Italian Protest Music At Its Best

Adriano Celentano is a master of turning pop standards into songs of protest. On this collection of tunes, he displays his keen, unique skills at turning innocent sounding songs, such as Harry Belafonte's cutsey tune about "tallying bananas" into a hard hitting, slap-in-the-face song of protest and anger aimed at Italian society and government ("Deus").

This CD is not intended for the faint of heart. With this CD, Celentano gives Italy a wake up call. On "L'Artigano," Celetano bitterly complains about the Italian Tax system. His constant, bitter closing statement at the end of every stanza throughout this song, "Forse c'e' una piccola errore" ("Maybe there's a small mistake") is a cry of anger against the heavy tax burden the Italian people are forced to pay, and the Italian people's complacency at accepting these taxes. Of couse, Celentano reminds us that it is up to "Le Giovanne" (Youth) to get more active and make changes.

Some may arge that this CD is outdated -- since the vinyl format came out in the early 80's. However, I disagree. Italy's political and economical situation has changed very little since Celentano first released this LP.

This is a good CD for those studying Italian. The lyrics are easily understandable for someone with a basic knowledge of Italian. Of course, those of us familiar with Italian society will appreciate this CD as an attempt to increase people's awareness of the political, societal, and economic problems faced by Italy today.

To make an anology, "Deus" is to Celentano as "Sometimes in New York City" is to John Lennon.