Vocca d'oro” is the song by 'E Zézi that celebrates 50 years of militancy and celebration of the Gruppo Operaio di Pomigliano d'Arco. A joyful collage song – out May 17 on streaming platforms – dedicated to a symbolic female fish.
“Being in love with the ancient song of Lo Guarracino I imagined a modern tongue-twister tale”, says Angelo De Falco, still the emblem and maître à penser of the formation. “I even had my middle school students draw this story a few times. 'E Zézi still bring their light in 2024, our 50th anniversary. The single opens a series of projects, starting with the vinyl album that will be released by the end of the year”.
From the Vesuvian hinterland, from the assembly lines, from the strikes of alienated and ghost workers, 'E Zézi have always represented a beacon for the community. “Usually our songs educate the people and trigger a reaction of blood, brain and arms. In this case, the verses of “Vocca d'oro” are a crossword puzzle of ancient tammurriate, voted and nursery rhymes recovered in dozens of archive books. The desire is to make people dance; a right that everyone has but that is often lost or forgotten.
After having composed so many dramatic songs, testimonies about workers and their miserable conditions, this is an invitation to the joy of living. Everyone should be allowed to celebrate their existence, regardless of profits. Dancing is catharsis, just as 'E Zézi is the daily voice of the people. This is the original verb and the future one. We will never stop. This is why young people take over this “creative asylum”. Zézi is a home, a family”.
The band today includes Angelo De Falco (folk percussion), Alessio Sica (drums; teacher), Enzo Salerno (bass; sound engineer), Nico Conte (accordion; musician), Fabio Soriano (wind instruments; teacher), Massimo Ferrante (singing and guitar; musician), Myriam Lattanzio (singing and castanets; company secretary), Dario Mogavero (singing and tammorra; goldsmith) and Toto Toralbo (singing and bouzouki; musician).
link: www.ezezi.it/wp/
The piece “Vocca d'oro” was actually born on May 1, 2000 in Ravenna, with the title “Tammurriata nova”, but before then it had never been recorded in a record production. Beyond the explicit political-social claims, which have been the status of the Gruppo Operaio since its birth, the intention this time is to create a sonic-literary flow that can act in the choreographic dimension. And in the dance one becomes aware of oneself. “The words tell a direct story because they are words written by the ignorant people: fravecature / pezzienti arraggiate / li fierre v'è mpignate / povero zappatore, as well as the explosive finale, They are the true expressions of the people, without intellectualism, regardless of the centuries in which they were expressed, collected and preserved. In fact, even those that most people will associate with “Fenesta vascia” are stanzas of tammurriate and songs with country origins. This also happened in the past with “Spingule frangese” by Salvatore Di Giacomo.
The final rhymes are the exaltation of the jovial and excited moment of village festivals, with drunk people who involuntarily invent and improvise poetry, when they drink and kiss and tell incredible scenes. For us that poetry slips into time and becomes in its own way a literary page. They are stainless, underground stories and find their outlet as and when they want. The origins of Carnival demonstrate this: from Mesopotamia they reach the lands of Naples. And from that source the Zeza is born, alias our identity”.
Article published on May 16, 2024 - 14:13 pm
