Diana Est
Tenax

Who remembers Diana Est?

A scandalous remix of her track ("Le Louvre") was popular in clubs a few years ago and scandalized the fans of this one-hit-wonder icon of the '80s, whose career lasted only a few years and was made up of just three hugely successful 45s.

What struck people about Diana Est, more than her voice (which wasn't exactly top-notch), was her look, her style, halfway between the extraterrestrial and the mythological, between new-wave and classical antiquity, between past and future. New-wave... or better "electro-synth-pop-dance". A very young Enrico Ruggeri, at the beginning of his solo career after the adventure with "Decibel," wrote the lyrics for her songs "Tenax" and "Le Louvre," already showing notable originality and maturity.

"Tenax," from '82, must have been something incredible in Italy at the time: the electronic drum intro, the keyboards, the obsessive rhythm, and a brilliant and decadent text, with some verses in Latin, made the track very effective. On the B-side, there's still pure new-wave: "Notte senza pietà".

The success of this track was repeated in '83 with "Le Louvre", another catchy tune, which I believe features Ruggeri on the backing vocals. The track talks about a world where paintings leave the museums to spread culture in modern society of banality (out of the museums, my new friends, the civilization of banality will be destroyed").

On the B-side there's "Marmo di città", a dialogue about the passage of time with an ancient sculpture. Still, intriguing rhythms and nocturnal atmospheres distinguish the songs.

After the break of the collaboration with Ruggeri, "Diamanti" was released in '84 (with "Pekino" on the B-side), a minor episode that marks the end of the career of this brilliant meteor.