Prisencolinensinainciusol, and the Liberation of the Human Spirit
First, just watch this video...
Now, this crazy piece of music, by Italian pop singer Adriano Celentano, its lyrics comprised entirely of *English sounding* gibberish, strikes me as a shining example of the liberation of the human spirit through bizarre artifice. This man took an idea, a sound in his head (that is, his personal impression of the character of another language) and ran with it, big time. Magnificently dopey, majestically absurd. Spectacularly unlikely.
This rather goofy (in stage persona, at least) Italian fellow, way back in the year 1973, not only delivered to us some kind of brilliant proto-rap, but came up with a musical arrangement that is stripped down to essentials in a very contemporary way. For one thing, the recording is dry as a bone. The bare-facts boom-tchik groove is perfect, not a crash cymbal or even a snare drum to be heard (perhaps we can add Minimal House to the 'this guy got there first' list?), and that slightly ominous drone running throughout is ahead of its time as well. The unison group chants are simultaneously exuberant and oddly dark, the hypnotically repeating horn pattern lends a perfect thematic continuity to the whole affair, and it all ends with... a harmonica solo! A HARMONICA SOLO! Alright!
It could be noted also that the over-the-top dance routine we see in this video (which, by deft placement and use of mirrors seems like about 500 people) also prefigured the Bollywood extravaganzas of the following years and of today. The whole thing is, at one and the same time, completely self conscious and yet, in its execution, as unselfconscious as a child engrossed in play. I am in awe.
This rather goofy (in stage persona, at least) Italian fellow, way back in the year 1973, not only delivered to us some kind of brilliant proto-rap, but came up with a musical arrangement that is stripped down to essentials in a very contemporary way. For one thing, the recording is dry as a bone. The bare-facts boom-tchik groove is perfect, not a crash cymbal or even a snare drum to be heard (perhaps we can add Minimal House to the 'this guy got there first' list?), and that slightly ominous drone running throughout is ahead of its time as well. The unison group chants are simultaneously exuberant and oddly dark, the hypnotically repeating horn pattern lends a perfect thematic continuity to the whole affair, and it all ends with... a harmonica solo! A HARMONICA SOLO! Alright!
It could be noted also that the over-the-top dance routine we see in this video (which, by deft placement and use of mirrors seems like about 500 people) also prefigured the Bollywood extravaganzas of the following years and of today. The whole thing is, at one and the same time, completely self conscious and yet, in its execution, as unselfconscious as a child engrossed in play. I am in awe.