“My direction? To become an indie-folk Rosalía.”
When Fabrizio Cammarata traces his artistic ambitions, the comparison may sound risky. And yet, when he speaks about how he’s been influenced by the most famous Catalan singer in the world, he does so by referring to Rosalía's ease in passing from one idiom to another, from tradition to modernity, from flamenco to James Blake.
Hints of flamenco already arrive in the first seconds of "Stripped To The Bone", the new single by Cammarata, out on April 21 on Kartel Music Group, which makes it clear that the "palmas" (complex patterns of hand claps typical of Andalusian music) will act as the supporting rhythmic structure from the beginning to the very end of the song.
Fabrizio produced "Stripped To The Bone" along with his brother Roberto Cammarata, producer and musician who in recent years has distinguished himself for his work with Italian band La Rappresentante di Lista. "Strangely, we had never worked together, although if I grew up with a guitar in my hand, I owe it to him in the first place”, says Fabrizio.
“Stripped To The Bone” is also Cammarata's first time without his favorite instrument: the sound that accompanies the whole song is that of a bouzouki (“I chose to pluck it in this nervous way, in line with the text, I wanted it to sound more like a North African oud").
However, it’s still the Mediterranean world, the only identity that Fabrizio recognizes as his own: “I feel no flag as mine, perhaps I even feel no language as completely mine, the only thing I feel I belong to is this huge salt lake full of history, love and pain.”
And like the pirates of the Mediterranean, those mysterious "Peoples of the Sea" from the Bronze Age, Cammarata boldly takes possession of the languages with which he grew up:
“English is the language of my childhood, that of the music I was first exposed to. Italian is the language of when I discovered poetry. Spanish is - simply - the language of "La Llorona", the song that feels most personal to me, even if I didn't write it. No one knows who wrote it, its author is lost in the mists of time, like the discoverer of fire, but "La Llorona" is about me, it's 100% mine."
When we talk about "La Llorona" our thoughts go to Mexican late singer Chavela Vargas, who made it famous and to whom Cammarata, together with his friend Dimartino dedicated the album "Un Mondo Raro" in 2017. “During COVID, it was Chavela who saved me again. It was her, together with my psychotherapist… I discovered that, deep down, their job is the same.”
lyrics
Pardon me,
Why am I here and why am I begging on my knees?
Been here all along, who would’ve thought I had a smoking gun
My love, my love is calling
But I’m torn between desire and shame
My home, my home is burning
And I die in it again and again
Take me, tear me up and leave me there
Stripped to the bone
Dare me to play your game, I’ll be there
Stripped to the bone
And then let me out of it
Pardon me,
Are you the fugitive on the run invading my mind
Hiding in the doorway
To keep me awake in a state of crime
My love, my love is calling
I get closer and yet further away
My home, my home is burning
I sleep easy in this bed full of flames
Take me, tear me up and leave me there
Stripped to the bone
Dare me to play your game, I’ll be there
Stripped to the bone
Let me out and leave me be now
Let me out and leave me be now
Let me out and leave me be now
Let me out and leave me be now
Take me, tear me whole and leave me there
Stripped to the bone
Dare me to play your game, I’ll be there
Stripped to the bone
My love, my love is waiting
But I’m shackled to the pity again
For a man, a man of sorrows
and his fine line between the loss & the gain
Let me out and leave me be now
Let me out and leave me be now
Let me out and leave me be now
Let me out and leave me be now
credits
from Stripped To The Bone,
track released April 21, 2023
Music: Fabrizio Cammarata
Words: Fabrizio Cammarata, Giulia Xie, Ciaran Lavery
Produced by: Roberto Cammarata and Fabrizio Cammarata
Mixed by: Dani Castelar
Vocals, Guitars, Synths: Fabrizio Cammarata
Synths, Programming: Roberto Cammarata
Violin and Viola: Francesco Incandela
Baritone Guitar: Carmelo Drago
Label: Fat Sounds
Publisher: Piccolo Cobra Edizioni e Produzioni Musicali
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