Oggi Sono Io
February 16, 2013 7:43 PM Subscribe
Alex Britti's 'Oggi sono io' covered by Italian pop star Mina, who recorded it in one take. An English translation of the lyrics.
This seems to be the original, for anyone curious.
I'm hesitant to request a cultural translation/recap of the major players and their significance ("Alex is our equivalent of [x] american cultural icon, and Mina is...), but I'd love to know a bit more about everyone involved and I trust y'all far more than the internet at large.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:19 PM on February 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm hesitant to request a cultural translation/recap of the major players and their significance ("Alex is our equivalent of [x] american cultural icon, and Mina is...), but I'd love to know a bit more about everyone involved and I trust y'all far more than the internet at large.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:19 PM on February 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
Apropos of almost nothing but the mention of Mina, but that woman took one of my favorite songs of all time, which will be the wedding march of my big demented gay wedding if I ever collect enough blackmail material to earn myself a big demented gay wedding, "Laia Ladaia (Reza)," and turned it out like nobody's fucking business on a damned peculiar TV stage set. The lady can belt, but the quiet's quite a thing, too.
Sweet.
posted by sonascope at 9:27 PM on February 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sweet.
posted by sonascope at 9:27 PM on February 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
Thanks, Charlemagne...
Here's the entire session, with track listings
For good measure, here's some older song clips of Mina; man, she's "got it", whatever "it" is!
lo per lui
l'importante e finire
adagio
ancora ancora ancora
bang bang
e penso a te
non credere
posted by Vibrissae at 9:36 PM on February 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
Here's the entire session, with track listings
For good measure, here's some older song clips of Mina; man, she's "got it", whatever "it" is!
lo per lui
l'importante e finire
adagio
ancora ancora ancora
bang bang
e penso a te
non credere
posted by Vibrissae at 9:36 PM on February 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm hesitant to request a cultural translation/recap of the major players and their significance ("Alex is our equivalent of [x] american cultural icon, and Mina is...), but I'd love to know a bit more about everyone involved and I trust y'all far more than the internet at large.
All I know about this song is that it sounds amazing. My knowledge of Italian pop is otherwise limited to Mike Patton's Mondo Cane.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:37 PM on February 16, 2013
All I know about this song is that it sounds amazing. My knowledge of Italian pop is otherwise limited to Mike Patton's Mondo Cane.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:37 PM on February 16, 2013
I'd love to know a bit more about everyone involved and I trust y'all far more than the internet at large.
There hasn't been anyone like Mina in US music in decades, so it's difficult to offer a good comparison. During her most active years, she was a concert and stage singer. She appeared a great deal on television. She was a prominent female celebrity and a major symbol of modern femininity. I guess, something like equal parts Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin.
FWIW, I think Mina's iconic performance is La Banda.
posted by Nomyte at 12:30 AM on February 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
There hasn't been anyone like Mina in US music in decades, so it's difficult to offer a good comparison. During her most active years, she was a concert and stage singer. She appeared a great deal on television. She was a prominent female celebrity and a major symbol of modern femininity. I guess, something like equal parts Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin.
FWIW, I think Mina's iconic performance is La Banda.
posted by Nomyte at 12:30 AM on February 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I love this apparently-live Cry with finger-snapping Bruno Canfora.
posted by gubo at 4:38 AM on February 17, 2013
posted by gubo at 4:38 AM on February 17, 2013
That skin! I'll have what she's having!
posted by thinkpiece at 4:50 AM on February 17, 2013
posted by thinkpiece at 4:50 AM on February 17, 2013
I think "it" is an intuitive understanding of how to use her voice. Dynamics, tone, the whole megillah.
Notice how when she really opens up, she goes slightly more off-axis to the microphone. Not a lot, but she knows what she wants. She knows how to listen for it in the headphones, and she knows how to get it.
posted by mikelieman at 6:24 AM on February 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Notice how when she really opens up, she goes slightly more off-axis to the microphone. Not a lot, but she knows what she wants. She knows how to listen for it in the headphones, and she knows how to get it.
posted by mikelieman at 6:24 AM on February 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I didn't think I was going to like the song when she started but that was awesome.
posted by shoesietart at 7:04 AM on February 17, 2013
posted by shoesietart at 7:04 AM on February 17, 2013
This was amazing. I've pretty much had this on repeat until I decided to check out the studio session link. This is really, really good.
posted by lizarrd at 12:57 PM on February 17, 2013
posted by lizarrd at 12:57 PM on February 17, 2013
Vibrissae,
thanks for the links - but now I _have_ to post these:
grande, grande, grande
se telefonando
L'immensita' (this is inte 45 in a YT page purporting to show her 100 best songs - I beg to differ)
If the non-Italians amongst you want to hear her voice singing something more familiar, the cover of (the Wings') "My Love" is here (all the background vocals are hers, BTW)
this is Let It Be
These Foolish Things
A Beatles medley live on TV in 1965
Night and Day
Mack The Knife (in Italian)
Finally, for Italians of a (ahem) certain age, this may be a bonus - not for the rest of you, I am afraid, but couldn't help myself.
Right, I've postponed my dinner for an hour for this ;-) now so I'd better go!
posted by MessageInABottle at 1:01 PM on February 17, 2013
thanks for the links - but now I _have_ to post these:
grande, grande, grande
se telefonando
L'immensita' (this is inte 45 in a YT page purporting to show her 100 best songs - I beg to differ)
If the non-Italians amongst you want to hear her voice singing something more familiar, the cover of (the Wings') "My Love" is here (all the background vocals are hers, BTW)
this is Let It Be
These Foolish Things
A Beatles medley live on TV in 1965
Night and Day
Mack The Knife (in Italian)
Finally, for Italians of a (ahem) certain age, this may be a bonus - not for the rest of you, I am afraid, but couldn't help myself.
Right, I've postponed my dinner for an hour for this ;-) now so I'd better go!
posted by MessageInABottle at 1:01 PM on February 17, 2013
She's 61 in that video. She's been performing for more than 40 years.
(Thanks for the links!)
posted by dhoe at 1:06 PM on February 17, 2013
(Thanks for the links!)
posted by dhoe at 1:06 PM on February 17, 2013
MessageInABottle, that thing with Battisti made my day. I was raised on Battisti tapes and love him, and she's exactly what his earnestness needs for true perfection.
posted by dhoe at 1:19 PM on February 17, 2013
posted by dhoe at 1:19 PM on February 17, 2013
To add more links:
Brava composed by Bruno Canfora to showcase her vocal skills.
and also:
Mina and Astor Piazzolla performing his Balada para mi muerte.
posted by lizarrd at 2:21 PM on February 17, 2013
Brava composed by Bruno Canfora to showcase her vocal skills.
and also:
Mina and Astor Piazzolla performing his Balada para mi muerte.
posted by lizarrd at 2:21 PM on February 17, 2013
Oh this is nice. I grew up hearing and seeing a lot of her on tv when she was still appearing in public, and my mum was a big fan so she'd play the records too. I like the description of equal parts Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, both in terms of vocal style and attitude.
To me, and a lot of Italians, one of her most iconic performances that hasn't been mentioned yet would be her duet with actor Alberto Lupo, "Parole parole" (wikipedia has some info in English on the song).
She also did a sort of parody of it with Adriano Celentano (with the same lyrics but roles reversed, him playing the part she played as the woman in the original - basically it's a couple arguing, in the original the woman is telling the man things like you never change, it's all just words, just empty promises and empty gestures, while he tries to win her back with more and more overblown declarations of love; in the parody it's Celentano dismissing her advances, it's from a now ancient era of Italian state tv but still pretty funny - the bit where he's throwing candy and roses from his pockets is a literal parody of the lyrics, they say something like "I don't want anymore sweets, your roses and your violins this evening you can give them to somebody else").
posted by bitteschoen at 2:46 PM on February 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
To me, and a lot of Italians, one of her most iconic performances that hasn't been mentioned yet would be her duet with actor Alberto Lupo, "Parole parole" (wikipedia has some info in English on the song).
She also did a sort of parody of it with Adriano Celentano (with the same lyrics but roles reversed, him playing the part she played as the woman in the original - basically it's a couple arguing, in the original the woman is telling the man things like you never change, it's all just words, just empty promises and empty gestures, while he tries to win her back with more and more overblown declarations of love; in the parody it's Celentano dismissing her advances, it's from a now ancient era of Italian state tv but still pretty funny - the bit where he's throwing candy and roses from his pockets is a literal parody of the lyrics, they say something like "I don't want anymore sweets, your roses and your violins this evening you can give them to somebody else").
posted by bitteschoen at 2:46 PM on February 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
And for those who are more curious, I just a remembered a more recent amusing bit by Mina (after those tv sketches she did sometimes in the 60s and 70s), this was a song from the 80s, when she'd already kind of disappeared, "Ma chi è quello lì" - the video features Monica Vitti, legendary Italian comedy actress. It's a silly song about a woman spotting a hot guy at the supermarket and going crazy and wanting to chat him up and all (the lyrics are a reiteration of 'who's that guy near the peppers/cooked ham/frozen foods etc.' and then bits about her losing her mind and trying to find a way to talk to him, maybe ask him for a recommendation about tomatoes - it's all made to rhyme in a funny way if you know some Italian). It's a cover, the original was sung by a man spotting a hot woman at the supermarket, so, some role reversal there too.
And, oh, here's another completely different kind of cover - in the 90s she was one of the first to champion a now established Italian alternative rock band, Afterhours, she did a cover of one of their tracks - Tre volte dentro me (Original here).
posted by bitteschoen at 3:25 PM on February 17, 2013
And, oh, here's another completely different kind of cover - in the 90s she was one of the first to champion a now established Italian alternative rock band, Afterhours, she did a cover of one of their tracks - Tre volte dentro me (Original here).
posted by bitteschoen at 3:25 PM on February 17, 2013
Thanks dhoe,
I think what started all that (and apologies for Italians who will re-live their childhood when _any_ old B&W file in their summer afternoons seem to start this song) was this...
but for all our non-Italian friends I've found My Sharona, Sorry seems to be the hardest word, If You Leave Me Now, Can't take my eyes off of you, Careless Whisper, "you get me" with Seal...
for those of us who also are Billy Joel fans (as MF is a discerning bunch, hopefully quite a few), here is a bonus.
and just for dhoe...this is for you - enjoy, pal!
I need to got bed to _pretend_ to function tomorrow....It's 00.40 here in LDN.....please click on the links, Mina is SUCH an amazing singer she deserves to be known by you, even if you're very far away.
Cheers
posted by MessageInABottle at 4:43 PM on February 17, 2013
I think what started all that (and apologies for Italians who will re-live their childhood when _any_ old B&W file in their summer afternoons seem to start this song) was this...
but for all our non-Italian friends I've found My Sharona, Sorry seems to be the hardest word, If You Leave Me Now, Can't take my eyes off of you, Careless Whisper, "you get me" with Seal...
for those of us who also are Billy Joel fans (as MF is a discerning bunch, hopefully quite a few), here is a bonus.
and just for dhoe...this is for you - enjoy, pal!
I need to got bed to _pretend_ to function tomorrow....It's 00.40 here in LDN.....please click on the links, Mina is SUCH an amazing singer she deserves to be known by you, even if you're very far away.
Cheers
posted by MessageInABottle at 4:43 PM on February 17, 2013
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While seated.
posted by 3.2.3 at 8:46 PM on February 16, 2013 [1 favorite]