Area
Parigi-Lisbona

I don't understand Prog, and I'm not even sure whether AREA falls into that category, so don't be too harsh. But this CD is beautiful. Yes, I know, it's a cliché—MC tackling something bigger than him and yadda yadda yadda...
Right now, I'm preparing a demo tape with Deva. And since I'm diving into the music world (obviously not on a massive scale, I'm not Gazosa), I thought, "Giacomì, if you want to make music decently, you need to know it ALL." Now I spend hours listening to degrading crap like Outkast and Eminem, ending up with the great Famiglia from Naples. But even outside rap, I'm expanding my knowledge. Hence, long after-hours listening to CDs from Atroci, Burzum, Sopor Aeternus, Bad Religion, and others among the most diverse. Groups I've come to know through this splendid site, and others, like Mortiis, recommended by new friends.
And among brutal (which I hate), "People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul" by James Brown, US3, UB40, Dusty Springfield, Loreena Mc Kennitt, etc... what do I find abandoned on my dresser?? "Parigi-Lisbona" by Area.
I take inspiration from the praises of ..caz.. in the review of Maudits and dive into listening.

This is one of the few live albums of the band available. It is divided into two stages, as the title suggests, Paris and Lisbon, and it opens with "L'Elefante Bianco." The music is fast, varied, the lyrics are engaged, and Demetrio, as shown in the following piece "Megalopoli", has one of the most beautiful voices in the international scene. Now, it’s 1976. Walter Rossi will die in a year, and many other "subversives" both red and black will also die. Especially in Italy, and so Italy is now in turmoil. Two years from the Moro murder, Peppino Impastato, at the dawn of the leaden years, AREA expatriates, armed with sophisticated, cultured, fast, and engaging music, convey their "ideal fullness" even in France and Portugal. "Megalopoli", correct me if I'm wrong, but it also seems to have a bit of a jazz feel. The characteristic of these tracks is their length, a length that isn't perceived, thanks to the high instrumental promiscuity and a long-lasting sound that goes from prog to jazz and then back to prog, with Demetrio adding his voice into the mix. The result is, to use a new word, um... let's say... splendid (it's not new, I know). But let's move on, and you, holy Christ, follow me.
Imagine being a French student, full of beautiful ideas to change the world. A bourgeois student who loves the new cultured music, and intrigued by this group, goes to see them. Now imagine hearing a song like "La Mela Di Odessa" sung in your language (French) with an introductory burp and gag, prog, a bit jazzy, sometimes (not a blasphemy) with a rap cadence (even if you, now, in '76, in France, at the AREA concert, have never heard of this word). 8.56 minutes which, as far as I understand, have a great polemic, satirical, and obviously idealistic and ironic charge, even if the only thing I truly understood was "de la merd" and "shit!" said with a very gangsta cadence. Acoustic sampling with saxophones and guitars of the Marseille and Mameli anthems, surrounded by this kind of Demetrio's rap and accompanied by instruments gone mad, each of which follows its own path, independent but inexplicably coherent with the others. Damn. Damn. Damn.
Vamos Ante (is it said ante? bah). "Lobotomia" doesn't need a comment. It opens with a choir almost fluting and off-key, then evolves in the typical AREA style, typical and at the same time atypical. From the "audience," whistles rise, but what the hell is happening? Anyway, AREA, I believe, cannot be pinned to one genre, because they are AREA, period.
I don't know if you got the concept. Well, great track is "Lobotomia", also unsettling, if you will, now the "audience" shouts. I wish. Actually, I violently wish to be there. To be that French student, 30 years ago. To whistle, to shout, to applaud. Here comes "Presentation Concerts Lisboa". And here comes the flagship piece "Arbeit Macht Frei", one of the most popular tracks, as understood from the title, of the band. Capable of irony and propaganda in an incredible way, mixing both with a strength that tears you from the chair. Holy Christ. Damn, here the Jazz is... isn't it? Now, here's "La Cometa Rossa" dedicated to Carlo Pereira and the students massacred by neo-fascists in 1973. They were 200 students. And here, I think it's enough to say that suddenly you find yourself in 1973, getting massacred. You too. They close with "Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (nero)" (what a voice Demetrio!!!) and a revisitation of "L'Internazionale". Interesting.

It's been two years since I've raised my last left fist. I don't believe in it anymore. Revolution, united proletariat, a better world. Bullshit. But now, 2005, I don't believe in it anymore. But that French student in Paris in 1976 certainly did. Just as my mother believed in it when she saw people being killed in the square before her eyes in 1977, as Peppino believed, as Demetrio believes. And if you combine the context of the time, with AREA, their works, their commitment, their music, you can only live them, indeed relive that era.
No, I will not return to raising left fists, I will not return to waving fictitious flags or plastering posters of dead legends in my room. But I will continue to dream, in my time machine. It doesn't matter if with the blacks or with the reds, with the good or with the bad (if there were any), it doesn't matter to me. What matters is that I can dream, I AM ALLOWED. And even if I don't believe in it, I can't help but admire these masters and respect them and treasure them, dedicating nothing more and nothing less than a humble contribution to them and to those who were there, who died and who are alive. Those who were shooting and those who were dying.
A small contribution, and a small thank you. Gracias.