Eugenio Bennato
Eugenio Bennato

EUGENIO BENNATO (1983)

After the separation (amicably, considering that some members will continue to play in his subsequent solo albums) Bennato devotes himself to composing soundtracks (including "Cavalli si nasce," "Don Chisciotte," and "La stanza dello Scirocco") and solo albums ("Eugenio Bennato," "Eughenes"). These are albums where the artist slightly distances himself from the "radicalism" of pure folk research and begins to blend the traditional southern sound with the typically Anglo-American genres of rock, blues, and country (a similar blend also happens linguistically, with code-switching songs between English, Neapolitan, Italian, Arabic, and other languages).

This album opens with "Frutta originale," a cheerful pop song enriched by children's and women's voices and beautiful keyboard arrangements; however, it's quite an engaged song, as it compares original music to original fruit so hard to find in the markets, overwhelmed by fake or worse products. "Napule overo" is a poignant song about the city of Naples, describing it through metaphors; musically, it features highly electronic arrangements (like many other songs on this album) and the presence of the saxophone. "Canzone minore (quanno chiove)" is a bittersweet ballad that describes the sensations of a rainy day while the narrator tries to console someone (a certain Raffaella, according to the booklet notes) who has had a bad adventure. The recorder (played by Marco Zurzolo) returns (albeit in the distance) on a highly supported bed of drums (Sabatino Romano) and keyboards (Ernesto Vitolo). "Sunà" is a fast blues describing the sensations of a musician in relation to his music. Being a blues, there are quite a few interesting electric guitar solos played by Francesco Giacoia. The excellent drumming work is entrusted to Sabatino Romano.

"Nun fa niente" is a very sweet and short lullaby for voice, string guitar (played by B.), and keyboard, again meant to reassure someone who is sad for some reason. "Gone away" is a dark, slow blues narrating the formative period of a young man trying to make his way in the world, facing the continuous disappointments life and people lay upon him; musically, it's dominated by the electric bass of Erasmo Petringa, with Gennaro Cappabianca's violin joining in the finale. "Una nota dopo l'altra" is an uninteresting pop song (with keyboards and synthesizers) that develops on the theme of the contrast between foreign and Neapolitan/Italian music and the domination relations of the former over the latter. The very delicate introduction is entrusted to B.'s string guitar arpeggio. "La buonasera" is a slow ballad introduced by a guitar arpeggio, then supported by drums, electric bass, and violin (Pippo Cerciello); Maria Pia De Vito's voice joins in for the choirs. The very lyrical text describes the twilight atmosphere in small villages or large cities like Naples, closing with a salute to the great musicians who have given luster to the city of Naples (his brother Edoardo, Pino Daniele, James Senese, Tullio De Piscopo, and others). "E domani si balla" is a cheerful ballad verging on reggae, sustained by B.'s very dark mandola and accompanied in the finale by Marco Zurzolo's saxophone; textually, it talks about a star that promises undefined happiness for tomorrow.

"Villanella finale," the last track, for the first time (to my knowledge, even if briefly) brings Neapolitan music and language close to folk-hard rock sounds, a genre that in countries like Spain (Mago de Oz) and Finland (Korpiklaani) has already been flourishing for some years, while the same cannot be said for Italy, where the only somewhat relevant band in this genre, Elvenking, writes almost exclusively in English. Textually, the song talks about the genre of "villanella," "a form of secular song that originated in Italy in the first half of the 16th century."