La Crus
Dentro Me
Mescal S.R.L.

To go against rampant triviality: La Crus.

February 1997: Millions of bored italians are ready to celebrate the symbol of the Italian music preservation: Sanremo, a song festival. People are all glued to the TV set to watch, rather than listen, the materialization of repetitive melodies, full of bombastic mush and strictly politically correct. Few exceptions (Carmen Consoli) are invariably undervalued by a vet-jury, good only for a revival of the '60s. Who can save us from Sanremo? Luckily the fine record releases from the beginning of the year, from which two rise above the others: La Crus and Cristina Dona'.

What's unbanal in Dentro Me? The texts are like poems, rich in style and never superficial or casual verse. The arrangements are sometimes experimental, with samplings and loops (Correre, Dragon) which at times become sweetly essential, based on instruments like electric guitars, carillon and the violins of the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra (Inventario, Ninnananna). If in the previous album Mauro and his group had splendidly managed to re-interpret two old hits of the Italian singer - songwriters tenco and ciampi, this time they have successfully tried to translate, though with a new aggressive touch, Dragon, an old song by an extraordinary music genius, Paolo Conte, a frequent source of inspiration for their songs. We must also remember the significant contributions to the recording of Dentro Me of Cristiano Godano of the Marlen Kuntz group, Vinicio Capossela and Cristina Dona'.

Something more: The thirteen songs of the album (plus a ghost-track), owing to their beauty and sometimes romantic sadness, can be a good chance to forget the mediocrity of the Sanremo festival.

And at the end a beautiful extract from Come Ogni Volta:

Tu sei l'inverno in fondo al cuore
tu sei l'estate che non c'e'
tu sei la via che passa dentro me

(translation:)

You're the winter in the deep of my heart
you're the summer that is not
you're the way that cross me inside

... and then close your eyes to run away with your dreams ...

Copyright © 1997 Mario Branciforti