Italian+alternative+music

Even if in Italy the alternative music scene is very developed, most of the Italian music sold to foreign countries belongs to the light music genre. This kind of music usually is characterized by a melodic sound, very catchy, and its lyrics are easy both to understand and to remember. Since a lot of Italian youth is not concerned with that type of music, in that brief essay we would like to make room to the so called alternative music. This term essentially refers to those bands and singers who reject the commercialism of mainstream culture; as a matter of fact, the majority of musicians leans on independent record labels. Despite the fact that alternative music consists of so many subgenres that is not possible to mention them all, lyrics in alternative songs generally address topics of greater social concern, such as drug use or depression. In the following paragraphs you will find information on a committed Italian singer-songwriter, Fabrizio De André; an appreciated indie-rock band, the Afterhours, and a final part focusing on the musical turmoil of a specific area as the town of Rovigo.

Fabrizio De Andrè (1940-1999) is certainly to be ranked among the most controversial Italian singers ever. His songs, but also his personal comments on public issues, roused great clamour. His lyrics, most of which are regarded as [|real poems worth including in anthologies], express his concern for the rejected members of society, be they whores, drug-users or just poor people. For example, the wide known song [|//Via del Campo//] (1967) is an open and lyrical praise to a street prostitute; the first stanza reads: "//Via del Campo c'è una graziosa/ gli occhi grandi color di foglia/ tutta notte sta sulla soglia/ vende a tutti la stessa rosa//". De Andrè also translated into Italian songs by foreign singers, who similarly refrained not from dealing with taboo subjects, as for example in the case of [|//Via della Povertà//](1974), which De Andrè quite freely translated from Bob Dylan's [|//Desolation Row (1965)//]//.// This cryptic, and therefore deeply fascinating, "epic" song (Bob Dylan's is more than 11 minutes long) describes a ghetto-town where symbolical outcasts, such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Ophelia, gather and while away the day in feasts and loves, in contrast to the ordinary and spiritually dead society, where //"A mezzanotte in punto i poliziotti/ Fanno il loro solito lavoro/ Metton le manette intorno ai polsi/ A quelli che ne sanno più di loro".// Beside this large part of socially committed songs, De Andrè's musical production is made up of Christian and funny songs. As regards the latter, they are often set in the past, especially the Middle Ages, seen as a time for fooleries and mock-heroic adventures. For example, the song //Carlo Martello di ritorno dalla battaglia di Poitiers// (1963) mocks the eponymous king, who just after his return from the battlefield of Poitiers encounters a whore, who is terrified by the ugliness of the king and is therefore loth to concede herself to him, though in the end she complies to pay service to her liege lord; "//alla fin della tenzone//" (at the end of the "effort"), the king argues about the price due to her, since he remembers that before setting out for war the costs were not so high...There are also other songs, whose fun relies on more obscene texts, as in the case of //Il Gorilla// (1968) (translated from a song by Georges Brassens), where, at the beginning of the song, we hear of a gorilla who, having never met a she-gorilla before, is thought as apt to take humans for animals; a thing which, self-evidently, is bound to occur in the hereafter...In conclusion, one last controversial subsection must be mentioned, that is his Christian songs, based on Christ's and his parents' life as told in the Apocrypha. For example, in the song //[|Il Testamento di Tito]// (Titus' Will//)// (1970) one of the thieves crucified together with Jesus confutes violently the Ten Commandments. Yet, many of these apocryphal songs tend simply to view the Holy Family from a lay, humane, but also visionary, point of view. These are very melodic and enchanting songs.

As for rock music, in Italy there is a lively scene. Nowadays the best known Italian rock artists are Vasco Rossi and Luciano Ligabue; their fans fill stadiums when they play live, probably because they are in concert no more than once a year. However, in Italy there are many other bands and artists who are less broadcast by radio or TV channels like MTV, but who have many fans very fond of them. These artists form the so called indie-rock (from independent) bands or alternative rock bands. Usually they play live throughout Italy and for long periods, no matter if they are promoting a new album or not. The tickets for their shows, usually held in clubs, are often sold out. In summer there are even festivals specialized in this kind of music; there are festivals of national importance which gather people from all Italy, one of them is Arezzo Wave; but there are also festivals of local importance; Padua hosts in July the "Sherwood Festival". Among the Italian indie-rock bands, Afterhours are one of the most important. They started their career in 1986 influenced by different kinds of music; for example, among foreign bands, Velvet Underground ("After Hours" is the title of Velvet Underground's third album), Joy Division, Husker Du, and Bruce Springsteen; among Italians, Fabrizio De Andrè (see above). As the majority of Italian indie-rockers do, at the beginning of their career Afterhours wrote their songs in English. Anyway, by the time of their third album they had decided that writing in Italian would have been better since more people could have understood the messages contained in their songs. Many Italian groups come to success after deciding to sing in Italian instead of in English, as in the case of Afterhours; on the other hand, often happens that Italian bands who sing in English are more famous abroad, as in the case of Lacuna Coil. Beside deciding to write in Italian Afterhours decided also to break with the Italian song writing tradition which creates texts that might be likened to complete stories whose meaning is easy to understand. Afterhours's way of writing is called cut-up (as it was defined by William Burroughs); it draws inspiration from the subconscious; therefore, texts written by using the cut-up method seems less logic and clear than the typical Italian song. Up until now, they have published nine albums and gained the high esteem of more and more devoted fans. Even though they are now considered an important band, Afterhours think that in Italy there are still not enough record companies interested in young artists. Therefore, they have been promoting the works of many Italian new bands and singers by organizing festivals focused on them, such as "Tora! Tora!", or by producing their albums, such as those of Verdena and Cristina Donà.

Alternative music in Italy does not mean only famous bands playing concerts in all the country. Alternative music has also its local side, namely local bands, known mostly in a limited area, that often play live for free, but that have nonetheless faithful and dedicated fans. Bands like this are present in all the country, but in this paragraph I will try to give an idea of how the situation is in the area around Rovigo, the town where I live; this is what I know better, but it can be an example of a widespread condition. Even if Rovigo is a quite insignificant small town, we have a good choice of alternative bands, playing very different kinds of music, going from Hip Hop to Industrial, and from New Wave to Black Metal. For example, Pursuit Green, a New Wave band, influenced by artists like David Bowie, Bauhaus and The Cure, have a good following in my town. Formed in 2001, they published a demo in 2005, featuring 4 songs and a video. The title track of the demo, "Darling" has received very good criticism in January by the radio programme "Demo", on Radio 1, one of the channels of the national radio. Also formed in 2001 is another very well considered band, Malvena, playing psychedelic and experimental rock, according to the definition on their website. Moving to the "dark side", we find Love Infernal and Ashcorn. Love Infernal, who take the name from a song by Poisonblack, are a Gothic-Rock band. In May they are going to play before the 69 Eyes, probably the band that has influenced them most, in Este, a small town near Padua. As for Ashcorn, an Industrial band formed in 2000, they are going to play before To/Die/For at the end of April in Este, too. Their latest album is being released on the 24th of April, while their previous works have been praised by various magazines. Other local bands find a perfect opportunity to make themselves known to a wider public in the "RoWoodstock" festival, organized every year around September or October, in Rovigo. This festival, that lasts usually one week, is dived into different sections to host various forms of artistic expression, but the week-end is entirely devoted to the concerts. Last year, for example, 22 bands took part in the festival, showing that the alternative scene is always growing.