There are few things I enjoy more than watching people who are greatly talented having enormous amounts of fun while demonstrating it. The group Accordone specializes in 16th century Italian music. This is a Neapolitan popular song from that era that is still sung today. The Guarracino is a fish which is not particularly tasty. It was, however, considered to have magical properties and its blood was used in certain superstitious ceremonies. It’s also considered to be bad luck by fishermen; if you catch a Guarracino you will not catch anything else that day.
In the song the Guarracino falls in love with a Sardella (sardine) and starts courting her. The Sardella is already engaged to the Alletterato (tuna). When the Alleteratto encounters the Guarracino he strikes him hard with his tail. There seems to be a good deal of posturing at this point. The second half of the song describes an undersea brawl between the relatives and friends of the two fish. I can’t quite figure out how it ends, though. The song is in four-hundred-year-old Neapolitan slang which seems highly resistant to both online translators and Italian-English dictionaries. If you are feeling adventurous, here’s the text.
I thought the stage and the lighting added a lot of drama too. Here’s something else that dazzling fun. So I’m told. I would find it difficult to wear textiles with these things attached. There would have to be an inner liner that would prevent me from noticing the metal through the fabric and they would have to be evenly distributed to avoid pulling the clothing item to one side. Then they would need to serve a function.
No offense to Guarracino but he is a mite small for Sardella. Unfortunately Alleteratto’s whole family is being decimated in a blood feud with the Sushis so I don’t think Guarracino will have him to worry about for long. I suspect the song would be changed if folks in Italy knew that here in Western North America Guarracino is replaced by Garibaldi. Garibaldi ain’t afraid of nobody.
