Angelo Branduardi
La pulce d'acqua

In 1977, Angelo Branduardi, fresh from the great success of the album "Alla fiera dell'est" released the previous year, publishes "La pulce d'acqua", a sort of concept centered on the joyful theme of... Death! Or rather, the hope (or perhaps it would be better to say illusion?) of being able to stop it, when in reality the Grim Reaper advances inexorably swallowing everyone and everything!

The opening track immediately sets things straight and, to the notes of a medieval dance, it already "warns" us about what we will encounter as we delve into the album: "I am Death and wear a crown, I am the mistress and lady of you all. And so cruel am I, so strong and hard that your walls won't stop me". And also in this track, we can discern the other theme previously mentioned, that is hope, or rather the illusion, of being able to stop the Lady with the Scythe; in this case, the daunting task belongs to music and dance: "You are the guest of honour at the ball we play for you, lay down the scythe and dance round and round: one dance turn and another again and you, of time are no longer the mistress". In this case, Art seems to have gotten the better of Death, but as you would have guessed, it is only an illusory and temporary "victory". In "Il ciliegio" a gardener, although already old and tired, decides to take a young girl as a bride: ("I was already old and tired to take her with me, but how can the old gardener renounce his last flower if winter is already coming?"), thus thinking to push away the spectre of the death now imminent ("if winter is already coming") with a beautiful and young love that could give him new vital energy. But the end of the illusion is always around the corner, as the joy for this new and young love soon turns into anger when she asks him for cherries because she is soon to have a child. He should actually be happy if the child were his, but will it be so? It would seem not: «I looked at her cheeks, she was more beautiful than ever, and inside me, I already felt the anger growing."Ask the father of your child to pick them for you"». And "the father of your child" will immediately oblige. The ephemeral and momentary happiness of the gardener was already vanished, and winter had meanwhile inexorably arrived.

"Nascita di un lago" is inspired by the love story between Merlin and Viviana. Viviana is waiting for someone who is not the one presenting himself: «"Tell me what you want, and I will give it to you, you still think that you will never follow me, but I will make you a flowering tree, then I will watch you until you wilt". "You will not make fun of me, you are certainly not the one I am waiting for. You have lived for a thousand years already, but you are young, I see, perhaps more than me". That time he finally got angry and turned her into a vast lake, and from the top of a white tower, he loved her for the rest of time». Again, Viviana's illusion of waiting for someone who will never arrive shatters miserably against Merlin's wrath, which will forever transform her into a vast lake, thereby decreeing her death in some way. The speaker in the following song is a "court poet": «The sea raven has come to foretell my fate: "You will not have time to flee, they already reach you! They will tear your eyes, they will burn your heart"; but "I am not afraid to die. And you, old raven, you will tear his eyes. I am not afraid, I have sung for a long time, but his heart, false as mine, will burn!"». But here, too, hope remains vain, and even if "And my lord does not know, a single time will not be enough for the vulture to devour my body to silence my heart forever....The crab has come from the sea, his mouth will have to, with the last breath, steal his soul".

In "Il marinaio" a woman waits faithfully for the return of her man from the sea, because "He promised you and you know he will return: the man you loved never lied". I guess you can figure out how it ends... In the title track, we talk about a man who lost his shadow, which could be a metaphor for his life, taken away by a water flea. To be forgiven by the autumn snake and the green snake he has crushed, he must sing for a long time, so "the water flea that knows it will return your shadow". But is it true? "And the autumn fly that you smashed will not forgive you... And the green snake that you smashed will not forgive you": who knows...

In "La sposa rubata," we speak, indeed, of a bride "who never returned to the banquet", after naively following the "uninvited guest". But a player wandering around in the middle of the night encountered an unknown lord who said to him: «"Perhaps you seek the bride who went missing, if you have the heart to follow me, I will lead you to her". And a boat took him along dark water; he found the bride, and she had golden garments. "I will give you my ring, take it to my man, here I no longer suffer pain or desire"». Again, perhaps a glimmer of hope arises, only to evaporate like snow in the sun: "The player turned, took only one step, then heard her scream in the water that suffocated her. She shone like light when she went as a bride, where ever did the lord who took her take her?". In "La lepre nella luna," a hare, a fox, and a monkey were happily playing when suddenly an old man called them and said: "Who among you will help me will be rewarded by me". And while the fox and the monkey got busy, the hare continued playing: "While the hare left with the old man, from then on always playing carefree up there, in the moon's palace" So now the hare is happy forever? Not quite, perhaps she was killed by her two friends and didn't even notice: «Looking at the food that was served to him, the old man certainly thought: "Poor hare, you were betrayed by the friends you loved"».

Finally, in "La bella dama senza pietà," a man meets a beautiful woman: "it was in the middle of the meadows that I met her and as if she loved me, she looked at me... When alongside me she then rested, I gave her my soul and forgot time". Again, the end of the illusion is around the corner: «At the mountain's edge, I fell asleep, it was the last dream that I dreamed then; they were a thousand and a thousand more... with pale lips they said to me: "She who also stole your life, is she, the beautiful lady without mercy"».

Branduardi, in his compositions, both for the music and lyrics, often quotes (according to others, plagiarizes) other works, and this album is certainly no exception: for instance, the melody of "Ballo in fa diesis minore" is inspired by "Schiarazula Marazula," a Friulian medieval piece that accompanied exorcism rites; "Il ciliegio" is an adaptation of the traditional English song "The Cherry Tree Carol"; "La pulce d'acqua" is inspired by a Native American myth, and so on. But he manages in every track to add his magical and personal touch: for these timeless and spaceless tales, the music must also be suitable, and so in the album, one encounters medieval ballads, renaissance sonatas, Breton symphonies, semi-waltzes, Celtic music, but above all, his magical and spirited violin at the same time. The melody accompanying the title track, where the violin takes center stage, is one of the most beautiful and fascinating ever: listen to believe...

At this point, you might want to know how I am so sure of everything I have written about the album (or, much more likely, you could not care less). Simple: I'm not at all, it's all the fruit of my mind... cracked?