Mario Castelnuovo
Sette Fili Di Canapa

Year: 1982

Place: Sanremo Festival

The police officers enter the room of the semi-unknown artist and ask to read the lyrics of the song presented at the Kermesse dei fiori. They read it and even want the song explained line by line, as if it had mentioned the name of the person behind the MORO kidnapping.

Mario Castelnuovo was a singer-songwriter, let's say new wave, one of those who were looking for a new way to reach out to the public; complex lyrics made up of fragments then assembled to form songs that sometimes seemed to have neither head nor tail, airy and electronically rich music differs greatly in this work from what would later become his biggest success: "Nina" an acoustic track that would be presented at the following year's Sanremo.

The LP begins with the mysterious "Sette Fili Di Canapa" and the police are sure to have gone to Follonica to find the Seven Christs from the lyrics on the beach. The track is deliberately obsessive, the voice recites the repetitive text until it opens up into what could be considered the chorus, although calling it a chorus in a track like this isn't accurate; the song is almost a mantra to be listened to in absolute emptiness. The new wave of Ultravox is heavily borrowed in the immigration song which is "160 KM Da Roma", where the lesson of Vienna is skillfully manipulated by Amedeo Minghi, its producer for this work. "Illa" reveals in its lyrics all of Mario's love for 18th-century romanticism. Other tracks, like "Trame", are influenced by a love for folk music, making us smile and recall a certain Branduardi, while "Strasburgo 1979" is a sweet remake of Schubert.

"Sangue Fragile" is an anthem to the desire to stay youthful, made of initial echoes and dramas shouted towards the sky; it gives chills with every listen, with all those keyboards that instead of supporting the voice act as a background throughout the initial part, then the piece tries to become more... Rock? However, the drums seem too precise not to be synthetic. While "Viale Dei Persi" is entirely dedicated to the elderly who still have the strength and desire to learn something. The work concludes with "Oceania" perhaps his greatest success, made of American oranges and distant women. Castelnuovo in his debut had made a good impression; also being quite handsome, the music business embraced him, even though he always tried to create dignified and non-melodramatic lyrics. In conclusion, an honest and at times original work that certainly deserves a place of prominence in Mario's discography. It was 1982; the police entered dressing rooms questioning the reason behind certain lyrics, but were the handcuffs for De André ready??

The success of Oceania opened the doors of Sanremo for me. It was 1982, and I was convinced I was going to the festival simply to present something new at an event where this type of proposal wasn't very well-received. Rai even threatened to block my song; they thought it talked about drugs, the police showed up at the hotel, and I had to explain line by line the meaning of the lyrics...

(cit. Mario Castelnuovo)