Come Dance in Puglia

We tend to show the pretty parts of our towns in our daily city blogs. Maybe because that's what we choose to see. There's enough unpleasant stuff around us anyway, why focus on it?

But, today I wanted to share a video by a Molfettan rapper who has become quite famous nationally. His stage name is Caparezza, which means Curlytop in the local dialect.

His music is rap/pop rock with a strong political slant. He tells it like it is and has even dedicated a song to our mayor, who is a story all in his own! In this video clip, called Come Dance in Puglia (the region Molfetta is located in), he denounces the problems being ignored in this region while emphasis is focused on trying to increase tourism. The song is sung to the rhythm of the "tarantella" which is a traditional music/dance of this region.
(The singer at the very beginning is Al Bano, a *very* famous Italian singer and also from Puglia.)



Vieni a Ballare in Puglia, by Caparezza (2008)
(my translation)

The dolphins go to dance on the beaches.
The elephants go to dance in unknown cemeteries.
The clouds go to dance on the horizon.
The trains go to dance in museums with an entrance fee.
And you, where do you go to dance?

Come dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia,
tremulous like a leaf, leaf, leaf.
Hold your head high when you walk past a crane,
because it might break and fall down.

Hey, tourist, I know you're staying in this Italic place.
Be careful, you cross the pass, but this land will send you to the madhouse.
Adriatic and Ionian Seas, you want to breathe the iodine,
but here in the gulf it stinks of sulphur, because the demon is coming.

Tanned with fear from the dioxin from ILVA (note: a steel producing company), here you'll get redder than Milva (note: a redheaded Italian singer) and then you'll look like Pimpa (note: an Italian cartoon dog covered with red spots). In the area they sell the best fatal infections: some have smoked poison at ENI (note: Italian National Energy company), those who have worked there have even gone into a coma. Even the Gargano smokes, with all those forests on fire. Tourist you dance and you sing, I count the deceased of this country, where those sly folks who build factories, no, they spare no expense; they think the Kyoto Protocol is an erotic Japanese film.

Come dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia
where the night is dark, dark,
so much so that you close your eyes and you don't reopen them.
Come dance and scratch your balls, too
You must dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia
tremulous like a leaf, leaf, leaf.
Hold your head high when you walk past a crane
because it might break and fall down.

It's true that it's a party here, but the people are depressed and run-down:
I have a friend who had to get a job in a factory to kill himself.
Between a pole falling down and a tube exploding,
in that bedlam those who work get bumped off;
and those who don't work buy drugs and make a name for themselves,
until they clutter up the tomb.
Come dance, buddy, in the tomato fields,
where the Mafia enslaves the workers, and if you rebel you're out.
Romenians crammed into cubbyholes like peeled tomatos in cans.
Forced to submit to the blackmail of big men, but big like confetti.
Tourist you keep your sandals on, don't cause a scandal if we are ungrateful
and have forgotten we are the children of emigrants.
Mortified, we won't ruin your trip.
Come on, come to Puglia, come to the better life.

Come dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia
where the night is dark, dark, dark,
so much so that you close your eyes and you don't reopen them.
Come dance and scratch your balls, too
You must dance in Puglia, Puglia
where waiting for you is the executioner, executioner, executioner.
On the streetcorners more swords than King Arthur,
the abyss opens and you go straight to Beezelbub.

Oh Puglia, my Puglia, my Puglia,
I always carry you in my heart when I go away.
And I immediately think that I could die without you.
And I immediately think that I could also die with you.

(The caption at the end of the video says: "No Puglians were mistreated during the making of this video.")