"ITALIA: ULTIMO ATTO" @ JUNGE FREIHEIT (D) by Il Levriero Staff
08/10/2009 at 21:47
Great review @ JUNGE FREIHEIT (D) by Martin Lichtmesz (translation by the author)
"Standing ovations were granted to the Genuese group Ianva at this years Wave- & Gotiktreffen at Lipsia’s fully packed Schauspielhaus theatre. Despite of being primarily known within the Goth & Neofolk-scene, the groups qualities are surpassing this narrow context by far. No band in Europe in these days sounds like Ianva, even though their musical orientation tends to rather classical traditions of chanson, singer-songwriting and Folkrock. Their inspirations range from the epic sound of Ennio Morricone to the lyrical intimacy of Fabrizio de André. But above all, no group around chooses and treats its themes as Ianva does. Since the release of their nostalgic-glamourous debut "Disobbedisco!" three years have past, only interrupted by the Intermezzo of the middle-length CD "L’Occidente". This june Ianva’s second fulltime album has finally been released - and even surpassed their fans high expectations. While the firstling told a melodramatic love story with d’Annunzio’s Fiume adventure in the background, the thematic scope of "Italia: Ultimo Atto" encompasses more than sixty years of Italian history. 70 minutes running time, 13 tracks and an illustrated 30-page-booklet make this album a complex piece of art, that is very demanding on the listener’s attention. The stations of the journey include among other subjects the civil war of 1943-45, the assassination of 1940’s popular star Luisa Ferida by antifascist partisans, the "Foibe"-massacres perpetrated on ethnic Italians at the dalmatian and istrian coast, the sex & drug scandals of the 1950s and the "years of lead" of red and black terrorism. According to official statements of the group with songwriter, singer and mastermind Mercy in the center "Italia: Ultimo Atto" aims to narrate "the moral and spiritual dissolution of a nation" and its more recent past "through the eyes of those who are on the side of the Eternally Defeated: the humble, the idealist, the honest men", those always overrun by the opportunists and corrupted of all times. As the album is being introduced by apocalyptic words from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s "Lutheran epistles", narrated by the popular actor and ex-MTV-host Enrico Silvestrin, it is not surprising that it ends with a pessimistic outlook, in which Italy appears as the sad avantgarde of the West blindly marching into darkness. Ianva’s non-conformist view is as poetical as it is polemical, coming from a perspective that tries to comprehend the nation’s political and cultural fate beyond the categories of "Left" and "Right". Challenging is also the album’s musical treatment. Richly orchestrated and mixed, it reveals only gradually and after repeated listenings it’s full richness and power - which, once having grabbed you, hardly ever lets you go again. Nonetheless as always in Ianva there is no lack of memorable melodies: especially the hymn "Luisa Ferida" sung by the charismatic frontwoman Stefania d’Alterio is the stuff classics are made of".
(Martin Lichtmesz - Junge Freiheit - August 2009)
Our biggest thnx to Martin and all Junge Freiheit Staff!
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