A Master’s Voice

Listening Post 3. A commanding presence on the Italian music scene for more than 30 years, Fiorella Mannoia is an artist who seems to get better with time. A Te (For You), her latest album, is a tribute to the Italian troubadour Lucio Dalla, who died in 2012. The best track of Mannoia’s homage is La casa in riva al mare (The house by the sea) about a prisoner’s dream of freedom and love: “From his cell, he only saw the sea/And a white house amid the blue,” she sings, “A woman appeared… Maria/This is the name he gave her” (video 1). In Cara (Dear), Dalla wrote a dreamlike confession of love and ill intentions to a much younger woman: “What a pity… What a nostalgic feeling/To avoid your eyes and tell you another lie” (video 2). One more standout track is Caruso, which imagines the great tenor, near death, looking back on his life. Dalla was one of Italy’s cantautouri, a singer-songwriter whose lyrics gave voice to and became the soundtrack to a generation. His work ran from jazz to folk, from opera to pop. Though many other artists covered his work, Dalla himself was never known for his voice. Three years after his death, and thanks to Mannoia, he never sounded so good. (Oyà S.r.l.)