PERTINI DANCE (by S.C.O.R.T.A., 1984)
“What a superstar to be, is the best you can see.
Yes this is a brave man, oh. The first Italian man,
To the people in square, ‘Who is he, a king?’ – ‘Oh no’.
Well I see you just now, you’re a genius, wow.”
CHORUS:
“Let’s go. Right. Go go.
Let’s dance. Pertini super disco dance.
Let’s dance. Pertini super disco dance.
Just the music, just the music, just the music.”
The music is bad, the English is awful*, and yet the song was a hit. Apparently. In Italy, in 1984. Time and date might help explain why, because the Pertini Dance is an example of so-called Italo Disco, a primitive form of electronic music that was popular in continental Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s**. The musical outfit S.C.O.R.T.A. (’scorta’ is Italian for ‘escort’) was responsible for the hit, and was never heard of before or after it.
The Pertini Dance was a hommage (if one can call it that) to Alessandro (’Sandro’) Pertini (1896-1990), at that time the President of Italy (1978-1985). The eternal pipe-smoker was probably the most popular president Italy has had so far. Pertini, a socialist, was born in Liguria, elected to the first post-war Italian parliament and designated to preside of the Chamber of Deputies before becoming President of the Republic.
The record sleeve shows the whole of Italy wafting forth from Pertini’s pipe, even with separate tufts of smoke for Sicily and Sardinia. The image is of course somewhat reminiscent of Rene Magritte’s surrealist painting of a pipe, entitled La trahison des images (’The Treachery of Images’) and adorned with the phrase Ceci n’est pas une pipe (’This Is Not A Pipe’). Which is of course correct, as the title describes not a pipe, but a painting of one.
Many thanks to The Fashioniste for sending in this map.
* You have been warned. Here is a clip of the song on You Tube (audio only, though).
** Italo Disco describes a phenomenon in Italy in particular but all over continental Europe in general; I am not sure how much it overlaps with the term ‘Euro Disco’.
*** They both are pretty much the same since ‘Euro Disco’ started in Italy in the mid-70s. In the early 90s the genre merged somehow with the whole Techno/House music and became Eurodance (wich Hiphouse is just one subgenre of).
Ah, the memories.
Comment by Schmierwurst — October 16, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
Ha ha this is most interesting, and yes it does bring back memories of long ago days and a lifestyle long lost.
Comment by Tabbie — October 16, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
Oh dear… Thanks for this beautiful bit of long faded memory you brought back :)
Comment by csant — October 17, 2008 @ 6:28 am
more from Italy:
http://cool-maps.blogspot.com/2008/10/italy-from-sky.html
Comment by Björn — October 17, 2008 @ 8:07 am
But… but… It’s not a map, it’s a picture! [/snark]
Comment by CortxVortx — October 17, 2008 @ 8:43 am
En effet. Ceci n’est pas une carte; c’est une image d’une carte!
In other words…
Indeed. This is not a map; it is a picture of a map! [/Belgian surrealism]
Comment by Todd — October 17, 2008 @ 9:15 am
Just for the record: the title of Magritte’s painting is not “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. The actual title of the work is “La trahisson des images”, which translates as “The treason of the images”.
Comment by Ludwig — October 17, 2008 @ 11:11 am
You are right, Ludwig. Will amend asap. Thanks.
Comment by Strangemaps — October 17, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
Strangemaps Guy/Girl,
As I write this, the Pertini Dance song is playing on my other tab. I will now have to listen to 4,239 other songs to scrub this thing out of my brain.
Thanks for proving, once again, than when it comes to silliness, Americans control only a share of the market.
Comment by cmajor7 — October 17, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
It seems to me the last sentence is “Non stop music” or “Don’t stop music”. (and yes, my English is awful ;-)
Comment by Alessandro — October 17, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
I see at least one appendix, lol…
c’est un mystère
Comment by Tabbie — October 18, 2008 @ 5:12 am
One reference I haven’t seen mentioned yet — the first few notes are identical to the “Viva il Re!” fanfare at the beginning of the “Marcia Reale”. Now that’s satire.
Comment by James — October 18, 2008 @ 9:48 am
It’s much more interesting when you have actual maps rather than just the infinite uses of the outlines of countries, continents, etc. in logos and advertising.
This isn’t strange (from a cartographic perspective), and it’s not a map.
Comment by AC — October 18, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
I beg to differ. What you’re criticizing as misjudged inclusion is actually what makes this ever-growing museum of maps so interesting. This is not just strictly scientific representations of topography, but also abstract and artistic ones–and ones that could be classified partly as both. There are objects that resemble the shapes of countries, then countries that resemble the shapes of objects, and then visualizations like the one above, which make a political statement, as all geographical delineations ultimately do.
If there wasn’t this surprising mixture of such diverse types of maps (both the kind you prefer, and the ones I prefer), then this site probably would not have attracted over 9 million hits in the past 2 years. And even the Wikipedia article on cartography mentions the combination of “science and aesthetics” in the opening paragraph:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartography
Comment by Katherine — October 19, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
@cmajor7:
You *were* warned!
@AC:
You are right in that the supply of maladroitly used maps in advertising, logos (and tv studio backgrounds) is quasi limitless and could indeed be a wholly separate subject for another blog (a less interesting one, I would hope).
Comment by Strangemaps — October 20, 2008 @ 10:28 am
…Yet I am sure that the number of “ordinary” atlas maps–even just of individual nations–far surpasses that of the commercial or personal ones that are done with some level of creative license and/or carelessness. But again, the fact that no clear line is drawn as a limit to human interpretation is something that makes this blog as interesting as it is! One example that I have in mind is # 168 (South America made out if clothes), which was particularly funny…
Comment by Katherine — October 20, 2008 @ 11:11 am
@14: What happened to your old avatar of the cloverleaf world?
Comment by Lurker — October 20, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
>The music is bad
At the risk of sounding very much like The Big Lebowski: “Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man”
Just check out what that record is worth on ebay/discogs or in your favorite vinyl store (hint: 50$ to 100$). The same is true of all good Italo Disco records.
Italo Disco is very much alive today. It’s a niche, and let’s admit it a very easy out to make fun of – because of its unapologetic cheesiness – but that’s also what makes it so enjoyable.
Heavy use of early synthesizers, italianglish and naive lyrics about space and robots, all these give Italo Disco a raw energy and a fresh candour that is often lacking in today’s electronic music production.
Ask anyone who’s seriously into electronic music and they’ll tell you about their love for Italo.
Comment by statiq — October 21, 2008 @ 8:33 am
@Lurker:
It’s got something to do with the firewall from behind which I’ve entered that comment, I’m sure.
Comment by Strangemaps — October 21, 2008 @ 11:19 am
@statiq:
You’re right about all of that – but in the case of this record, your “hint” about the price was quite modest: I looked it up on Ebay and couldn’t find it, but when I checked out Discogs, I saw one copy for sale — for €275, or $362 USD! No wonder it’s on the “Wantlist” of 94 people on that site. I can’t imagine that someone spending that much wouldn’t be intending to remix the hell outta that thing, because if you’re just gonna play it through, ya might as well just cue up the mp3 and overlay it with some faint crackling.
But anyway, at least now we know how much it’ll cost if you’re looking to own an original copy of that map, lol…
Comment by John — October 21, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
Vinyls… you know the deal: it’s not just about the music, they’re artifacts (to people interested in them anyway).
Why get an original Warhol print when you can get a perfectly good reprint for 20 bucks?
Comment by statiq — October 21, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
I was 13 at the time and don’t remember the song at all.
Probably I’ve blanked it out.
Comment by marco — October 23, 2008 @ 11:49 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:28 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:51 am