The new work by Pupi di Surfaro is everything and the opposite of everything, too original and unique to be in some way defined, a job where not only the commitment and the passion was put, not for “the music” but for a “new music”, something special that ranges from experimentation to genius, passing through an innate taste in mixing but with a focused synthesis that leads to amazing results; not only in the sounds that embrace different styles, creating an unprecedented musical cohabitation, I would dare to say, but also in the texts so incredibly the result of a histrionic mastery of the lexicon expressed in a glittering change of origin, from the almost predominant Sicilian dialect, to other dialects , in various foreign languages with an unsettling and pleasant effect; everything can be said about this album but not that it is not able to surprise. In fact, it really leaves you speechless, a little bewitched.
The context in which this project was born and grew is undoubtedly a rarefied experience and a well of talent from whose background the tracks of the album that make their way without effort and conquer attentive listening emerge as lights from the dark. The artists themselves have given an exhaustive explanation on the matter that it is necessary to mention: «We abandon the form, the aesthetics of folk. We maintain and enhance its soul. By renouncing the tools and styles of traditional folk music, we gain a greater awareness of our cultural roots. Through a journey made of experimentation, contamination, evocations, and clear positions, we arrive at a modern product, where strong colors clearly reveal our character. The mixture of sounds and noises, ancient and modern, acoustic and electronic declare our cosmopolitan and metropolitan intention. Difficult to define the sound of the new record. We have put all we have into it and everyone can find what they want. Folk / Elettro / Rock could be, in our opinion, a label capable of containing a good percentage of everything the record promises to be. The central element is the text and the use of the word pregnant, original, scathing, ironic, unprejudiced, bad, irreverent, provocative.
The watchword is Confusing. The bet is: to surprise. The risk is: too much pleasure for the superficial and distracted listener »Surfaro puppets promptly opens up to contaminations of the Italian language, but also English, American, or of the Mandingo-Senegalese (by Jali Diabate in “‘Gnanzou”) and even Sardinian-Ligurian (in “Ruzaju” by Andrea Parodi), opens up to a scenario definitely World-Music.
The nine tracks on the album are so original that it is hard to say which one is the most striking or which one may like more than the others, and this aspect is the true strength of the album, conquering globally or leaving people indifferent and this does not happen certainly, too much musical power, a vital approach that goes beyond the notes, flavored by the spicy taste of surprise, or rather the unexpected; rhythms and forces that are diluted at times, and at times flamboyant, as in the passage “Breath of the soul “, melancholy, nostalgic and sweet, a record full of passages at high speed, and with a leap of style and sounds that chains; for example listening to “Per amore” really beautiful; then return to the explosive and “Li me paroli”a really crazy mix of musical styles, words, ethnic sound references, and an explosive energy; as well as Kicking The Donkey Style, very strong; it is not possible to really determine which is the piece that I liked the most, all are an incredible journey worthy of the other, a prized excellence in every track that chases and surpasses itself, that recovers and affirms itself as in a race at breakneck speed ending on an unknown island but immediately loved.