extra something that sets them apart from countless others, Axel Pani has an intuitive sense of “nowness”–even one step ahead of “nowness”–and he knows exactly the kind of artist he wants to work with when he hears and sees them. Despite still being in its infancy, Zefiro Records already oversees the discography, management, and publishing for Mediterraneo (Alessandro Casali), who signed a licensing agreement with Island Records/Universal last year, as well as Jacopo Planet (Jacopo Martini), and Lumi (Antonio Luca Tudisca). 

As an official collaborator of Island Records (Universal Music Italy), the industry’s most important player, Zefiro Records has been chosen to develop songwriting projects produced under the artistic and musical direction of Axel and his team. With its cutting-edge acoustic studio and the “best in the business” production and creative teams, Zefiro Records is big news. And Mina–the highest-selling Italian music artist, cultural icon, and artistic genius–continues to be a beacon of inspiration for this generation of artists and musicians. Imagine how Lumi feels every time he hears the fourth track on her latest album (“Amami e basta”)–which he wrote, by the way. 

“It’s not very common for an artist or musician to have a career spanning more than six decades, and Mina is still making music. I think her enduring success comes down to the fact that she wasn’t just an artist and an innovator, but a very smart woman,” her grandson shares. “I remember my father [Massimiliano] saying to her once: ‘Your success is not just about how well you sing. It’s about how well you think.’” 

The conversation with Axel moves effortlessly from the past to the present, from candid reflections on his grandmother’s life and career to his hopes for emerging artists working today and his belief in the power of time to maintain what is meaningful. I can see his grandmother at certain angles when he turns his head or lowers his eyes. When asked, he muses on the “life lessons” she has taught him. After all, every grandma gives them, and often by example without having to say a word. He thinks from the perspective of someone who knows Mina, “the woman,” more intimately than the rest of the world. His answer is the kind that reinstills one’s faith in humankind:

“The main ‘lesson’ she taught me is the same one that is out there for everyone to see simply by observing how she lived her life and the choices she made: Even if you conquer the highest mountain, your backyard is still all that matters.”