Sud Sound System
Salento Showcase 1994

...Ca su fatti mei comu m'aggiu cumbenatu ca quai intra allu salentu lu sule nesciu mÕa scarfatu nu fazzu lu padreternu ca ci sape te du a rriatu e della vita semplice nu mÕaggiu scerratu...

Italian translation: ...It's my own business how I've got myself sorted, and here inside Salento our sun has warmed me up, I don't act like the almighty who knows where they've come from, and I haven't forgotten the simple life...

Friends of Debaser, I don't consider myself a music expert, I don't even know how to play a musical instrument, but music is definitely a hobby of mine, and I've listened to many bands, I have a substantial base of metal, but also rock, Beat, and synth-pop music, etc. etc. So, based on these considerations, I say this: will I ever speak well of the Sud Sound System??? Well, yes and no... rather: no and yes, or better yet, yes and no. In the sense: if I have to see (as of today) how things are, taking advantage of the fact that I’m glad a Salento band has made a name for themselves in Bologna and Germany, I would say: YES. But if I have to understand their music, their sound, and their Pugliese raggamuffin I would fully say: NO. It might seem strange, the band is so simple, so exposed, so criticized... yet I feel something special in them, meaning ugly but at the same time interesting. I don't hear instrumental skills or standards highlighting music with a capital M, I think they represent a reality and they do it in the best way. I am Salentino and therefore I can understand their lyrics sung entirely in the Lecce dialect better than anyone else. They're a bit like trash movies, liked because they're awful; I like them because they are extremely modest and humble. Stop by my region (Southern Jamaica) and you'll discover that folks like me (mostly metalheads but open to any genre) are few and far between, here reggae, Hip Hop, and especially Ragamuffin are popular. In our Jukeboxes and car radios (but absolutely not in mine) this summer you will have heard only Negramaro and Sud Sound System. It's true; we love our cultures and traditions and are always ready to push them northward, but Negramaro, for example, makes pop music for teenagers in my opinion and there are a million examples like them. Sud Sound System, on the other hand, are unique, first and foremost because it's their words that make the music, the singers 'mpunnanu, (as they say) sing fast alternate reggae rhymes in dialect and blasted at maximum speed, saying things that are right.

Surely, who knows how many uncomfortable comments will arrive on this page, but I'm sorry, it was inevitable, sooner or later their moment would arrive, even if (I say it in advance) I hear the south once a year, and the two stars given are many. Acqua pe sta terra is the name of the latest album (2005), the one that became trendy and prompted me to listen to their first album: Salento Showcase 1994. Unlike the latest album, this is muuuuch simpler; first of all, it might as well not be defined a real album but a collection of ragga songs in Lecce dialect, the base is almost always the same: ta ta ta ta ta ta in bursts, the sound is raw, a bit squalid, but it is the lyrics that make them worthwhile. Initially, in this album "Sud Sound System" was much larger, there weren't just Nando Popu, Don Rico, and Terron Fabio, but there were many other members who came and went from the band. the guys were all lovers of Reggae and Raggamuffin and thus began to form this system wherein dialect local current issues were addressed, with the aim of spreading once again culture love and roots. Are we provincial sick? This probably is true, but after being overwhelmed by an avalanche of ignorant (for lacking any foundation) insults (e.g., terroni), we who once graduated must necessarily move north (because fatia a quai nunn'ave\ nun cinn'ede) and often are ashamed to have been born in a rustic land can't help but be (minimally) fascinated (if we have a heart) by a cry of roots, a return to ourselves.

It’s as if they are advertising our life, our habits, our sad realities; we can't help but be pleased, theirs is a battle cry from humble and modest people, from farmers, fishermen and the young. And it's all seasoned with the spirit of Dance Halls. Let's overlook the fact that the musical policy is now tiresome, and ignore that here Sud are starting to be known from middle school and that there's not a human being who doesn't know them... what I'm talking about is a Cultural factor. but let's proceed (also because surely I haven't been understood at all): The song announces itself with "Ilenu" (Italian translation: Poison), where (ironically) they make fun of those elements who, full of self-importance, feel so important that they do something (e.g., in politics) but only worsen the situation, and simultaneously Gopher (the singer) tries to highlight the very style of the song under review by referencing his verses which most of the time are hard to follow. with the same ta ta ta ta (this time with some extra effect) it starts "Otala" title derived from the saying: "Otala e spotala" (Italian translation: Flip it, spin it: but we're always there... note that the following text isn’t found online as it is quite complex to transcribe) where "Ggd" (dj) and Treble (another singer) address a topic that ten years after the album is still highly relevant: the Mafia (but it has been relevant since the '30s), they fight against northern stereotypes tarnishing not only Puglia but also Calabria and Sicily as "Mafia" without knowing that in reality the mafia is one of the biggest existing paradoxes. From the text [translated]: ("The mafia isn't just smuggling... those idiots on the news make me laugh saying "War on Mafia", but it's you, you, you are the mafia..." A classmate of mine was from Soleto (Le) and told me he knew Belina, protagonist of the song "Mena Camina" (trans: come on, walk), a less fast but very nice track that makes one reflect on the fact that quite often behind the initiatives of the best politicians, military, and scientists lies an economic roundabout that is all business. In this first album by Sud there is also a song sung by two girls (Mad Sabrina and Marilena) titled "Vivi" (this one is in Italian) and with the chorus: "free, you were born free like the one who created you..." a song that tries to enhance individuals' characteristics indicative of spiritual freedom. (honestly, the girls have jarring voices that ruin the song) it is followed by "Ddhra Sira" by Fabiana and PapaGianni (the latter remained in the group until the end), a ruggamoffin (a bit boring) revisit of a Pugliese folk song (more or less +/-). The highlight of the album is "Me Basta Lu sule" by Terron Fabio and Don Rico (the two most important singers), the song is about the sun, as a representative symbol of our parts (not without reason the ad is Salento: lu sule, lu mare e lu ientu), the song was further perfected in the next album. The ta ta ta returns with Taianu (cut) after the poor "Sulu pe li soldi" (featuring Jamaican verses), Nandu Popu sings "La vita è Misteriosa" which brings tremendous sleep and a desire to end this review here, but "La romanella" has a great beat, certainly the most reggae track on the album, where words fit perfectly with the alternative sounds of a cheerful and fun context that actually talks about a dramatic problem: unemployment. (it’s the truest song). It concludes with the song "Sulu pe lu reggae" very nice and lively.

So, moral: the band today is nice and interesting, I recommend them to those who love Raggamuffin, for the others: try listening to them, but not this album.