Cantanti Italiani – Sergio Cammariere

Posted by serena
Mar
20
2010

I first discovered the music of Sergio Cammariere about three years ago when a friend lent me his album ‘Dalla Pace del Mare Lontano’ (2002). I was immediately captured by his melodies and his wonderful improvisational piano work. Cammariere mixes the tradition of the Italian ‘Cantautore’ (singer songwriter) with Classical, Jazz, and Latin American influences.

Renowned for his virtuoso technique, Cammariere works alongside some of the top names from the Italian Jazz scene. His songs are emotive and the very poetic lyrics are written by Roberto Kunstler, with whom he has collaborated for many years. I won’t start telling you about all the prizes that he has won, you can easily find that information on the internet, look at this site for example (in Italian): http://www.jazzitalia.net/artisti/sergiocammariere.asp

Here is a video of him performing ‘L’amore non si spiega’

YouTube Preview Image

Here is an extract from the lyrics with my translation:

Cosa non farò per farmi amare
Cosa non farò per dirti che
Cosa non farò per quest’amore
Per dirti cosa sei per me

Dormo ancora solo in questa stanza
Dove al buio i sogni vanno via
Resta solo il peso della mia
Malinconia

L’amore non si spiega
Fa girare il mondo e poi
Se non c’è diventa tutto inutile

Non puoi farne a meno mai
Nemmeno quando poi
Sarà solo silenzio e freddo tra di noi

E volando superando i monti
Verso cieli bianchi di libertà
E volando finchè tutto il mondo
Solamente un punto sembrerà

E ora cosa non farò per amare
Cosa non farò per te
Tu sola sei l’amore
Tu sola sei per me…..

 What wouldn’t I do to make myself loved
What wouldn’t I say to tell you that……
What wouldn’t I do for this love
To tell you what you are for me

I still sleep alone in this room
where dreams go away in the dark
There remains only the weight of my
Melancholy

Love doesn’t explain itself
It makes the world turn and then
If it’s not there everything is useless

You can’t do without it
Not even when there is
Only silence and coldness between us

And flying, going over the mountains
Towards white skies of freedom
And flying until all the world
Seems like just a dot

And now what wouldn’t I do for love
What wouldn’t I do for you
Only you are love
Only you are for me…..

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Gesture of the day – part 3

Posted by serena
Mar
17
2010

It’s time to interpret yet another of those intriguing gestures that we Italians use, and today I’m going to look at one that my uncle Luciano, who is originally from Rome, uses a lot. But before I describe the gesture I need to give you a bit of background information.

Fregarsene

The verb fregarsene means to ‘not give a damn about something’. Let’s say that it is a ‘stronger’ way of saying ‘non mi importa’ (‘it doesn’t matter to me’, or ‘I don’t care’). We even have the typically Italian term ‘menefreghismo’ (‘not to give a damnism’)

The construction of this verb is a little bit confusing, especially as there are two different ways of using it. Here is how it works:

Variation 1.

me ne frego – I don’t give a damn

te ne freghi – you (informal) don’t give a damn

se ne frega – he/she doesn’t give a damn

ce ne freghiamo – we don’t give a damn

ve ne fregate – you (plural) don’t give a damn

se ne fregano – they don’t give a damn

Notice that because it is me or you who is ‘not giving a damn’ the ending of the verb fregare changes accordingly, i.e. io frego,  tu freghi, noi freghiamo etc.

Variation 2.

non me ne frega niente – it doesn’t bother me at all

non te ne frega niente -  it doesn’t bother you (singular informal) at all

non gliene frega niente – it doesn’t bother him/her at all

non ce ne frega niente – it doesn’t bother us at all

non ve ne frega niente – it doesn’t bother you (plural) at all

non gliene frega niente – it doesn’t bother them at all

Warning: you may need to read this next sentence a couple of times before it makes sense!

In this variant, because it is not me that is ‘not bothering’ or ‘giving a damn’ but someone/something else that ‘doesn’t bother me’ fregare is only used in the third person singular (frega), even when the thing that doesn’t bother me is plural, e.g ‘non me ne frega niente di quelle vecchie scarpe, buttale via!’ (I don’t give a damn about those old shoes, throw them away!).

We also say: ‘cosa me ne frega’ (what do I care), ‘cosa te ne frega’ (what do you care) etc.

Il gesto (the gesture):

1. lift your chin as if making a gesture of disdain.

2. imagine that an annoying fly has just landed under you chin and, raising your hand with the palm towards your body, use the backs of you finger tips and nails to brush the fly away with an outward sweeping motion (ladies with long nails or men with bushy beards please take care when practicing this gesture).

This definitely works best if you think to yourself whilst practicing: ‘huh, what a load of rubbish’,  ‘who cares!’, or best of all ‘me ne frego!’

Divertitevi!

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Una Barzelletta

Posted by serena
Mar
14
2010

Well we’ve survived the snow, although things were looking a bit desperate when we were down to our last few scraps of food (Geoff had his eye on one of the village cats but I think it got suspicious and ran off). To make matters worse we only had enough wood left to keep us warm for about three days and it seriously looked like we were going to have to abandon our little house and go to stay with my parents in their centrally heated apartment!

But the sun, ‘O Sole Mio’ has come out of hibernation and is busily telling the nasty snow to ‘andare a quel paese’ as we say. So, time for una barzelletta (a joke) to cheer us up. Every culture seems to have its particular group of people who have became the target for its jokes, and unfortunately here in Italy it is the Carabinieri, those long suffering souls who have to deal with so much of the dirty work in maintaining law and order, who have become the traditional butt of the classic Italian barzelletta. Folk law has it, unjustly of course, that the Carabinieri are distinctly lacking in intelligence, and this is the prevalent theme of the Carabinieri barzellette. Eccone una (here’s one of them):

Quattro Carabinieri stanno attraversando il deserto nella loro macchina. All’improviso, lontani da ogni segno di civiltà, il motore si guasta. I Carabinieri sono costretti ad abbandonare la macchina e, prendendo con sé le quattro portiere, continuano a piedi.

Dopo molte ore di lungo e duro cammino sotto il sole cuocente arrivano ad un’oasi dove si trova un gruppo di beduini.

Dopo averli aiutati e avergli dato da bere uno dei beduini, incuriosito, chiede ai Carabinieri: “Come mai vi sieti portati dietro quelle pesanti portiere per il deserto?”

I Carabinieri rispondono: “Perché così quando fa troppo caldo possiamo abbassare i finestrini!”.

Translation:

Four Carabinieri are crossing the desert in their car. Suddenly, far from any sign of civilization, the motor breaks down. The Carabinieri have to abandon their car and, taking with them the four car doors, continue on foot.

After many long hard hours of walking under the baking sun they arrive at an oasis where they find a group of Bedouins.

After having helped them and given them something to drink, one of the Bedouins, out of curiosity, asks the Carabinieri: “How come you have carried those heavy car doors with you across the desert?”

The Carabinieri reply: “So that when it gets too hot we can wind the windows down!”.

 

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Un’altra veduta dalla mia finestra

Posted by serena
Mar
10
2010
Technorati Tags:

Per tutti coloro a cui è piaciuto il mio blog ‘Una veduta dalla mia finestra’ eccone un altro…

BIANCO!

Sì, c’è neve e basta. Ecco i titoli dal ‘Corriere della Sera’ di oggi:

L’ondata di MALTEMPO – Bora record a Trieste. Chiuso l’aeroporto di Bologna

Gelo e neve, disagi in mezza Italia
Auto e bus bloccati sull’A24

La Protezione Civile ha distribuito acqua e coperte sull’A24. Il racconto: «È stato un inferno»

Questo è uno dei commenti da un lettore del quotidiano:

MA VERGOGNIAMOCI

Era tutto previsto da tempo, da giorni, da settimane! Si sapeva che tra ieri sera e stamane avrebbe nevicato! E siamo di nuovo in EMERGENZA? Una vergogna nazionale, come sempre!

Translation:

For all of those who enjoyed my blog ‘Una veduta dalla mia finestra’ here is another one…

WHITE!

Yes, snow, and nothing else. Here are the headlines from today’s ‘Corriere della Sera’ :

Wave of BAD WEATHER – Record high winds in Trieste. Bologna airport closed.

Ice and snow, inconvenience throughout half of Italy. Cars and busses stuck on the A24 motorway.

Civil Protection Authority has distributed water and blankets on the A24. The story: “It was Hell” 

Here is a comment from a reader of the newspaper:

WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED

Everything had already been predicted for a long time, for days, for weeks! It was known that between yesterday evening and this morning it would snow! And once again we are in a state of EMERGENCY? A national disgrace, as always!

Quindi per tutti i romanticoni tra voi che pensano che abbiamo la vita ideale qua in Toscana ecco un paio di foto che vi dicono la verità. (So for all you romantics who believe that we have the ideal life here in Tuscany here are a few photos that tell you how it really is).

neve 1

This is 86 year old Berto, he has just cleared a path from his house which is 200 meters away! “Vi siete appena alzati”? (Have you only just got up?) he asks.

neve 4

Berto kindly dug a little path to our front door.

neve 3

Geoff joins in with the fun!

neve 2

So that we can get some wood to heat our house.

O.K. time to go because Dina has just arrived with her apron full of freshly laid hen’s eggs, at least we’ll have something to eat if we can’t get into town!

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Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare

Posted by serena
Mar
8
2010

It’s time to pause my series of ‘Gesture of the Day’ blogs for a moment (yes, don’t worry, there are more to come!) and move from il profano al sacro (from the profane to the sacred) in order to commemorate La Festa della Donna (International Women’s Day), which is celebrated here in Italy and in many other countries around the world on the 8th of March.

Last year I wrote about the origins of this festival and the synonymous tradition of the mimosa flower. Today I’m going to translate for you un bellissimo sonetto (a beautiful sonnet) called Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare (So gentle and so dignified she appears) by that greatest of Italian poets Dante Alighieri. Written around the year 1290, this sensuous sonnet is dedicated to Beatrice, Dante’s Donna Angelicata (angel-like woman), who was the font of inspiration for all of his poetic work, including La Divina Commedia.

Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare

la donna mia quand’ella altrui saluta,

ch’ogne lingua devèn tremando muta,

e li occhi no l’ardiscon di guardare.


Ella si va, sentendosi laudare,

benignamente d’umiltà vestuta;

e par che sia una cosa venuta

da cielo in terra a miracol mostrare.


Mostrasi sì piacente a chi la mira,

che dà per li occhi una dolcezza al core

che ‘ntender no la può chi no la prova:


e par che de la sua labbia si mova

un spirito soave pien d’amore,

che va dicendo a l’anima: Sospira.


So gentle and so dignified appears

my lady when she greets others,

that every trembling tongue becomes dumb,

and their eyes do not dare look upon her.


She walks on, hearing herself praised,

benignly clothed in humility;

and seems to be something arrived

from Heaven as a miracle on Earth.


She appears so pleasant to those who looks upon her,

and through her eyes a sweetness touches the heart,

which cannot be understood by those who feel it not:


and it seems that from her lips emanates

a delicate spirit full of love,

that speaks to the soul: Sigh.

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Gesture of the Day – 2

Posted by serena
Mar
4
2010

Continuing my theme of ‘body language’, here, for your entertainment, is another colorful and expressive Italian gesto (gesture):

‘Che Palle!’

(for an explanation of this expression click HERE).

O.K. so once you have done a few warm up exercises and loosened up those limbs we can begin:

1. Place both hands slightly in front of you at hip level, with your fingers open and palms facing upwards.

2. Curve the middle, ring, and little finger of each hand inwards until they touch your palm.

3. Imagine that you are holding an ‘egg’ in each hand using your thumbs and index fingers.

4. Rotating your hands from the wrist slowly shake your ‘eggs’ up and down with a bit of extra emphasis on the downward motion.

Variations: The above description illustrates the gesture for an expression of annoyed boredom. If you are really fed up about something, or extremely bored you can use a more emphatic version of this gesture and include a bit of movement from the elbows. This time imagine that you are holding two heavy ostrich ‘eggs’, and therefore your thumbs and fingers will be further apart.

Now I don’t want to be responsible for a bunch of unruly gesticulating foreigners arriving here in Italy, although I have to admit that watching a coupled of hundred hot tired tourists queuing outside the Uffizzi and making the ‘che palle!’ gesture could be highly entertaining! No, I am simply writing these blogs for your enlightenment.

So, when you have changed your order for the third time in that nice little trattoria down in the piazza and you happen to notice that the long suffering waiter with the weary smile seems to be shaking a couple of invisible ostrich eggs up and down somewhere below his waist as he plods back to the kitchen, you will understand exactly what he means!

Alla prossima

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‘Che t’aggia dì’

Posted by serena
Feb
28
2010

In my imagination, all of you who read my last blog ‘Gesture of the Day’ have been spending hours in front of the mirror practicing and perfecting your moves. Now I won’t pretend that learning body language will improve your grammar, but it will perhaps help you to speak Italian in a more convincing way, that is to ‘feel’ the language rather than just recite it. This is, of course, quite advanced stuff, especially if you come from a culture that doesn’t use a great deal of expressive body language.

As I said in my previous blog, physical gestures are not easy to translate into words ….. so in order to give you a vivid depiction of the gesture ‘che cavolo dici’ (what the ‘cabbage’ are you talking about) here is a link to a great video in which, if you watch carefully you will see this gesture used several times. Watch and learn from the masters!: YouTube Preview Image

The video accompanies a song entitled ‘Che t’aggia dì’, a canzone Napoletana (Neapolitan song) from 1952 which was recorded again in 1998 by Adriano Celentano and Mina. Now don’t worry if you don’t understand ‘un cavolo di niente’ because although neither Adriano Celentano nor Mina are Napoletani they perform the song in dialetto Napoletano (Neapolitan dialect).

Here is an extract from the song and my translation:

‘Che t’aggia dì’

‘What do I have to say’

LUI: che t’aggia fà, che t’aggia dì, tu si bella si bella si bella, ma me deceste prima de spusarme ca tu cucinave bene e invece nu caz hai fatt quanno ce simmo spusate

Him: what do I have to do, what do I have to say, you are beautiful, are beautiful, are beautiful, but before marrying me you said that you cooked well and instead you’ve done ‘cabbage all’ since we got married

LEI: teh … mo’ quanno parli te metti pure a fischià

Her: Huh … now when you speak you even start whistling

LUI: quale fischio? chi ha fischiato?

Him: what whistle? who’s whistled?

LEI: ho sentito un fischio

Her: I heard a whistle

LUI: che t’aggia fà, che t’aggia dì, che t’aggia fà, che t’aggia dì

Him: what do I have to do, what do I have to say, what do I have to do, what do I have to say

LEI: Madonna mia, che vuoi fà…

Her: Madonna mia, what do you want to do…

LUI: tu si bella, tu si bella, ma te l’aggia fà

Him: you are beautiful, you are beautiful, but I have to do it to you

LEI: che cosa??

Her: what??

LUI: te lo devo fare

Him: I have to do it to you

LEI: che cosa??

Her: what??

LUI: ti devo fare un bel paliatone grosso, un paliatone che neanche quando te l’ha fatto tuo padre te lo puoi ricordare

Him: I have to give you a good beating, a beating worse than any that you can remember your father giving you

LEI: teh.. e a chi vuoi fa lu paliatone? Io prima de spusarme ero accussì cuntenta de spusarme cu te, che dicevo, penzavo: chissà quante bella notte d’amore che passava con lui, e invece nu caz hai fat, è inutile che fischi

Her: huh … and who do you want to give the beating to? I, before getting married, was so content to get married to you, I said to myself: who knows how many wonderful nights of love I will pass with him, and instead you haven’t done ‘cabbage’ anything, it’s no good whistling

LUI: chi ha fischiato?

Him: who’s whistled?

LEI: tu non sapive fa l’amore e io me so scucciata
che t’aggia dì, che t’aggia fà, che t’aggia dì, che t’aggia f�
tu nun zai fà l’amore e io nun saccio cucenà

Her: you don’t know how to make love and I am fed up, what do I have to do, what do I have to say, what do I have to do, what do I have to say, you don’t know how to make love and I don’t know how to cook ……  ecc.

N.B. For an explanation of the euphemism ‘cavolo’ (cabbage) see my previous blog: ‘Gesture of the Day’.

Grazie a Vince per avermi accennato del video.

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Gesture of the Day

Posted by serena
Feb
25
2010

In my blog ‘La Dolce Lingua part 2′, I wrote “when we Italians speak we like to use our whole body, not just our mouths!”

This, in fact, is an aspect of our language, indeed our culture, that is very hard to transmit in writing. However, I like a challenge, so I will now attempt the impossible by trying to teach you a few essential gesti (gestures) which, if you spend a bit of time here in Italy you will see used frequently.

Firstly though, as I always try to keep my blogs polite I will need to explain a common euphemism: ‘cavolo!’ (cabbage).

Cavolo is used in such expressions as ‘io non so un cavolo di niente’ (I don’t know cabbage nothing), ‘che cavolo dici?’ (what the cabbage are you talking about?), or ‘che cavolo vuoi?’ (what the cabbage do you want?). Here cavolo is a euphemism for an extremely common parolaccia (swear word) which also begins with ‘ca’ and ends with ‘o’ but has a couple of z’s in the middle. I’m sure a quick search on the internet will give you this wonderfully expressive word!

Allora!, here is today’s gesture: Using only one hand put all of the fingertips and thumb together so that your hand makes a kind of conical shape. Hold the conical hand in front of your body with the palm facing you and with the elbow and wrist bent to form an arc shape. Make sure you have the closed fingertips pointing towards you. Now move the the point of the ‘cone’ towards and away from your body using mainly the wrist but also a bit of arm movement. It may help if you imagine that your hand is a swan’s head with its pointed beak, and your arm is its neck, then imagine that the swan is pecking at but not touching your body. This gesture is the non verbal way of expressing ‘che cavolo vuoi?’ or ‘che cavalo dici?’, and depending on the seriousness of the situation the hand will be higher or lower, and the movement stronger or softer.

For example: Imagine that my friend Michele is telling me that a new and rather senseless regulation has just been passed (of course it would never really happen in Italy!) which will mean that he, as a negoziante (shopkeeper) will be out of pocket. When Michele explains to me the stupidity of this new regulation he uses the gesture described above but with his hand held just below his chest making a relatively gentle movement. In this case the gesture is fairly impersonal, it’s not directed at me but expresses his annoyance with the situation and the stupidity of the people who have devised the new regulation.

If on the other hand I was the bureaucrat who had devised this insidious new rule to rob Michele of his hard earned soldi (money), and I had come into his shop to ‘rompergli le scatole’ (break his ‘boxes’ – yet another euphemism) he may raise his hand up to face level and make a very emphatic gesture with wrist and arm in order to express ‘ma che cavolo vuoi’ in no uncertain terms!

Ciao Michele, grazie per il tuo aiuto con questo blog.

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The Priest Stranglers

Posted by serena
Feb
22
2010

Gli Strozzapreti (The Priest Stranglers): the latest blockbuster thriller produced by the infamous trio Tizio, Caio, and Sempronio? No, but it is a very nice type of gnocchi made with spinach and ricotta cheese. A couple of days ago we went to my parents for lunch and my mother cooked us gli strozzapreti, don’t ask me the origins of this strange name, I only know that they taste delicious and are well worth the effort to make.

Ingredienti

500 gr di spinaci (500 grams of spinach)

200 gr di ricotta (200 grams of ricotta cheese)

30 gr di Parmigiano grattugiato (30 grams of grated Parmesan cheese)

70 gr di farina setacciata (70 grams of plain flour, sifted)

1 uovo (1 egg)

1 cucchiaio di erbe aromatiche fresche tritate come maggiorana, timo, dragoncello (1 tablespoon of fresh herbs finely chopped, e.g. marjoram, thyme, tarragon depending on availability)

Sale e pepe (salt and pepper)

20 gr di burro (20 grams of butter)

Per il condimento: salsa di pomodoro e Parmigiano grattugiato (For the dressing: tomato sauce and grated Parmesan cheese).

Preparazione:

Clean and wash the spinach carefully, and cook it for 4-5 minutes in a saucepan. Drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, and chop it very finely. Put the spinach in a frying pan with the butter on a high heat, and let all remaining humidity evaporate whilst stirring it with a wooden spoon. If you are using frozen spinach, thaw it first and then put it straight in the frying pan with the butter.

Put the prepared spinach in a mixing bowl, add the ricotta cheese, chopped herbs, flour, grated Parmesan cheese, the egg, and the salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, and let the mixture cool down completely. Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil (about 2.5 liters).

With your hands lightly dusted with flour shape the spinach and ricotta mixture into small walnut sized balls, and place them on a plate dusted with flour. Cook the gnocchi in small batches by lowering them into the gently simmering water, return to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes or until the gnocchi float to the surface. Remove the gnocchi from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain them, then transfer them into a Pyrex dish. Cover them with the tomato sauce and the grated Parmesan cheese, and put them in a preheated oven (200C degrees, 400F, Gas Mark 6) for about 20 minutes.

N.B. If you are not used to using metric measurements you could always visit a conversion website such as this one: www.unitconversion.org, or do a search for ‘convert grams to ounces’.

Buon Appetito!

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La Dolce Lingua – part 2

Posted by serena
Feb
19
2010

In my blog ‘La Dolce Lingua’ I wrote: “Now I don’t wish to start a controversy about the expressive merits of one language over another”, ecco, come diciamo in Italiano ‘ultime parole famose’ (as we say in Italian ‘famous last words’).

Well, I had a feeling that this might be a controversial topic for the very reason that language is such a personal matter, it’s so much a part of who we are. There have been some very interesting and enlightening comments added to the first part of this blog, and there is certainly a lot of food for thought. We are in the realms of linguistics, philosophy and aesthetics, aiuto, non sono altro che un umile blogger!

Aesthetics is perhaps one of the most controversial areas of thought, after all ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, a beautiful English expression for which I can’t think of a good equivalent in Italian! My main theme in part one of this blog was the inherent ‘musicality’ of the Italian language, and I chose the Jovanotti lyrics because a. I wanted to use an example from contemporary culture rather than a famous lyric from la musica lirica (opera), and b. these lyrics clearly illustrate one of the important ‘technical’ reasons for the inherent musicality of the Italian language, i.e. the preponderance of words ending in vowels. I am aware, of course, that song lyrics, poetry, and literature are always better in their original language. For example, the famous lyrics ‘Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away’ by Paul McCartney when translated literally into Italian would be ‘Ieri, tutti i miei guai sembravano così lontani’. Try putting the Italian words to the rhythm of the original song and you’ll end up giving yourself a hernia!

However, to quote once again from my first blog “you have to take into account the tonality of spoken Italian, and who can say how much of this is part of the language itself and how much is simply inherent in our cultural temperament.”

For me this is probably one of the keys to the subject. What my friend Vilma was saying is hard to express in a blog for the simple fact that you would have to physically see her explaining her point of view, you would have to see how she uses her body when she speaks. What Vilma meant is not to do with the actual sound of the words piacere and pleasure, but how they are expressed. For Vilma, piacere is something she expresses not just with her heart but with her face and body. N.B. we are not discussing the verb piacere as in ‘mi piace la lingua Italiana’, but piacere as in pure and simple pleasure, i.e. che piacere! (what a pleasure!).

Yes, as you may have noticed, when we Italians speak we like to use our whole body, not just our mouths! In fact, my husband Geoff always maintains that he first really fell for me when he saw me say the word parmigiano, because of the incredibly sexy way that I moved my body when I said it. He believes that if you wanted to devise a terribly cruel torture for an Italian it would be to put them in a straight jacket and make them talk about food!

Speaking of talking, so to speak, we have a love hate relationship with our telefonino (cell phone): we love to use it as often as possible, but we hate to only have one free hand to speak with. This obviously leads to some very dodgy driving when using one’s mobile phone because it necessitates steering with one’s knees.

In the summer when there are more tourists about, one of Geoff’s famous tricks is that of spotting his fellow (English) countrymen and women from a distance, before he has heard them speak. Friends of ours have been incredibly impressed by his rate of accuracy, how does he do it, is there some secret Masonic code? “No”, he says, “I just look out for the total lack of body language, we English try so hard not to stand out from the crowd that we end up standing out from the crowd”.

Stay tuned for part three in which I try to teach you a bit of non-verbal Italian!

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