Al Mukawama
Al Mukawama

Al Mukawama, I think in Arabic it means Resistance... eh eh, 2003, this CD comes out, in full revolutionary fervor I buy it with great expectations. 25 euros. Excuse me? 25 euros. O'Zulù the proletarian, from the popular neighborhoods of Naples, from the 99posse of Communtwist, makes me spend 25 euros after all the talk about '77 and proletarian spending?

On the cover, Marcos. Well, interesting, no-global stuff, I thought.
All the titles (except "Fame Chimica" and "O Ball're Pezzient) are in English, half of the songs are in English. They lash out against globalization, how? In English... oh dear.
A friend tells me: "the 99 will reunite! They'll sing together again!".  Thank God no, what's left of them: Al Mukawama and Meg. Woah!

Ok, let's review
the CD opens with "Peace", just to change things up, after all, we're in 2003 and this word is in vogue. A rambling anglo-Neapolitan monologue, of which a crude Roman like me understood nothing.
The music, the base, electronic... pure trash. The DJ, a certain Dj Perch, mixes Zulù's voice with Papa J's English and Arabic interludes; this might even be okay if it were an experimental-alternative group, but these are antagonists who hate America! And what do they do, mix Arabic with Americàn??? Okay, I admit it, this isn't a review, it's a rant,
You can't be left-wing and wear all those brands there, preach peace in "Peace" and then want to kill the Israelites (death to the beast (referring to Israel)) in "Flowers Of Filastine", talk about ganja in "Ganja Smokas" and sing that Zulù has no money to buy more... how does he have no money!!!
They lash out against war and wear keffiyehs on camouflage, like the Anglo-American soldiers, they want to take out those who don't agree with them, and they can't even rise above the political rabble (as Giovanni Lindo Ferretti can do, who is quite left-wing, and the Modena City Ramblers do every now and then), giving other parties the excuse to say: "look at what garbage this extraparliamentary left is" ("Making History").
They live thanks to multinationals and fake counter-trends, they have their social center in the middle of Naples in the rich area, they have money in spades, and still, they come to sing to us about how unfair and anti-proletarian the world is today, how everything is going wrong... It's easy to make a revolution, in the warmth of your little house... or your social center of Via Toledo 106.

I don't remember which writer criticized O'Zulù by saying: "I'd like to see him in a factory", the hero of the proletariat responded (these are not the exact words, but more or less like this, and the idea is this): "I'm in solidarity with the proletariat, but I will never go to work under a salary, I will not surrender to the boss".
Sorry, but isn't this the same person who in "La Vida Que Vendrà" takes on the role of the proletarian and denounces the conditions of Italian workers with "Povera Vita Mia"?
Ah, is it him?
...