Following AC Milan’s surrender at Udine, Internazionale di Milano were crowned champions of Italy without kicking a ball. Not that they are not used to it. With this Scudetto Inter are now at minus ten scudetti from record holder Juventus – on paper. On the pitch, Juventus would be at quota 29 and Inter would have just won their 16th Scudetto. That would mean a real score of meno tredici.
The artist Vinicio Capossela was inspired by the feast of The Risen Christ in Scicli to write a song about the spectacle. I first heard the song live in the Rockhal in Luxembourg where it was presented as a part of a circus-themed spectacle where it was introduced as a song about a “Human Pinata”. The whole inspiration of the story of the risen saviour and the feast was lost on the crowd at Rockhal. It was only after when I could not get the chorus of “Gio-Gio-Ia” out of my head that I discovered the real story behind the man “con i raggi sulla schiena”.
The familiarity with the tune, the band club music, the festa atmosphere and the celebration all became much more clear. It was all there – the briju, the daqq and above all the frenzied devotion – even when hidden, perhaps wrongly, behind a different storyline. The Mediterranean blood of a thousand festas had immediately warmed to the story and now that I can read the words and familiarise with the man who is exploding with joy after having defeated deathI can truly enjoy the wonderful work of art that is Vinicio Capossela.
Kristu Rxoxt will never look the same again.
Artiste: Vinicio Capossela
Chanson: L’uomo Vivo (Inno Al Gioia)
Ha lasciato il calvario e il sudario
Ha lasciato la croce e la pena
Si è levato il sonno di dosso e adesso per sempre per sempre è con noi
Se il Padre eterno l’aveva abbandonato
Ora i paesani se l’hanno accompagnato
Che grande festa poterselo abbracciare
Che grande festa portarselo a mangiare
Ha raggi sulla schiena irradia gio-gio-ia
Le dita tese indicano gio-gio-ia
Esplodono le mani per la gio-gio-ia
Si butta in braccio a tutti per la gio-gio-ia
E’ pazzo di gioia, è un uomo vivo
Si butta di lato, non sa dove andare
E’ pazzo di gioia e è un uomo vivo
Di spalla in spalla di botta in botta le sbandate gli fanno la rotta
As the expat community in Luxembourg (and not only) awaits with bated breath for the announcement that bookings on the “special flight” are open – in order to begin the scramble for the rare weekend home – citizens of other countries who currently reside in the Duchy approach the MEP elections with relative calm.
Malta seems to be the only democracy with special needs. In India, a man reported to be 127 years old walked 4 km to get to the polling booth in Himachal Pradesh. Bhadaru (who claims to be 150 years old) has had his measure of walking for democracy:
“When Mahtama Gandhi came to Shimla, I along with some other village folks trekked 60 kilometers to the city to get a glimpse of him. But they killed him later.’’
We are working on fixing a Fatal Error caused by a naughty widget. Normal service (and facade) will be repristinated as soon as possible.
The nasty widget problem has been solved. J’accuse has (hopefully) been returned to proper working order. Should you still find anything that merits our engineer’s attention then email me. I will try to google the answer at the earliest opportunity.
Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Some weird news in the paper today. First there is the “black, chubby man” who performed a streak at the hallowed grounds of the law courts. Complimenti to the Times reporter Waylon Johnston (Waylon???) for the step by step thrilling description:
He ran up the steps at around 12.30 p.m. dressed in a black, Hard Rock Café t-shirt, a green hat and light green trousers. As soon as he got through the door, as he approached the metal detector, he undressed. The guards alerted a police officer but he was gone by the time the policeman reached the door.
Yet again the strong arm of the law is defied by another man of colour, even when the handicap normally reserved for PC Clod seemed to have been bridged by the chubbiness of the non-caucasoid in question. All the policeman could see was a clear view of the streaker who apparently bared his buttocks for all to see.
Salagadoola mechicka boola
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It’ll do magic believe it or not
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
(Turn up the volume on your speakers and click here for some (irritating) background music while reading this post.)
Just throw a few nonsensical words together and a catchy (ish) tune and you have a bit of magic (believe it or not). So said the Fairy Godmother in Disney’s Cinderella. So will some EP candidates try to bamboozle you. When they are not speaking about their strong nationalistic position on all things immigrant or some weird environmental credentials, the MEP candidates seem to be at a loss as to which bandwagon to jump onto in order to attract attention.
What we end up getting when reading cut and paste articles or following supposed fruitful campaigns is the electoral equivalent of “mechicka boola” – a whole lotta garbage.
Enter Claudette Abela Baldacchino who has just called for a referendum on divorce. The erstwhile PL candidate seems to believe that Joseph Muscat’s attempt at political mileage early in his revolutionary tenure as head of the scatterbrained reformists was not enough. So in order to get her own place in the spotlight of star candidates she goes ahead and kicks off a campaign to have a referendum on divorce.
