Enzo Avitabile & Bottari
Salvamm'o munno

With "Salvamm'o munno" Enzo Avitabile achieves his most successful and complex work. Utilizing the collaboration of the Bottari (young people from the Naples area who masterfully understand the logic of rhythm and use it by hitting barrels with sticks of various sizes), the Neapolitan artist introduces us to the ethnic music world of the Campania capital. The entire work runs on the pulsating background of barrels and sticks, a rhythmic platform on which melodic contents are grafted. But melody can only be talked about indirectly and only by recognizing its instrumental role, as Avitabile's work is predominantly rhythmic, with a dragging, evocative, changing rhythm, at times warm and carefree, at times committed and melancholic, or both at the same time. So it is for the first piece, "Abball'cu me", imbued with Middle Eastern influences, which transpire from the vocal exchanges between the author and the splendid voice of a modern-day muezzin, all accompanied by the inescapable rhythm of the bottari and interspersed with violin solos. The text contrasts harmoniously with the tone of the melodic part and the obstinate rhythm of the bottari, so that the invitation to dance together transcends the modernly goliardic connotation of the expression to become evocative of remote traditions, of an era and peoples who considered dance a sacred ritual capable of defeating the forces of evil.
In the second piece, “Tutt’egual’song‘e creature”, the artist's voice is accompanied by an acoustically dripping guitar, and at times by a violin playing oriental melodies. The theme of the text is the often violated childhood of the world's less fortunate inhabitants.
The third piece still speaks, with sadly veiled cheerfulness, of the less fortunate, the peoples of Africa, an Africa beautiful as the sun and deserving of being "tasted," as the tongue-twisting chorus says. Here Avitabile is accompanied by the thin voice of a saxophone, and not just any saxophone, but his own. As well as, of course, by the bottari.
In “A peste” Avitabile addresses the theme of Evil in the world, which he identifies with the plague. The rhythm held by the bottari is as pulsating and irregular as ever, perfect for accompanying the dialectal prayer that constitutes the song's text.
 In “Salvamm’o munno” the artist begins in the manner of Endrigo by proposing a series of elementary, but equally poetic and pleasant, deductions about nature and the world, preparing the listener for the piece's two refrains, “simm’ tutt’uno” and “salvamm’ o munno”, constantly repeated, accompanied by a radiant and decisive saxophone and punctuated by a voice that sounds African.  
"Canta Palestina” is a melancholic ballad that speaks of peace, even if this word is never spoken. Instead, hope is expressly spoken of, hope that the torment of the Israeli-Palestinian Middle East will eventually end. The woman's voice resembles that of Noa, the Israeli singer.
 The text of “Vott’ o sole arint’” is subtly philosophical (“’o munno è nu panaro ca se sfonn’”), the joyful and very rhythmic music, accompanied by the saxophone, is perhaps the most "ethnic" of the entire album, the only one that allows the author and the other singer, “Cincucient’”, to mix the Arabic quarter tone with the tone of exhortations to purchase from the vendors in the fruit and vegetable markets of old Naples.
The Dylan-like (at least in the words of the chorus) “Int’o viento” speaks and sings again of the Middle East and Africa. Inevitably, the time of the bottari finds temperance in the notes of a flute that, "Indianely," completes the atmosphere of the song.
As the title suggests, “Tarantella bruna” is a song inspired by the Neapolitan folk tradition more than the others. The artist's voice doubles, and at times follows the rhythmic progress of the bottari, at times accompanies the melody of the second voice, which sings in African.
“Paisà”, the tenth song of the album, whose spirit adheres perfectly to the text and the music, is a hymn to solidarity among the inhabitants of the same country, exuding echoes of suffering and sadness. The same as those of our compatriots who emigrated at the beginning of the last century around the world.
“Puort’ aller’” is in my opinion the most beautiful song of the entire work. It talks simply about Naples, as a port, cheerful despite the Camorra, poverty, social inequalities, everyday misadventures.
The beginning of “Votta Votta” reminds me of the well-known folk refrain that declares the master out of his mind. The same simplicity, the same rhythm, but different words, which extol the work in the fields, sowing, harvesting, as can be inferred from the chorus words: “vott’ vott’ ‘a vott’”.
Finally, the "live" version of “O Munno se move”, characterized by the spontaneity of words urging the audience to participate with body language in listening to the song. Avitabile's voice, engaged in the obsessive and very rhythmic repetition of invented expressions, echoes the saxophone notes. It is a song without a coherent text.