 'Quando sei qui con me / Questa stanza non ha piu pareti Ma alberi, alberi infiniti'
At this very moment, I'd do anything to be back in Italy, on a sweet autumn morning, with some cornetti on the table, espresso on the tip of my tongue, and the happy chattering of my Italian friends creating a real sense of home around me. There's some unexplainable charm about those people: they treated me so well during my stay in Rome and Naples that I can't seem to get them off my mind - nemmeno - for a second. I'm pretty sure you've read thousands of travel reviews on Italy, so I shall take a different approach. I'll let this column shake it to the right with some Italian musica, shake it to the left with a few Italian singers, and shake it all around with some suggestions on whom to listen to.
While taking Italian lessons, I became quite interested in Italian music and started buying compilation CD's from music stores. What I didn't know was that the music I bought was da nonna- in other words, from prehistoric times! It was quite funny, actually, when my good friend Ecehan and I told Pietro, another friend, in a proud manner that, "of course we know about Italian music; we love listening to Felicita!" Felicita, for those of you who are not young enough (in your early 50's? 60's maybe?) to know, is a song that resembles Sezen Aksu's, "Olmaz Olsun." They are both out-dated and anti-materialist. Felicita even states that happiness is a glass of wine and a slice of bread: well, not unless they serve you a slice of Monica Belluci along with it!
 Pietro was quite amused to listen to us blabbering about how we love listening to songs from the past that we didn't know were songs from the past. So, after being enlightened, here I am to bring you up to speed on more recent Italian music culture.
During my time in Rome, Gianna Nannini was all over the city! Her “Best Of” album had just been released, so there was a lot of promotion. I'd advise you to listen to "Sei Nell'anima," which is a wonderful love song with a nice rock background. Then again, there's Giorgia, whom you'll adore to bits once you listen to her angelic voice singing the melancholic "Tradirefare", "Marzo" or the La Finestra Di Fronte soundtrack, "Gocce Di Memoria."
But, there was one singer in particular, though he was older, whom everybody of every age group seemed to love!. While at Penny Black -a wonderful Naples pub owned by an Italian who has been to İzmir and found the city to be marvellous- Vasco Rossi appeared on the small television screen stuck in a dark corner. Everyone stopped chattering, turned to stare at the TV, and when Rossi got to the chorus, everyone happily sang out loud!
To help foster my love and understanding of Italian music even more, I was lucky enough to be given the best present ever: "Romeo Compilations," three volumes packed with contemporary Italian songs! It is a rare find, but if you can get it, GET IT!
One last note: "Sempre... Dovunque... Comunque... Non ti fermare."
Yiğit Turhan (EE/IV)
yt_coolhunter@yahoo.com
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