Mecano
Figlio della Luna

"For those who do not misunderstand,

the legend tells

of that gypsy who prayed to the Moon

white and high in the sky".

In the end, the fantasy themes and the sylvan atmospheres of the elven Yavanna could encapsulate all the sadness of this story of love and jealousy.

Among the pointed ears that Maionchi insisted on removing but that seem to naturally outline the three sweet faces here and their long hair lies a deep love for music; if “Figlio Della Luna” is one of the favorite songs of the three girls from Cuneo, a true showpiece of their performances, perhaps there is a reason.

Alright, nationally popular television broadcasts often do not present marvelous content; but if a program allows you to discover artists (not necessarily genius or epochal) who can enrich your musical culture, why not have the humility to confess these weaknesses that were cathodic and are now crystal-liquidized?

“Figlio Della Luna” is a song by the Madrid-based Mecano, who were formed by the will of the Cano brothers (Nacho and José María) and the singer Ana Torroja in 1981; Spain was then experiencing the early days of what would be remembered as the years of the Movida Madrileña, a socio-cultural movement that emerged in the Iberian country following the fall of the Francoist regime and saw the explosion of diverse artistic cultures and freedom. Among the most famous exponents—often aligned to the left—or in any case artistic products of this wave, internationally prominent personalities, such as the director Pedro Almodovar, are remembered.

Not necessarily politically aligned or filled with the ideologies of the movement—and this is an excuse to hide my ignorance on the subject—, during their slightly more than decade-long career, the three musicians carried on their "pop" project, characterized by very elegant songs, well executed by Torroja and imbued with the atmospheres of the Latin world. The arrangements heavily focus on acoustic instruments, such as winds and classical guitars, while percussion always plays its accompanying role, without gaining particular visibility in the musical development.

With these premises, it is not difficult to understand the reasons for their relative success in South America and the Mediterranean area, enough to justify the re-release of some of their albums—partially or even entirely translated—into French and Italian; in the production in the latter language, in particular, is found "Figlio Della Luna".

The album, containing ten tracks, already released in Spanish and translated and adapted by Marco Luberti (singer-songwriter and lyricist for artists such as Patty Pravo and Fiorella Mannoia), was released for our market in 1989.

The title derives from the translation of what is the most beautiful and certainly most famous song by Mecano, that is, “Hijo De La Luna”, published three years earlier in the album “Entre El Cielo Y El Suelo”.

This moving song tells the legend of the gypsy who desperately asked the Moon for the return of the man she loved, to which the Moon agreed on the condition that she could personally care for her first child.

“Tell me, silver moon: how will you care for him, if you have no arms?”

At the birth of a child white as milk, the gypsy woman's husband, “dark as smoke” — feeling betrayed — killed the woman (“He grabbed her screaming, kissed her crying; then the blade sank”, he said, while the violins weep in anguish) and abandoned the son of the Moon.

The song, by far the most beautiful of the album, is a heartbreaking ballad for piano and percussion; Torroja's voice—which handles Italian very well, at least in a vocal sense—is warm, enveloping, and dramatic: the vibrato closing the verses manages to touch the most hidden strings of the soul.

The beautiful “Croce Di Lame” also stands out, contained (as “Cruz De Navajas”) in the same album as “Hijo De La Luna”; this is the sad story of a crime of jealousy (“cross of blades for infidelity”) that takes place in a setting—familial—that should be a safe haven.

The track takes on a particularly melancholic connotation in its calm progression and its mixing of the sweetest ABBA (which are excellent, by the way), the theme songs from the D'Avena's golden years, and a little Manzarek-like organ, a little like Graziani’s “Vento Caldo”, besides a saxophone, an instrument "sad" par excellence—decidedly in a “Bold & Beautiful” fashion; yet it is truly very beautiful.

The other tracks instead come from the previous album, “Descanso Dominical” of 1988; personally, I find them very well executed, definitely pleasant, but lacking that something extra to truly move like “Figlio Della Luna” or to create melancholy in the listener.

However, the particular “Uno Di Quegli Amanti”, the intense “La Forza Del Destino”, and the very sweet “Fermati A Madrid” (“Without you I feel naked, but I stay here in the city; and I'll wander around without my suit, while it rains.”) stand out. In short, a better first side.

The second side features a pair of unmemorable tracks, namely the whiny “Vado A Nuova York” and the disorienting “Cinema” (“But all of a sudden in the dark everything fell back, and the audience loudly protested: the woman was naked just when it went dark.”), interrupted by the poignant “Per Lei Contro Di Lei” (which seems to anticipate Pausini by about a decade). The almost choral and nearly heavy metal (you can even hear drums!) “Un Anno Di Più” closes, complete with electric guitar and a synthesizer out of a Smurfs' song, and the (beautiful) instrumental “Por La Cara”, which relies heavily on flamenco rhythms before flowing into a slightly Branduardian finale.

The three "Mecano" (who also have a genius title in their discography like “Lo Ùltimo De Mecano”) continued their careers until 1992, then dedicated themselves—except for a brief reunion in 1998 for the album “Ana José Nacho”—to their respective solo careers, more or less prolific (the most active seems to be the talented singer).

Nothing transcendental, it is said: nothing truly astonishing or that could claim a place of honor in art history; simply good music.

And a wonderful track that lives on thanks to three elves of our days.

While she smiled, she begged: “Make him come back to me!”