Pippo Pollina
L'appartenenza

The desire for escape arises from the urge to evade the myriad annoyances that routine hurls at us. Often, one is seized by the desire to flee from the many problems buzzing around: to free oneself from the weight of daily life and from that sad feeling that makes them feel entwined with an oppressive and shattered world. There is only one way to redeem this state of imprisonment, that is, by temporarily exiling oneself from the ordinary world, which has seemingly become inhospitable. Escaping from routine (or from any other unpleasant condition) is, in the end, quite simple. Sometimes all it takes is the sight of a deserted environment to offer that sense of peace that rests in the gentlest side of human solitude. The sea is one of these environments. The same sea where the author of this album attempts to leave behind the "thousand worries and thousand problems, the traffic, the smog, the curses" and forget about the "few coins in his pocket" and the "black hole in the bank" before a gentle thought makes him reflect: "there’s the storm, the wind or the sun/ Sirocco and Mistral".

"Mare mare mare" is the extraordinary opener of this work, the piece to which the aforementioned verses belong; a sea seen in its purest form, that is, a solitary and pristine expanse of salty water in which the author, deliberately estranged from the world, manages to capture the tranquility needed to reflect on himself, on his present, and on his past. Pollina's current life is mentioned in the following "Cantautori", a cheerful and rather rhythmic piece intended as a tribute to the Songwriter’s Song and to all the artists representing it: "Come along, gentlemen, drawn by the trail/ for those who want to feast on mere poetry". The fourth track instead sparks the author's memories: "Where the pomegranates grew" is set to an acoustic folk tune whose lyrics recount Pollina's childhood, that is, the lost belonging, a past living only through memory, even though the song embraces a melancholic confession: "Where the pomegranates grew, I return occasionally in secret/ to lament the man I never was, to savor the smell of must". The fragmented reminiscences of this song preludes the melodic rock of "I am who you are, I am who knows", a song where Pippo delves into his introspections, to the point of being able to envision himself in all the allegories he comprises; in this way, he manages to see himself in many different ways, and thus identify with "a bitter smile" with "an August cloud" or in "an inexplicable melancholy"; or yet in the "pain that flows from an open wound" and that "little earth that detaches from humanity".

Pollina's reflections continue with the acoustic "Anniventi" and the ballad "From earth to earth", then comes the gentle folk of "Helvetia", a track that once again evokes natural and untouched settings. This time, though, it's not the sea, but the mountainous landscape of Switzerland, the nation that welcomed him after his departure from Sicily, that the author wishes to represent. Listening to this piece, one gets the impression that Pollina almost wants to omit the lost belonging (evoked in earlier tracks) to focus on the acquired belonging, that is his renewed existence, his current condition: the approach to his new land. The lyrics are a heartfelt declaration of love from a man who becomes quiet thanks to the warm welcome his new homeland has given him, a bond destined for continual renewal: "We are still here to tell each other/ what we are, what we like/ to draw slits/ of freedom, justice, and peace". At this point, there is the definitive confirmation that the Mediterranean settings previously sung about were nothing but images of a lost existence, thoughts destined to travel through time to return to the present, where stands a man who treads mountainous paths, an individual now aware of his renewed peace, who, in the throes of a liberating praise, speaks thus to his beloved Switzerland: "Thank you because you know/ I love you/ give me your hands/ here in the silence/ of your highlands".

Among other tracks worth mentioning is the ballad "And if everyone does something", focused on the figure of don Pino Puglisi, and the ethnic melodies that compose"The Awakening", a piece capable of delivering (musically speaking) the same sense of peace breathed in "Helvetia".

Best album of 2014, at least as far as Italian Songwriting Music is concerned.

Federico "Dragonstar" Passarella.