Italian music 19th agosto 2011

I've found Italian music a little disappointing I'm afraid to report. There is a healthy combination of american and Italian music and neither are particularly classy. The american music falls into two types: slightly behind the times, and really old and very offbeat. The Italian music falls into two types: old gits banging out old tunes, and younger kids doing some really not very good stuff. Particularly disappointing has been the experience of the videos - they fall into three categories: sexist claptrap that looks like it should be in the 70s, or strange home movies that are terribly badly made, or ones that don't even seem to be videos but rather a collection of still images shot together like a apple mac movie. Class. I will give a couple of examples below.

We no speak Americano ft. Cleary and Harding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANRO3I30nM&feature=feedf_more


Zucchero - Vedo Nero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZZs3cSASIM

Then of course Siena has something different - Gianna Nannini. From a big local family that own a large number of the biggest cafes in Siena. She is a number of things: famous bakery daughter, singer, multi multi album sales, lesbian, mother at the age of 54, and the locals flock to her concerts in the tens of thousands. Recently, eager to catch on this local flavour I picked up a triple CD set of all the best songs that she's done. And I have yet to find a good one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianna_Nannini


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXd41y6NZbA&playnext=1&list=PLD573C1F5150189BC

But then Hey! What do I know? This is what I was expecting! Our dear favourite Joe Dolce - Shaddup You Face from 1981 or even Days Like These by Matt Monroe from the Italian Job in 1969.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-BKcKMS748&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBlOkvBu6Cg

However, I think there may be something a little more profound here. My expectations of Italy seem to be set by what I expected to find. Everything is different from what you expect, the longer you stay here and the more you learn, the further aware from anything that you could expect, and the little more uncomfortable it becomes, rather like a holiday that has gone on too long - yes, the sun may still be shining, the pool is still 50 yards away, and decent wine available for less than a euro a litre, but when it doesn't match your life's expectations it's not worth anything to you. There are some things when this is fun e.g. food - food here is great to eat out, supermarket shopping is still fun as I will never cease to be surprised, however on the flip - you are stuck if you want anything but Italian food. Music - there's some fun stuff here, but it ain't what I'm in to. The weather - it's great - but I'm a ginger blue-eyed honky with no chance to survive in these stinking heat. Work - it's a different approach and I see some great positives in the sincerity they put into it, the detail they express and the strong union and work rights, but at the same time it can be a frig in the frighole getting ANYTHING done around here without banging 80 peoples heads against walls. And the same goes for the music - I'm not Italian, and never will be. I consider myself to have extremely broad musical tastes but I still do not get it. I enjoy the palio, but I will never really "get" it. I like the food, but I still need a curry and a dirty red stripe once a week. I like the style, but I am more inclined to get my sports equipment dirty by actually sweating on it rather than getting hair product on it. I'm not sure what this means in final - that maybe the honeymoon is over, as I have no interest to go back to the UK, but I am now starting to feel quite restless.

Something needs to change, we shall see what...

Of course, back to the music...MTV.it is pretty good and does save me! Ciao for now!