Francesco Gabbani's 'Occidentali's Karma' - winner of Sanremo Festival 2017 and competing in Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
His first reaction when his name was announced as the winner of Sanremo Festival, was to bow down before the legendary Fiorella Mannoia, who was a big favorite to win but ended up as runner-up. His spontaneous gesture of respect did not go unnoticed to the media and have won the public's affection.
Gabbani said that he wanted to bring joy with this song but also an opportunity to think seriously about our contemporary society. 'Occidentali's karma' is a terrific danceable parody of our shallow "advanced" western society.
“It describes the situation of Westerners, their models and their way of seeking refuge in the Oriental rituals for comfort. It’s a pretext to observe how we are as modern humans. Westerners are turning to oriental cultures like tourists who go into a holiday village. Oriental cultures are seen as an escape from the stress, but they were not born for this. It’s the trivialisation of something profound”.
It’s Gabbani himself who describes how hypocritical we can be: “We do yoga to find a balance between body and mind”, he says, “But if we don’t wear fashionable clothes, then we don't go to yoga classes!” The lines written by Gabbani are also related to the use of social networks — the drug of our days.
Putting a dancing ape on stage next to the singer is not a random idea: “Behind the ape there’s the modern human being, one of the 193 species of apes described by Desmond Morris, the only one without hair. We are clothed men but inside we still have lots of characteristics deriving from cavemen”.
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“There are one hundred and ninety-three living species of monkeys and apes. One hundred and ninety-two of them are covered with hair. The exception is a naked ape self-named Homo sapiens. This unusual and highly successful species spends a great deal of time examining his higher motives and an equal amount of time studiously ignoring his fundamental ones.”
~Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape (1967)
DISCLAIMER: NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. THIS VIDEO IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY!
I don't own the rights to this song. All the rights belong to its rightful owners and I'm not profiting by publishing it.
His first reaction when his name was announced as the winner of Sanremo Festival, was to bow down before the legendary Fiorella Mannoia, who was a big favorite to win but ended up as runner-up. His spontaneous gesture of respect did not go unnoticed to the media and have won the public's affection.
Gabbani said that he wanted to bring joy with this song but also an opportunity to think seriously about our contemporary society. 'Occidentali's karma' is a terrific danceable parody of our shallow "advanced" western society.
“It describes the situation of Westerners, their models and their way of seeking refuge in the Oriental rituals for comfort. It’s a pretext to observe how we are as modern humans. Westerners are turning to oriental cultures like tourists who go into a holiday village. Oriental cultures are seen as an escape from the stress, but they were not born for this. It’s the trivialisation of something profound”.
It’s Gabbani himself who describes how hypocritical we can be: “We do yoga to find a balance between body and mind”, he says, “But if we don’t wear fashionable clothes, then we don't go to yoga classes!” The lines written by Gabbani are also related to the use of social networks — the drug of our days.
Putting a dancing ape on stage next to the singer is not a random idea: “Behind the ape there’s the modern human being, one of the 193 species of apes described by Desmond Morris, the only one without hair. We are clothed men but inside we still have lots of characteristics deriving from cavemen”.
...................................................................................................
“There are one hundred and ninety-three living species of monkeys and apes. One hundred and ninety-two of them are covered with hair. The exception is a naked ape self-named Homo sapiens. This unusual and highly successful species spends a great deal of time examining his higher motives and an equal amount of time studiously ignoring his fundamental ones.”
~Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape (1967)
DISCLAIMER: NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. THIS VIDEO IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY!
I don't own the rights to this song. All the rights belong to its rightful owners and I'm not profiting by publishing it.
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Music