The Country is Real

Afterhours compilation of indie italian music If we think a moment about the past we can easily realize that the Italian music scene is in a sorry state. In the 60s and the 70s, italian music was made by a higher class of songwriters like De Andrè, Tenco, Paoli and many others who dwarf the poor quality of modern music.

It is not just an Italian problem indeed, because in the last ten years, a relentless decline has hit American music too. The reason is partly cultural, the arts seem since a long time unable to criticize our society, questioning it, reacting against its evils. But the main culprit of the decline of music is probably consumerism itself. Music has long ceased to be art and become a product to sell, buy and consume quickly. It is therefore not required to be of good quality, should only attract the consumer long enough to bring him to spend money.
Western society has also become increasingly conformist and critical artists have disappeared because commercial radios and televisions in the hands of big business and politicians do not give them space. Thus was born Indie music, a broad category that gathers all the music from independent labels that rarely end up in radio and tv or in shopping malls soundtracks, but try to have some content and maintain a decent quality in music and lyrics. But Indie music is in fact virtually unknown to the general public because the mainstream media have no economic and political interest in promoting it.
Afterhours are an historical Italian indie rock band, active for nearly two decades and have reached a certain degree of fame, enough to participate in the last Sanremo popular music festival with a song that obviously did not win but it was certainly one of the best things heard on that stage, and in fact won several awards from the critics. The song was "The Country is real," and also became a disc that contains 18 other songs by indie italian musicians than the general public does not know because like we said their ability to access corporate media is near to zero. The title track is also a kind of declaration of intent, The Country is real. 19 artists for a better country?
Just listen to realize that we are on another level than the garbage that passes generally in radio and television and is so useful to lobotomize the coming generations and make them good consumers. In the namesake song The Country is real, the last sentence of the song is enough to give the piece a dignity unknown to most of the Italian music of the last twenty years. "Telling the truth is an act of love / done for our anger dying.
And the other songs on the album have lyrics and music that might redeem the human and moral desert of Italian television, although we cannot expect that to happen. Pieces sung in Italian or English, from "Me and my love" by Paul Benvegnù to Marco Parente, Dente, Cesare Basile, The A Toys Orchestra and Luca D'Alberto, Reverendo, I Calibro 35, The Theater of Horrors, Roberto Angelini, Beatrice Antolini, the Zu, the Zen Circus, Marco Iacampo,The Mariposa, the Settlefish, the Discodrive, the Marta sui tubi, Amerigo Verardi and Marco Ancona. (Click on the names to go to the Youtube page of each song).
19 songs that are a good starting point to learn something of the most interesting new Italian musicians and to know that Italian music is not dead, it's only been exiled from television like everything else that may seem culture and intelligence. As Dario Fo and talented comedians like Daniele Luttazzi, Beppe Grillo, Sabina Guzzanti, exiled by a Power obscene, arrogant and monstrous that can only perpetuate itself by silencing the hope and soul of Italy. 19 songs full of true music and poetry as a reminder that the country is real, even if on television always seems fake.