Fabrizio De Andre´`s Le nuvole: Italy`s disillusionment at

Article
Fabrizio De André’s Le
nuvole: Italy’s
disillusionment at the
end of the 1980s
Forum Italicum
2015, Vol. 49(2) 532–544
! The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0014585815586707
foi.sagepub.com
Guendalina Carbonelli
Independent scholar, Italy
Abstract
Fabrizio De André’s Le nuvole (1990) recreates and denounces the social apathy that
characterized Italy from the end of the 1980s until the early 1990s. Exemplary of De
André’s criticism towards Italy’s society, Le nuvole illustrates the artist’s maturity as a
social commentator. In this album, De André explicitly takes the stance of the engaged
intellectual not only in the songs of the album but also in the many interviews that
accompanied its release. Together with this copious corollary commentary, this article
analyses in particular side A of Le nuvole. The songs on side A are more explicitly critical in
their focus on oppressive powers, the waning of engagement and riflusso, the social shift
towards materialism and hedonism, and the dawn of the Berlusconi era.
Keywords
Aristophanes, Silvio Berlusconi, cantautori, Renato Curcio, Fabrizio De André, Le Nuvole,
riflusso, Adriano Sofri
1. A hedonistic attitude
In 1990, with Le nuvole, Fabrizio De André returned to look at the Italian context
after a period of withdrawal from Italian affairs during which he had turned his
attention to the Mediterranean area with the album Creuza de mä (De André, 1984)
which was entirely in Genoese dialect. Le nuvole can be considered a concept album
of socio-political criticism that, thanks to its structure, allows room for De André’s
bourgeoning interest in dialects. Dialects, which on side B contrast with Italian on
side A, become instrumental to the singer’s social criticism. This article, however,
focuses in particular on the songs of side A (“Le nuvole”, “Ottocento”, “Don
Raffae’” and “La domenica delle salme”), those most markedly engaged with
Corresponding author:
Guendalina Carbonelli, Via Panza 2, 15046 San Salvatore Monferrato (AL), Italy.
Email: [email protected]
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Italy’s socio-political situation at the end of the 1980s. In the wake of Creuza de mä,
Le nuvole proved a new success and in a few months sold more than 300,000 copies.
A tour in theatres followed in various legs until 1993.
The title, Le nuvole, draws from Aristophanes’s satire M"’Œai (Nephelai),
literally translated in English as The Clouds and in Italian as Le nuvole. However,
unlike Aristophanes’ clouds which refer to the Sophists, De André’s refer to the
powerful people who, doing as they please, hang over the common people:
le mie Nuvole sono . . . da intendersi come certi personaggi ingombranti e incombenti
nella nostra vita sociale, politica ed economica; sono tutti coloro che hanno terrore del
nuovo perché potrebbe sovvertire le loro posizioni di potere. Nella seconda parte
dell’album si muove il popolo, che quelle Nuvole subisce senza dare nessun evidente
segno di protesta. (De André in Harari, 2001: 150)
From Aristophanes De André borrowed not only the title but also the satiric
genre. The focus of the singer’s satire is a society that underwent radical change
during the 1980s. After almost two decades of social turmoil and political protests, Italy experienced the so-called riflusso: a shift from social engagement
towards personal and group interests. The country that in the 1960s and 1970s
was the most politicized in Europe experienced in the 1980s the deepest rejection
of collective values (Crainz, 1996: 245). The institutional innovations seemingly
announced by the students’ and workers’ movements failed to materialize, and
the 1980s proved a period of political restoration (Ginsborg, 1998: 259–290). In
the second half of the 1970s, the Partito Comunista Italiano’s (PCI) steady loss of
voters among the younger generation was symptomatic of the disenchantment
with the ideology that sustained previous social battles (Crainz, 2003: 581–582,
586–587). The social revolution had failed, and with it any hope for change.
Collective efforts turned into individualistic ones, which found support in a
favorable economic turn (Crainz, 2003: 590–591). Exports boosted the economy
(Ginsborg, 1990: 409) and some traditional Italian crafts turned into industries
that produced world-renowned status symbols. The hedonistic attitude of this
period thrived at the expense of socio-political participation. Many left-wing
party and movement activists disavowed their past and embraced new ‘go-getting’
beliefs. The transformations and events of the 1980s laid the basis for what Italy
has experienced and undergone in the last 30 years, from “Mani pulite” to the
appearance of “Forza Italia.”
Le nuvole criticizes what Italy became during the 1980s: ‘Una barca che fa acqua
da tutte le parti, tanto è carica di oggetti di consumo, di cianfrusaglie inutili, di status
symbol idioti. Finisce che chi ci vive dentro si accorge che il naufragio è vicino, ma
non si muove, non fa niente per gettare a mare l’inutile e il superfluo, perché ormai
quelle paccottiglie le considera necessarie’ (De André in Romana, 1991: 144–145).
De André was aware that he belonged to the same society he was attacking and that
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for this reason his criticism might sound hypocritical or illegitimate. He explained his
position on several occasions:
Il problema vero è stato concepire un album come Le nuvole, dove chi critica la società
in cui vive ne è più che discretamente coinvolto, e sicuramente anche in parte responsabile. La contraddizione, solo apparentemente derivava dal fatto di non volerla accettare mendicando dall’inconscio pudibondi istinti di dissociazione e di autoassoluzione.
Afferrato il problema, mi è stato facile sdoppiarmi e oggettivamente descrivere la vita
dei porci continuando soggettivamente a fare il porco, tanto più che nessuno potrebbe
descrivere meglio il porcile di quanto possa fare il maiale; tenendo semmai presente
soltanto una distinzione di carattere più quantitativo che non qualitativo: vale a dire che
io, piccolo suino, avrei descritto i sentimenti e i comportamenti di suini molto più grandi
di me. (Harari, 2001: 149)
By this time, the promotion of each of De André’s new releases was carefully
planned, with countless interviews preceding and following them. Studying the
documents held at the Archivio De André (diaries, notes, correspondence, written
preparations for interviews, faxes, etc), it becomes evident that the records from the
last decade of De André’s life, roughly commensurate with the 1990s, are far more
numerous than all the previous ones put together. Clearly, part of the reason for this
is that the documents, being more recent, had less chance of being lost. In addition,
by then De André was a famous figure and more care was taken by his entourage to
preserve material generated by or related to him. By the late 1980s to early 1990s –
after the success of Creuza de mä and roughly coinciding with the release of Le nuvole
– he had become a well-established voice in Italy’s public debate. By then the construction of his “engaged artist” persona was complete and it is likely that those
around him (and possibly he himself) were aware of the legacy he would leave.
Moreover, the production of these documents had become greater with his increased
involvement with the media, which remained hungry for his presence in whatever
form and which he skilfully used in order to promote his work or to raise issues that
concerned him. The growth of his popularity and perceived authority also meant
that his interviews, appearances and statements on public issues increased, due both
to his interest in such matters and because of demands from journalists. For instance,
in Luigi Viva’s biography of De André we are told that before the rehearsal of a
concert in 1991 he declared to the media:
Sono incazzato, indignato per aver visto duecentomila metalmeccanici in piazza a
raccontare i loro problemi di sopravvivenza. Erano lı̀ non per difendere un’ideologia
fatta di slogan o altro, ma per palesare l’incapacità, l’impossibilità di tirare avanti, di
sopravvivere: questo mi procura disagio. Mi indigna però anche il fatto che si curi un
ricco europeo con organi umani provenienti dal Terzo mondo, che si usi quella gente
solo per i “pezzi di ricambio”. E il fatto che le mie canzoni procurino questo tipo di
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emozione, di disagio, implica, secondo me, che c’è in giro tanta gente incazzata, disgustata per come vanno certe cose. Chi non prova questo disagio stia attento, perché la
corda può essere tirata sino a un certo punto . . .. Le canzoni entrano a far parte del
patrimonio culturale di un popolo, sono parte della coscienza, se non altro a livello
subliminale, dunque possono essere un buon deterrente. È questa la loro importanza.
(De André in Viva, 2000: 211–212)
De André took a stance that he believed had been stifled; he wanted to denounce,
which he believed was one of the artist’s responsibilities (see Carbonelli, 2012, 2015):
Fino a dodici, quindici anni fa sentivi ancora circolare una voglia di protesta,
oggi . . . ognuno si fa i fatti suoi, nei limiti in cui il potere glielo consente. Io come gli
altri . . . vivo da benestante in una società di benestanti amministrata da benestanti,
soffia un vento di mostruosità che respiro e subisco come tutti . . . Cosı̀, accanto all’indecenza di regime, facciamo circolare l’indecenza della . . . rassegnata assuefazione.
Questo è appunto un disco su questa doppia indecenza, che forse a molti di noi sta bene
ma se mi spavento è perché mi chiedo come vivranno i miei figli e i miei nipoti, in questa
realtà dove il mondo si prepara a essere governato da un’unica potenza mondiale . . . dove la politica si è impadronita di qualsiasi espressione umana, dove ci sono i
De Paperoni e i loro mandanti e padrini politici, c’è Bush che con la benedizione di
Gorbaciov il lituano manda le sue navi nel Golfo Persico per difendere il petrolio che
poi lui pagherà con i soldi dei monopoli e noi, che abbiamo mandato le nostre bagnarole
in suo appoggio, lo pagheremo quaranta dollari il bicchiere. Ci siamo noi artisti che
avremmo dovuto stimolarla di più, questa protesta, c’è la tivù che salvo rarissime
occasioni fa di tutto per spegnerla, addormentandoci tutti con i suoi gas esilaranti, di
regime. (De André in Romana, 1991: 147)
The structure of Le nuvole highlights precisely this shift in attitude. The first piece is a
recitative introduced by the chirp of cicadas. The voices of two women of different
ages, both with a Sardinian accent, describe the clouds, their coming-and-going,
their colors and various shapes. Every element of the recitative combines to give
the impression of a bucolic setting. However, the last verse reveals the metaphoric
nature of the idyll and the fake nature of the “clouds” that in their coming-and-going
stand between the people and the sky without appeasing the human desire for rain.
The two women represent the lower classes in their relationship with powerful individuals, a relationship that is often characterized by a feeling of frustration and
powerlessness.
The next three songs, “Ottocento”, “Don Raffae’” and “La domenica delle
salme” describe “the clouds” obscuring Italy’s people. De André decided to write
and sing side A of Le nuvole in Italian, even though regional accents and idioms are
very frequent. Two main reasons influenced this choice. The first was to enable the
listener’s understanding of the criticism he was carrying out; the second was linked to
his interpretation of the role of Italian and dialects. In fact, according to De André
Italian is the language of power and domination; dialects, however, belong to the
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people. Drawing from Pasolini, De André considered dialects proof of authenticity:
‘Pasolini diceva che il dialetto è il popolo, e il popolo è l’autenticità’ (Sanna, 2009:
88). The lyrics of these songs are particularly dense and require full attention. As a
result, the musical component sometimes assumes a secondary role. In “La domenica delle salme”, for instance, the lyrics were written first and then left unaltered; the
music was later “glued” onto them (Harari, 2007: 222).
“Ottocento” is a farce in the style of an operetta, an opera buffa from the 19th
century. Cynically exalting an age of wealth and blind positivity, De André’s
feigned baritone voice mocks the superficiality and materialism of the 1980s
which he deemed similar to the blind optimism of the previous century. By
this time De André had become more and more a public figure. He had
become more extroverted and self-confident. The shy, neurotic, terrified performer, who had too often been drunk and unable to move from the chair he
sat in on stage, had disappeared. The new De André was a confident, all-round
entertainer, someone unafraid to engage with the public and to make fun of
himself, sometimes performing “Ottocento” wearing a tuxedo and adopting the
stance of an opera singer. By using the operatic vocal style, De André characterizes the protagonist of the song:
è un modo di cantare falsamente colto, un fare il verso al canto lirico, suggeritomi dalla
valenza enfatica di un personaggio che più che un uomo è un aspirapolvere: aspira e
succhia sentimenti, affetti, organi vitali ed oggetti di fronte ai quali dimostra un univoco
atteggiamento mentale: la possibilità di vederli e comprarli. La voce semi-impostata mi
è sembrata idonea a caratterizzare l’immaginario falso-romantico di un mostro incolto
e arricchito. (De André in Susanna, 1990: 302)
In “Ottocento” a family’s father praises all his possessions, his daughter and son
included. Any sign of morality seems lost and everything has a value as long as this
value is economic and utilitarian. According to Mauro Pagani, “Ottocento” should
have been the title of the entire album because
alla fine degli anni ’80 tirava un’aria decisamente ottocentesca: classi divise per censo e
non più per nobiltà di nascita, religiosità apparente . . .. Un impero vince e gestisce la
dissoluzione dell’altro. Sembrava di essere nel 1815, al crollo di Napoleone e dell’
aristocrazia, con l’ascesa della classe Borghese. (Bertoncelli, 2003: 134)
“Don Raffae’” addresses a common situation in Italy where those in need of help and
support often turn to criminal organizations rather than the inefficient State. The
song depicts the sentiment of reverence and admiration that binds a prison guard to a
Camorra boss incarcerated at Poggioreale, Naples. Many recognized in Don Raffae’
the Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo who was incarcerated in 1979, even though De
André and Pagani always maintained that the protagonist of the song was not based
on Cutolo. However, Cutolo’s self-recognition in Don Raffae’ produced a brief
exchange of correspondence between the boss and De André.1
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During a concert in Roccella Jonica on 14 August 1998, De André commented on
“Don Raffae’” with a statement about the role of the mafia in reducing unemployment. Once again, as was happening more and more often, De André used a concert
to engage directly with the public on social issues: “È un dato di fatto, ed è un
terribile dato di fatto, che in Italia mi pare ci sia un 12,5% di disoccupati. Se non
ci fossero camorra, mafia e ’ndrangheta probabilmente saremmo al 25%” (Archivio
Fabrizio De André IV/130 (M.1-13)). Although the public welcomed this provocative statement with laughter,2 De André’s words started a public debate in the major
national newspapers about the appropriateness of such declarations (Archivio
Fabrizio De André IV/130 (M.1-13); A.V., 1998: 4; Biondi, 1998: 4; Corriere della
Sera, 1998: 13; Dan.Am., 1998: 4; Macri, 1998: 15; Sergi, 1998: 20), to which he
responded:
. . . era una delle mie consuete provocazioni. Volevo dire che paradossalmente la
criminalità organizzata diminuisce il tasso di disoccupazione. In realtà accanto alle
organizzazioni criminali più vistose metto anche quelle che io chiamo le “spa/ad”
cioè Società per Azioni a delinquere, cioè quelle dalle tante attività apparentemente
lecite dietro alle quali si muovono affari loschi e sulle quali nessuno si è mai sognato di
indagare. Ecco probabilmente senza queste arriveremmo addirittura al cinquanta per
cento di disoccupazione. Insomma il sommerso e l’illecito sono da una parte il nostro
dramma e dall’altra attenuano in qualche modo il problema della disoccupazione.
(Macri, 1998: 15)
2. Gloomy Sunday
The light and farcical tone of “Don Raffae’” is suffocated by the gloom of “La
domenica delle salme”, which was added to give more weight to an otherwise
rather flimsy collection. The title of the song echoes the festive day of Palm
Sunday (in Italian “Domenica delle Palme”) but turns it into a post-catastrophic
moment by replacing the word ‘palme’ (‘palms’) with the word ‘salme’ (‘corpses’).
With an interlacing of images, reminders and often unrecognizable cues, De André
sketches the complex image of an Italy, which could be in the present or the future,
that is clearly on the verge of doom. “La domenica delle salme”, which De André
wrote by drawing on short notes taken from books, newspapers,3 television programs, or anything that struck his imagination, results in a sort of oracle.4 Like a
jigsaw, each verse is a piece of a multifaceted Italy in ruin. In two verses De André
stresses the general change in attitude towards ideology and engagement that took
place in the 1980s when carelessness and hedonism subdued any glimpse of
ideological faith and the violent clashes between protesters and police that had
characterized the 1970s. De André describes an eerie reality where some sort of
laughing gas swept away any concern from the streets and no one got hurt. The
funeral procession of the “dead ideal” was crammed and people sang “quant’è bella
giovinezza non vogliamo più invecchiare.” De André also blames the general state of
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ideological apathy on those who are supposed to set an example of social engagement, among whom are artists. In particular, De André points the finger at singers
(and by using the pronoun “we” he includes himself in this) who had preferred to
“prostitute” their art by following the general trend of disengagement than to fulfil
their duty to denounce.
As far as current socio-politics are concerned, De André mentions the wave of
immigrants from Eastern Europe that reached its peak in the early 1990s. In doing
so, he does not dwell upon the uneasiness and fear that many Italians experienced
before the first case of mass immigration in contemporary Italy but, consistent with
his poetic concern for minorities, on the hardship and humiliation endured by immigrants. He stresses the contrast between the situations of Italians and immigrants by
describing the Polish people who survive the hardship of their condition by kneeling
at traffic lights to wash cars going to the seaside.
De André briefly hints at political changes by referring to the recrudescence of
Nazi movements in Europe. He explicitly points the finger at this phenomenon by
keeping a low register and comparing Nazism to a monkey whose “ass” is naked and
visible to everyone. And in order to represent the geopolitical shifts taking place at
the end of the 1980s, he uses the image of capitalistic-consumerist monuments built
at the expense of communism, whose bulwarks in Eastern Europe were crumbling
figuratively and materially:
la piramide di Cheope5
volle essere ricostruita in quel giorno di festa
masso per masso
schiavo per schiavo
comunista per comunista
(“La domenica delle salme”)
Given that Le nuvole was released in September 1990, it is possible to suppose that
with these verses De André referred to the fall of the Berlin Wall, on the rubble of
which a new ideal monument and idol to the consumerist religion of the Western
world was built.
The song also directly mentions some specific current affairs, such as the
imprisonment of the terrorist Renato Curcio who in the song has his leg amputated
in prison. In reality Renato Curcio never had his leg amputated but this divergence
from reality allows De André to compare Curcio’s experience to that of the carbonaro Piero Maroncelli who was incarcerated in 1820 with his friend Silvio Pellico.
Maroncelli lost his leg during his imprisonment at the Špilberk fortress. The comparison exposes the precarious living conditions endured by convicts inside Italian
prisons. But, more importantly, the reference to Curcio contributes to an ongoing
debate about the treatment of “pentiti”:
mi sembra una delle tante vergogne della nostra società, che si vedano circolare per le
nostre strade e per le nostre piazze, piazza Fontana compresa, autori di stragi, o
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pluriomicidi, mentre Renato Curcio, che non ha mai assassinato nessuno, è in galera da
più lustri e nessuno fa niente per tirarlo fuori. Perché? Credo sia perché non si è
“pentito”, non si è dissociato, non ha usato il salvagente di quella nuova legge che
certamente non appartiene al mio tipo di morale, ed evidentemente neanche al suo.6
(Romana, 1991: 146)
Besides these specific and recognisable references, “La domenica delle salme” offers
some more visionary cues that become particularly significant when read a posteriori.
Among these is the industrial relocation to Eastern Europe, which in the early 1990s
was still underway:
i trafficanti di saponette
mettevano pancia verso est7
(“La domenica delle salme”)
De André’s reference to a piece of news – the episode of a homeless man set on
fire by a neo-Nazi group (see Romana, 2005) – almost turns into prophecy when
he decides to link it to the Baggina. Baggina is the popular name of the retirement house Pio Albergo Trivulzio in Milan, where the investigations of “Mani
pulite” started only two years after the release of “La domenica delle salme”. The
links to what was happening or about to happen in Italy when Le nuvole was
released are therefore intentional and direct but also unintentional and readable
only with hindsight. The web of references is not limited to De André’s intentions
but is completed by the listener who already knows what happened next. For
instance, to today’s listener the reference to the “ministro dei temporali” is almost
inevitably evocative of Umberto Bossi, founder of the North League. The image
works on two different levels. First, it is not far-fetched to compare Bossi’s personality and political attitude to thunder; but also the “ministry of thunder”
recalls pagan mythical deities such as those adored by the Celtic people from
whom the early North League would claim northern Italians descend. It is,
however, unlikely that De André intended to refer to Umberto Bossi since in
1990 he had not yet become a relevant political figure.
Side A closes as it opens – with the sound of cicadas that represents the only voice
of protest still audible in Italy, which is none. Instead of a celebratory Sunday, “la
domenica delle salme” is a day of mourning for the death of Utopia, that is, those
ideals that guide a people to try to better their country. The illusive carefree and
peaceful state that Italy was experiencing was in fact a dystopian reality characterised by a post-apocalyptic stillness which De André calls “pace terrificante.” The
singer clarifies this oxymoron in an annotation in which he links this idea of peace
with the already mentioned pyramid of Cheops:
La vita il bene più importante? Dipende dalla sua qualità. Operazioni di “polizia”
perché il mondo sia in pace: attenzione che non sia una pace terrificante. Anche gli
schiavi che costruirono la piramide di Cheope erano impossibilitati a fare la guerra,
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erano tenuti in vita per lavorare. Credo che chiunque di loro avrebbe preferito la guerra
con il rischio della morte, piuttosto di quella orribile pace. (Archivio Fabrizio De André
IV/146 (T.13-20) T/16)
De André’s autograph on a personal diary that reads “La piramide di
Berluschéope”8 openly hints to a huge monument symbol of Berlusconi’s
empire which he defines as “un monumento aberrante e inutile” (De André in
Franchini, 2000: 57). This statement helps to understand the context in which
“La domenica delle salme” should be placed. The “terrifying peace” is the result
of a process of normalization that anesthetized the population, making it
incapable of protest or even indignation, one that changed Italy’s shared sense of
morality and ambitions. The consequences of this social transformation are even
clearer today: the first private televisions in the 1980s offered a model for society that
has today become a real social paradigm. What was fantasy behind a screen 30 years
ago is today a concrete, practiced reality. Berlusconi-style television has turned into
Berlusconi-style Italy. By now, many studies have been dedicated to this topic.9
Between the 1980s and 1990s, politics, and the country in general, were characterized
by “lo spregio delle regole, il crescente disinteresse per i valori collettivi, un privilegiamento dell’affermazione individuale e di gruppo che considera le norme un
impaccio” (Crainz, 2003: 604). This last trait became the backbone of Berlusconi’s
liberal politics in the 1990s. According to this politics, individual initiative ought not
to be restricted by regulations (see Ginsborg, 2005) so that, consequently, private
interests come before collective ones. These same values – a mix of ambition, consumerism, familism or clan loyalty – had been portrayed by Berlusconi’s private
television stations since the early 1980s and had penetrated Italian society. As
Ginsborg writes, Berlusconi was not just about to become President of the
Council of Ministers; he presided “over the imagination of a consistent segment of
the nation” (Ginsborg, 2005: 110). And, most likely, he could not have become the
former without being the latter.
Instrumental in this transformation that Italian society underwent were the
people themselves, like the slaves who built Cheops’s pyramid:
. . . sul finire degli anni Ottanta la gente aveva perso a tal punto il senso della propria
dignità che si viveva in una specie di limbo, dove nessuno aveva più voglia di protestare, figuriamoci poi di ribellarsi: non c’è niente di più idoneo, perché il potere
possa compiere i propri misfatti nella più assoluta impunità. Si continua ad affermare
la priorità del mercato – ormai anche la politica è attraversata da grandi ventate di
affarismo, non sempre lecito – e con essa la morte delle ideologie: cosı̀ si educa la
gente al ripudio degli ideali. Questa rassegnata abulia, che coinvolgeva anche artisti
un tempo “impegnati”, i giornalisti non di regime e politici d’opposizione, è sintetizzata nel finale de “La domenica delle salme”, dove si parla di “pace terrificante”,
mentre “il cuore d’Italia si gonfia in un coro di vibrante protesta”. Sennonché la
protesta ha la voce di un coro di cicale, scelto a emblema del menefreghismo collettivo. (De André in Romana, 2005: 138)
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The 1980s was characterised by a light-hearted and hedonistic attitude that, despite
echoing to some extent the hopes of the economic boom, closed with ghastly disillusionment and the collapse of all ideals. According to De André, the people are not
just victims of the situation but, because of their lack of action and sense of responsibility, are accountable for this transformation.
3. Conclusion
Le nuvole sheds light on key aspects of a period of transition for Italian society. By
analysing phenomena such as the riflusso, immigration and the disengagement and
apathy that hit Italy after particularly difficult years – the dawn of Berlusconi’s era –
this album offers a new interpretation of two topics very dear to De André that are
transversal to his entire oeuvre: the relation between powers and people and individual responsibility (Carbonelli, 2012).
By the 1980s, De André was very well known and was supported by a large
fan base, the members of which bought each new album as a matter of course.
The success of Creuza de mä accorded him a credibility that sped up the construction and maturation of his public persona as an engaged oppositional artist.
With success came a gradual increase in his public profile and increased respect
for his opinions on public issues. By then he could disseminate his challenging
stances more easily and with less resistance from the general public. Hence his
definitive legitimation as an artist coincided with his legitimation as a social
commentator (Carbonelli, 2012, 2015). In fact, De André’s comments on public
issues in the media increased proportionally with his popularity.10 In his early
interviews there are hardly any questions or statements on social issues, but they
became more and more frequent over time. In time, the public not only expected
him to make declarations about his work, it wanted to know his opinion on
various issues, as if the recognition of his work coincided with the recognition
of his stance.
The definitive proof of the legitimation of his role as a social commentator came
with the album Le nuvole. Although loaded with social criticism the album was well
received, so much so that De André had ironically to question his role as a critical
voice: “Non mi piace affatto il successo del disco. Digeriscono tutto. Cosa dobbiamo
fare per scuoterli? Darci fuoco in piazza Duomo?” (Simone, 1990: 290). As he had
already tried to do on several occasions, and in particular during the 1970s with the
albums La buona novella (De André, 1970) and Storia di un impiegato (Carbonelli,
2012; De André, 1973), De André explicitly took the role of the socially engaged
artist who carries out what he considered one of the duties of the artist: social
criticism.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or
not-for-profit sectors.
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Notes
1. Archivio Fabrizio De André (Cutolo’s letter: II 1991 febbraio 18 (sc. 2 Z. 37-40/2010).
Poems that Cutolo sent to De André: II 1991 febbraio 18 (sc. 2. Z. 1-27/2010). De André’s
answer: II – 1991 (D. 1-2): ‘desidero ringraziarLa per il Suo cortese apprezzamento delle
mie canzoni ed in particolare per “Don Raffae’” nel cui personaggio Lei si è compiaciuto di
riconoscersi’. Cutolo’s reply: II 1991 maggio 6 (sc. 2. Z. 31-36/2010). Cutolo: II 1992 aprile
8 (sc. 2. Z. 41-44/2010)). Romana writes that in writing “Don Raffae’” De André drew
inspiration form Marotta degli Alunni del sole, “‘dove c’è un certo don Vito,’ ricordò
Fabrizio, ‘che alla sera raduna tutti quanti e legge loro il giornale spiegando le
notizie del giorno’” and from Giovanni Spadolini “che dopo non so più che strage mafiosa
andò a Palermo e annunciò: ‘Sono costernato e indignato, m’impegno . . .’” (Romana,
2005: 136).
2. At which De André replies, “tante volte si ride per non piangere” (Archivio Fabrizio De
André IV/130 (M.1-13)).
3. “Questa visione di un mondo in avanzato stato di disfacimento ci arriva da numerosissimi
indicatori. Basta leggere gli articoli di giornalisti come Sandro Viola, Vittorio Zucconi e
qualche altro: ecco, sono loro i miei ispiratori sotterranei, i ‘complici segreti’ che vorrei
invitare a iscriversi alla Siae, perché anche loro, come fornitori di un’intuizione originaria,
dovrebbero ricevere la loro quota di diritti d’autore” (De André in Romana, 1991: 145).
4. “[La domenica delle salme] riletta col senno di poi, con l’occhio attento della cronaca d’oggi,
potrebbe essere un ritratto non tanto dell’Italia a cavallo tra gli anni Ottanta e i Novanta,
ma dell’Italia in cui stiamo vivendo” (Romana, 2005: 138).
5. “Un monumento aberrante e inutile, direi berlusconiano” (De André in Franchini, 2000:
57). Agenda del Credito lombardo, 31 maggio, 132/3 (image in Valdini, 2009: 413), De
André’s autograph reads: “La piramide di Berluschéope.”
6. In 1997, after almost two decades on trial, Adriano Sofri was found guilty of being the
instigator of the murder of Luigi Calabresi, a police officer. Just before being arrested, Sofri
was photographed holding De André’s latest album, Anime Salve (De André, 1996), in his
hand. Commenting on the fact, De André said, “Sofri molti anni fa dichiarò a un quotidiano che qualche mia canzone dei primi anni Sessanta aveva anticipato alcuni degli
argomenti che sarebbero diventati in seguito temi fondamentali della rivolta del ’68. Può
quindi trattarsi di un caso il fatto che sia stato fotografato con Anime salve, ma non è
affatto un caso che era nella lista delle persone che io desideravo ricevessero il disco”
(Pastarini, 1997: 383). De André compares Sofri’s situation to Curcio’s and explains,
“La legge si trasforma in una esibizione del potere dello Stato. Non è importante che
colpisca il colpevole o l’innocente, che nella sentenza si trasferisca la giustizia, ma è semplicemente un’esibizione di forza. Non riesco a definire le tre sentenze Sofri se non come
terroristiche, ma del resto questo fenomeno dello Stato che deve mostrare i muscoli è
ricorrente. Pensiamo al caso Tortora, ma anche a molti innocenti che non hanno un
nome noto” (Travaglini, 2009: 72).
7. In Ruggero Jacobbi’s Poesia brasiliana del Novecento (1973), De André underlines the
following verses from Raul Bopp’s poem Storia: “Il Brasile mise su pancia / dal lato
Ovest,” p. 153 (Archivio Fabrizio De André). For an analysis of De André’s literary
sources see Benocci (2009).
8. Agenda del Credito lombardo, 31 maggio, 132/3 (image in Valdini, 2009: 413).
9. For a discussion of Berlusconi’s role in Italy see Andrews (2005); Ginsborg (2005); Lane
(2005); Viroli (2012).
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Carbonelli
543
10. See the collection of articles in Sassi and Pistarini (2008) and the drafted interviews held at
the Centro Studi Fabrizio De André.
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