In 1970, Italian singer/actor Adriano Celentano performed his song “Prisencolinensinainciusol” (translated as “universal love”), sung in a nonsense language, for Italian TV. The performance predates rap and disco, but as Sasha Frere-Jones writes in The New Yorker, it “is very close to both,” and a touch of cabaret rounds out the bizarre picture.
The beginning of video shows Celentano speaking to a fake classroom about why he wrote a song in a nonsense language. He says it’s about “our inability to communicate in the modern world.” (Thanks to Ari for the tip!)
OH MY GOD!!
This clip makes me tripping, in the german iTunes, there is a great Remix, that I HAD to buy. I normally am not an impulsive buyer, but this song ROCKS!
Thanks to OMG!!
Thank you Frank!
As soon as I heard this I looked on I Tunes.Unfortunately they didn’t have this track, they did however have his rockabilly stuff.Not as wicked as this.I have to agree with sergei had I seen him in the 70’s I’d bin all over that.
celentano is a cult figure. he’s been a pioneer of rockabilly type of stuff in italy and moved on to a super successful music and movie career. he is the singer dude in the la dolce vita. bizarrely, i know this cause he became super huge in the ussr in the 70’s where i lived then. i had a crush on him hahaha.