“Naples still remains a paradise crowded with too many devils, who are damaging its public image” (my translation into English of a quote by Salvatore Setola)
This is not the right blog for an exhaustive history of Neapolitan light music, that dates back to Middle Ages and is incredibly rich, especially for variety and worldwide popularity. It would require a long treaty, in various volumes. This is neither the right blog for a serious analysis of the many problems of the city of Naples, that no one seems able to face in positive ways. Well, it is true that the main problem of Naples, its geographical collocation nearby the most dangerous volcanoes all over the world, can’t have any solution. Perhaps, the fascination of Naples is made of various elements, among which the constant presence of the spirit of the underworld, given that active volcanoes have always been seen as possible gates of hell. About that, the writer Salvatore Setola has felt the presence of devils all over the city, even if he defines “devils” the Neapolitans who are damaging the public image of their hometown (read the quote reported at the beginning of the article). In my opinion, the devils of Naples are not persons, but supernatural entities who hold the fate of Naples at hands. More clearly, the peculiarity of the landscape has been decisive in shaping the features of local humanism, that’s the content of the celebrated film “The Gold of Naples” (1954). Neapolitan humanism is rather contradictory, because containing: a mixture of fatalism and of superstitious dynamism; a strong attraction for culture and philosophy; an extraordinary capacity of welcoming foreign visitors, including invaders and soldiers; finally, a notable diffidence towards legality, and a large tolerance for mob organizations. While the motto of Italian patriots during the World War I was “stop to foreigners”, the untold motto of Naples has always been “we love foreigners, and we’re ready to learn as much as we can from them”. A small example, Neapolitan cooking and pastry have been deeply and evidently influenced by French invaders.
During the World War II, American soldiers have changed local culture and costumes. After the war and still nowadays, Naples hosts the largest NATO base of Mediterranean Sea. In the second half of the 70’s, in the USA there was a disco explosion, and the American soldiers of Naples fell ill from disco fever. Neapolitans did everything to please those soldiers. Starting from late 70’s, there was a fast expansion of discotheques, and a drastic change into Neapolitan light music. James Senese, the Naples-born son of an American military officer, became the leader of the band Napoli Centrale, and pioneered a musical revolution, that drove local tunes to jazz, blues, soul, and funky. In the years from 1980 to 1988, Neapolitan soul-blues conquered the entire Italy, and was appreciated even in the USA. The names of the most prominent artists of the cited musical tendency are Pino Daniele, Tullio De Piscopo, Tony Esposito, and Enzo Avitabile. The mash-up of the page is a tribute to the cited artists, and sounds very “Americano”. For what I think, musically speaking, their sound is the renewed gold of Naples.
What’s up today in Naples? You need to know that local University of Oriental Studies is the oldest in Europe, and notably prestigious. Thus, in Naples there are hundreds of persons who can speak a fluent Chinese. Moreover, Neapolitan crime families are the most mind-opened all over the world. For instance, the Casalesi crime family is dominating online illegal betting since various decades. Naturally, information about Neapolitan organized crime is extremely scarce, also because it is deeply rooted inside political correctness. Why? Because Neapolitan mobsters have become privileged interlocutors of the Chinese mafia, which is the powerful, global ruler in the matter of synthetic drugs trafficking, including the doping in professional sports. Only official mass media seem to ignore that European professional soccer is largely influenced by mobsters, Chinese, Neapolitan, and Russian-Ukrainian (Russian mob and Ukrainian mob are two faces of the same coin).
In conclusion, I partially dissent from the quote by Salvatore Setola, and notice that the public image of Naples is far better than what Naples has effectively become. Apart from that, now you can understand the implicit meaning of the title of the page.
File name is “Neapolitan Soul-Blues All Stars Vs Max Look DJ – the renewed gold of Naples (Feb 2025)”, it’s a disco medley of 8’08” at 103,5 BPM, including samples of Tullio De Piscopo – stop bajon (1983), James Senese – tambòo (1988), Pino Daniele – a me me piace ‘o blues (1980), Enzo Avitabile – meglio soul (1983), and Tony Esposito – controra (1982).
