Oceani deserti - Carmen Consoli

Oceani deserti - Carmen Consoli

Sorry if I disregarded my blog for a few dozens of hours, but I did forgo most of my daily activities too in these past couple of days! Yesterday has been the usually "checking-out" day, so baggage and stuff in hand as usual (they called me "tortoise" because it's like as if I live carrying around my house!), went to work and then to the main office of my firm to hand over some papers and then ran through to Padova to attend Carmen's concert as part of a festival next to the football stadium of the city! I got there at about 7.30 and the opening act (very enjoyable, maybe you'll see her here soon) didn't start until 9, meaning the real concert kicked-off around 10 and ended around midnight; then just the time to find a couple of Blablacar travel partners and on our way to home (via Milan). All in all, got home at around 3 in the morning (which, I know, I'm also staying up to today too), left my stuff and went to (read and) sleep. And today eating lunch at grandparents' and then moving out to the other grandparents' in the countryside... well, it's been a full couple of days! And now home alone, I have just been watching some telefilms and reading some manga, and then went on to colouring if the rest was not enough, without realizing that I had to take care of my blog and of my Japanese studies too... so here I am! The concert last night has been pretty good, lots of niche songs I wasn't really ready for, but I enjoyed it anyway, Carmen is a great songwriter and performer, very inspiring! She played almost all of my favs out of the latest album, this one being one of them. The song is about a woman complaining because her man is not satisfied with just being with her, he goes on "like a pioneer looking for new frontiers of infidelity", she loves him but realises this is too much for her, she wonders why he doesn't feel the natural pulse of being just with her, what he wants and who he is... and finally says goodbye and goes. Very deep and inspiring lyrics (as usual), with a beautiful touch of irony!

Sintonia imperfetta - Carmen Consoli

Sintonia imperfetta - Carmen Consolicarme

Don't hate me for that, but I would feel bad not sharing a few more songs from Carmen's new album, which I really really like! If everything goes right, I will go see her play live on friday night near Padua while driving back home, I just have to make sure I'll be able to get my hands on a ticket, but I don't think the event is sold out! I'm really thrilled at the idea, as she's one of the few Italian singers I really wish to see live, and this would be a great chance! This song I'm sharing with you, whose title could be translated in English as 'Imperfect harmony', is about a relationship of a married woman with her husband, with her singing how he just lays on the sofa, sleeping in front of football matches and she has to take care of his mother, the dog, cooking and stuff. She recalls how she was charmed by him when they first met, but she's regretting her decision, complaining with her younger self, who should've realized immediately what kind of men she was getting engaged with, the one she know is planning of leaving.

Ottobre - Carmen Consoli

Ottobre - Carmen Consoli

Hey there, guess what?! I'm sick again... This time not even the air of Thailand (ok, I agree, Bangkok's air for sure is not among the best in the world) saved me from my post-plane illness. I hate being sick and I hate that this cure the specialist doctor gave me doesn't seem to be having any tangible effect for now, even if I'm taking in more meds than the average grandpa... Anyway, I have been meaning to post this a few days ago, than got carried over by the events, I will do it now: I apologise again for posting an Italian song, but I am really in love with it and actually I am really in love with Carmen's new album! This song 'Ottobre' (October) is about teenage years and spending time in Carmen's native Sicily in October, the "sweetest month". She sings a few lines that I interpret as describing a lesbian love, as two girls "got back into the scene with red cheeks and a good excuse", but it is just my own interpretation. My idea actually gets stronger with the chorus, when she sings that she would rather have chosen hell rather than the limbo if this was the price of freedom, and that heaven could wait if this was the price of freedom. A very sweet song anyway, hope you can enjoy!
PS: Ok, the Internet just gave me the final confirmation that my hypothesis is right!

La signora del quinto piano - Carmen Consoli

La signora del quinto piano - Carmen Consoli

You know I don't often post Italian (or any non-English, for that matter) music, but sometimes I really feel the need to, especially when I think it's really valuable. Carmen is one of my favourite Italian singer/songwriters and actually one of the few I listen to. She has also toured abroad and is somehow known abroad too, especially in the East Coast. Anyway, she recently released her latest album, her first in 5 years, and even if I didn't have that high an expectation about it, I must confess it really is a great work! In many songs she went back to the sound of her previous works, the lyrics are (as usual) very deep and meaningful, whipping but not too nerdy. This song in particular has struck me, and I just found out today that she is going to re-record it with Elisa, Gianna Nannini and other famous Italian singers in favour of a campaign against violence on women. The song lyrics are very peculiar and deliver an important message in a funny way, as only her can: the lady living on the 5th floor (i.e. la signora del quinto piano) is living with a piton in her home to defend herself from her ex-husband that keeps showing up in front of the building with a hammer. After she went to the police to report the fact, they told her there's no reason to be scared. In the next verse we find out the piton as escaped after eating the Chihuahua dog of the doorwoman and 3 weeks after the escape they find out that the lady has been buried alive in the bathroom wall, but the police-men still repeat that there's no reason to be scared...!

Matilde odiava i gatti - Carmen Consoli

Matilde odiava i gatti -
Carmen Consoli

So... here we are! I didn't even advise you about my oncoming trip (for a reason), but the time has come! Notwithstanding all the obstacles and difficulties, we are (almost) ready to leave! I'm going to Sicily with my wife and another friend of hers (that I know too) to visit her relatives there! I mean, put like this sounds like a serious thing, but given our platonic marriage it couldn't be otherwise!! She has not been going down for a few years now and I/we will more than gladly go with her and, hopefully, enjoy a nice holiday between the mountains and the seaside! Given the beautiful days we've been having even here lately, maybe going in September has not been a bad idea at all, with this summer's crazy weather! Anyway, to start getting in the Sicilian mood I'm gonna share with you a great song by my favourite Sicilian songwriters. Lucky you, she sings in English too (you can find the English version of the song on Spotify, link here).

L'alleanza - Carmen Consoli

Again, this is not something I usually do. No, I don't mean the posting in the middle of the night, that

L'alleanza - Carmen Consoli

happens often! I mean posting Italian music. But, you know... even if generally I am not (at all) a fan of Italian music, there are these few artists that I dare say are really worth it. One of them is Carmen: many people don't like her because her songs are oftentimes quite sad, depressing, intense... they picture the bad things of life, all the fake imaginary that we picture in our heads, the things that don't work about society, mental problems, obsessions, life problems... Well ok, I know now you will not have any willingness to listen to her whatsoever, but her vivid picturing of all-things-life are also the reason why her fans love her and can relate so deeply to her songs. And some songs are also connoted with more serene themes such as remembrance and love. Anyway, this is not one of her most famous songs, nor one of my absolute favourites; yet it is one that I really like and stumbling upon it a short time ago made me want to post about it! L'alleanza means The alliance and the song talks about a love/hate relationship and lays down the need for us to survive every relationship, keeping our mental sanity. Nice one, isn't it?

Tutto l'universo obbedisce all'amore - Franco Battiato & Carmen Consoli

Hey everybody! Today I'm posting I song I had already up in my sleeve since... well, last year! I've started listening to Franco Battiato lately (for those who don't know him, he's an Italian singer-songwriter who started his career in the 70s, pretty intellectual but one of the most famous players of the Italian music scene of the last XXth century). Yet I have already been knowing this song since 2008, when it came out. I think I have listened to it on the radio while driving to school, when I still listened to the radio (ah, good old times...!). The presence of one of the other most talented Italian singer-songwriters (dear Carmen) makes it even more precious!