The Dance of Death in Puglia
Hallowe'en - All Hallows' Day - All Souls'. This is a major holiday for Italy, ending with the Day of the Dead. The kiosks of the flower sellers you see at the cemetery gates are doing good trade.
[Modulation to minor key]
It's true, we party here, but the people are down in the dumps.
[Outro: return to major key]
O Puglia, my Puglia, you my Puglia,
But this autumnal moment of permeability between two worlds becomes a year-round danse macabre in one very famous song from 2008. Come dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia, where it's dark, dark, dark... you begin to get the idea.
This is a song full of exactly the kind of comment inaccessible to the foreign visitor here, but which communicates a lot of local sentiment. Its irony is immediately understandable to everyone in the region, but there's a lack of any clear English translation online. No native Italian speaker is likely to volunteer to explain it in detail - and not least because it's full of slang and double meanings.
[Caparezza, on tour bus]:
This is a song full of exactly the kind of comment inaccessible to the foreign visitor here, but which communicates a lot of local sentiment. Its irony is immediately understandable to everyone in the region, but there's a lack of any clear English translation online. No native Italian speaker is likely to volunteer to explain it in detail - and not least because it's full of slang and double meanings.
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| I WILL COME AND REAP The Church of Purgatory, Bitonto. Photo: Fiore Barbato via flickr |
Here's a side of Puglia that's forgotten in polite conversation - but it's very real. Drugs, slave labour, dirty factories, arson, crumbling infrastructure... The same town where this carved Death wields his scythe is known for its drug dealers. I went, and encountered them soon enough, cruising around an industrial suburb in their SUV; we were barely a mile from the carving. The songwriter, Michele Salvemini (Caparezza), was born ten miles away in Molfeta.
And so, my gesture for the Day of the Dead - instead of going to walk a cemetery - is this, my best shot at rendering these lyrics...
Come Dance in Puglia
by Caparezza [Curlyhead], ft. Al Bano
Vieni A Ballare In Puglia
Caparezza, ft. Al Bano
Caparezza, ft. Al Bano
[Caparezza, on tour bus]:
And now, off to my left, you can see Al Bano!
[Al Bano, in field]:
Dolphins go to dance on beaches
[Caparezza]:
And you? Where are you going to dance?
Invece, alla mia sinistra, potete notare Al Bano!
Dolphins go to dance on beaches
I delfini vanno a ballare sulle spiagge
Elephants go to dance in unmarked graveyards
Gli elefanti vanno a ballare in cimiteri sconosciuti
Clouds go to dance over the horizon
Le nuvole vanno a ballare all'orizzonte
Trains go to dance in museums with entrance fees
I treni vanno a ballare nei musei a pagamento
And you? Where are you going to dance?
E tu? Dove vai a ballare?
Come dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia,
Vieni a ballare in Puglia Puglia Puglia,
shaky like a leaf, a leaf, a leaf.
tremulo come una foglia foglia foglia.
Heads up as you pass the crane
Tieni la testa alta quando passi vicino alla gru
because it might come unstuck and fall.
perchè può capitare che si stacchi e venga giù.
Hey tourist, I know you're stopping by this Italic place -
Ehy turista, so che tu resti in questo posto italico.
Look out! You pass on through, but this crazy land is MY asylum.
Attento! Tu passi il valico ma questa terra ti manda al manicoMIO.
Adriatic and I-onian, you want to breathe sea air
Mare Adriatico e IOnio, vuoi respirare lo ioDIO
but here in the Gulf [of Taranto] there's a sulphurous stink like the devil were coming.
ma qui nel golfo c'è puzza di zolfo, che sta arrivando il demonio.
Horribly tanned with the dioxins from ILVA
Abbronzatura da paura con la diossina dell'ILVA
here you'll end up spotty like Pimpa, redder than Milva
Qua ti vengono pois più rossi di Milva e dopo assomigli alla Pimpa
down where they're peddling killer smoke.
Nella zona spacciano la morìa più buona.
Some people have smoked ENI poison,
C'è chi ha fumato i veleni dell'ENI,
others have worked themselves into a coma.
chi ha lavorato ed è andato in coma.
Even the Gargano smokes, from lighting up all those forests.
Fuma persino il Gargano, con tutte quelle foreste accese.
Tourist, you dance and sing; I count the dead of this region
Turista tu balli e tu canti, io conto i defunti di questo paese
where the sly do business, no they don't care for costs,
dove quei furbi che fanno le imprese, no non badano a spese,
they think the Kyoto Protocol's a Japanese erotic film!
pensano che il protocollo di Kyoto sia un film erotico giapponese!
Come dance in Puglia Puglia Puglia
Vieni a ballare in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia
where the night is so dark, dark, dark
dove la notte è buia buia buia.
you might as well lower your eyelids and never reopen them.
Tanto che chiudi le palpebre e non le riapri più.
Come dance and scratch your balls you too who should dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia,
Vieni a ballare e grattati le palle pure tu che devi ballare in Puglia Puglia Puglia,
shaky like a leaf, a leaf, a leaf.
tremulo come una foglia foglia foglia.
Heads up as you pass the crane
Tieni la testa alta quando passi vicino alla gru
because it might come unstuck and fall.
perché può capitare che si stacchi e venga giù.
[Modulation to minor key]
It's true, we party here, but the people are down in the dumps.
E' vero, qui si fa festa, ma la gente è depressa e scarica.
I've a friend who had to take on a factory job in order to kill himself.
Ho un amico che per ammazzarsi ha dovuto farsi assumere in fabbrica.
Between a collapsing spar and a rupturing tube;
Tra un palo che cade ed un tubo che scoppia
in that hellhole where the sloggers croak and the workless score dope
in quella bolgia si accoppa chi sgobba e chi non sgobba si compra la roba
and drop out until they take up room in the tomb.
e si sfonda finché non ingombra la tomba.
Come dance, gangster, in the tomato fields
Vieni a ballare compare nei campi di pomodori
where the mafia enslave the hired, and if you kick back you're fired.
dove la mafia schiavizza i lavoratori, e se ti ribelli vai fuori.
Romanians crammed in cubbies like canned tomatoes,
Rumeni ammassati nei bugigattoli come pelati in barattoli.
compelled to suffer blackmail by itsy-bitsy big shots.
Costretti a subire i ricatti di uomini grandi ma come coriandoli.
Tourist, you stick with your sandals, don't see scandals if we're ungrateful
Turista tu resta coi sandali, non fare scandali se siamo ingrati
and we've forgotten that we're born of migrants.
e ci siamo dimenticati d'essere figli di emigrati.
Mortified, we won't mess up your trip.
Mortificati, non ti rovineremo la gita.
Get up, go from Puglia, pass on to a better life.
Su, passa dalla Puglia, passa a miglior vita.
Come dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia
Vieni a ballare in Puglia Puglia Puglia
where the night is so dark, dark, dark
dove la notte è buia buia buia
you might as well lower your eyelids and never reopen them.
tanto che chiudi le palpebre e non le riapri più.
Come dance and scratch your balls you too who should dance in Puglia, Puglia, Puglia,
Vieni a ballare e grattati le palle pure tu che devi ballare in Puglia Puglia Puglia
where the headsman waits to do ya', do ya, do ya.
dove ti aspetta il boia boia boia.
On street corners there's more horse than had King Arthur;
Agli angoli delle strade spade più di re Artù,
the abyss opens and you go straight to Beelzebub.
si apre la voragine e vai dritto a Belzebù.
O Puglia, my Puglia, you my Puglia,
O Puglia Puglia mia tu Puglia mia,
I hold you always in my heart when I'm away
ti porto sempre nel cuore quando vado via
and then I think I'd die without you.
e subito penso che potrei morire senza te.
And then I think I'd die as well with you.
E subito penso che potrei morire anche con te.
[No Pugliese were harmed in the making of this film.]
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