"Scottish Tammurriata" - orh sings a WW II Neapolitan war song!!!

[Hilary]

I think if I had 'an ethical dilemma' I would say no . . .

[Oldrottenhead]

I think if I had 'an ethical dilemma' I would say no . . .

good for you.

[alfstone]

I think if I had 'an ethical dilemma' I would say no . . .

Hilary, just two things.

As I explained in my version of the song, Tammurriata Nera became a successuful song when it was recorded by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare in 1974. I don't pretend that you know the political tendencies of all Italian musicians, but I can assure you that Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare

http://www.nccp.it/bio.html

has always been seen as a (maybe too much) *lefty* band.
Now, don't you think that IF there was an ethical dilemma about this song, a *lefty* band wouldn't have recorded it? They did, instead.

Second, when you have time, you could give a look at the "La Ciociara" movie (1960) by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren:

https://archive.org/details/LaCiociaraTwoWomen1

...it's someway about this topic too, but in a dramatic, not ironical way. This because women were (and are still today!) the main (and often the only) victims of such situations.

The problem arises when a translation can not obviously consider a GLOBAL situation, with its background. Even more in this case with the infinite nuances for EACH word of the lyrics, typical of the Neapolitans and their dialect/language.
And I repeat, let's not make the mistake to look at this lyrics with today's eyes.

After all, it's a TRUE story, not easy to be accepted in the Southern Italy in 1944. The typical Neapolitan irony makes the rest, in this song.

Sincerely, I (and almost everyone here) can't find anything wrong in this song, and I tried to assure James about this.

Alfredo

P.S. excuse my English

P.S.2...another interesting movie, with inverted roles, is "Another Time, Another Place" (1983), with the Neapolitan POW in Scotland starred by....one of the members of the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Giovanni Mauriello!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036606/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyoKfBSDQaI

[Hilary]

I don't object to the song per se Alfredo, as I said, it is 'of it's time'. I can't comment on the original version as I don't speak Italian, but the thing that upset me was that James had his own doubts about the English translation of the lyrics and that he still sang them anyway.

The thing is, prejudice is something that is taught and creeps into society through acceptability. We all have a choice.

[alfstone]

I don't object to the song per se Alfredo, as I said, it is 'of it's time'. I can't comment on the original version as I don't speak Italian, but the thing that upset me was that James had his own doubts about the English translation of the lyrics and that he still sang them anyway.

The thing is, prejudice is something that is taught and creeps into society through acceptability. We all have a choice.

...then it's my fault, Hilary, since when James talked me about his doubts, I assured him that his doubts had no reason to exist. He believed me. He too had a choice.

When I have doubts, in general, I ask to understand better. Then I decide. Decisions based exclusively on doubts could be wrong. And this time it's the doctor's speaking.

Now, going to Milan-Palermo....

[Oldrottenhead]

Thank you for the moral guidance Hilary. But you do not know me, at all.

[DeificDave]

Very engaging piece of music, excellent sound scape Alfstone, great combination of talents here, well done.

[Ted]

This must be from a time before Blooby began showing up commando just as a bit of tension began to emerge. Since I'm bumping it from eight years in obscurity, maybe he'll get another chance.

Musically, this so interesting. You could try to describe this, but you'd never convince someone that 5-minute Italian-Arabic pulse on one chord could be so engaging from beginning to end.

Whatever is lost in translation, I love the ORH delivery here. It's urgent. It's anxious. It's perfect. A society has been traumatized by war, and suddenly black babies start popping out of white girls in a heretofore homogenous community under economic stress. ORH portrays a character observing the social fallout. The soldiers have gone, but this is still a dangerous time.

The ol' wiseman in the street says "Let's talk 'bout it,
cuz if we talk about it,
then we can explain how all this gone.

Some people would rather not see these mixed-race children. Others want to face the truth and embrace these children – children who did nothing to deserve being raised in a community that views them with shame, as well as a reminder of something they'd prefer pretend didn't happen.

Is the observer character voiced by ORH racist? Maybe. We are allowed to write and perform songs in character - characters who don't necessarily represent ourselves , or our values. I've personally written songs from the perspectives of imperfect fictional characters, or versions of myself that might have been. Glen Campbell was not actually a Wichita Lineman. Johnny Cash did not really shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Peter Gabriel was not a home intruder (as far as we know). Etc.

Blackout Bump - week of 31 October, 2014

[alfstone]

I've found a short video I made in summer 2016, while I was at Naples railway central station... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQMfjuWxuV8

Alfredo