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Canzoni della Cupa is the latest album by Vinicio Capossela, although calling it an album might be a bit too reductive given the depth of the author, who is nothing short of multifaceted.
In fact, the 28 songs are more akin to 28 stories that draw from popular tradition and are geographically linked to southern Italy.
And it is precisely this territory that has always characterized and influenced Capossela, to the point that if he had been born in America, he might have taken the place of Bob Dylan or Lou Reed. Instead, Vinicio, despite being born in Hannover, has always let himself be permeated by overseas music but with roots in folk song, elevating it to the highest levels.
This project originated back in 2003 when Femmine was composed, opening the first part of the album (Polvere). As you progress, you encounter a series of characters from rural culture or sprung out of Il Paese dei Coppoloni, a book and film that is impossible not to think of when listening to this album. You come across female figures who are an integral part of the south and have characterized the legends and traditions of a people, such as the witch, the mistress of the farm, the bride, and the sensual woman.
The second part of the album (Ombra) tells us about creatures that belong to popular imagination, created to scare children and even adults who wished to escape the exhausting life of the fields or the monotony of the village. Sometimes they also served a psychoanalytical function, as for example in Il Pumminale, where there is the line "Se hai un demone dagli un nome, non scappare non lo rinnegare, se hai un diavolo dagli un nome, battezzalo e fallo compare” (If you have a demon, give it a name, don't run away, don't deny it, if you have a devil, give it a name, baptize it and make it a companion). In this case, the Pumminale represents the werewolf we turn into when we go out at night to give vent to our basest instincts. In short, creatures found in the Cupa, in the evil depicted in religious iconography that in the south has always mingled with pagan rites and have been passed down from generation to generation with songs and nursery rhymes.
Or like in this album, with poetry in music.
Tracklist
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