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''Crêuza de mä'' (; "Muletrack by the sea") is the eleventh studio album by
Fabrizio De André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter and the most-prominent '' cantautore'' of his time. He is also known as Faber, a nickname given by the friend Paolo Villaggio, as a referen ...
, entirely sung in the
Ligurian language Ligurian ( ; endonym: ) or Genoese ( ; endonym: or ) is a Gallo-Italic language spoken primarily in the territories of the former Republic of Genoa, now comprising the area of Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone o ...
, more specifically in the dialect of Genoa. All the songs were written by De André and
Mauro Pagani Mauro Pagani (born 5 February 1946) is an Italian people, Italian musician and singer. Pagani was born in Chiari, Lombardy, Chiari, Lombardy. A multi-instrumentalist, he made his debut in the music world in 1970 in music, 1970 as violinist and f ...
, with all lyrics by the former and music mostly by the latter; in a 2011 interview within the documentary DVD series '' Dentro Faber'' ("Inside Faber" .e. De André, about De André's life and works, Pagani stated that his job on the album was to create melodies and arrangements for De André's already complete lyrics, on the basis of some "over-simplified" melodic ideas by the Genoese songwriter. Halfway through the album sessions, responding to Pagani's repeated concerns that the lyrics would be incomprehensible outside of Genoa, De André reassured his friend by telling him that his music was so good that even
Sicilians Sicilians () are a European ethnographic group who are indigenous to Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, as well as the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy. History The Sicilian people are indigenous to ...
would get the meaning of the songs without understanding a single word. However, full Italian translations of the lyrics (by De André himself) were included in the album's liner notes.
The album was seen by Italian reviewers at the time as a milestone of Eighties music and of
world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
in general.
David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...
, talking to ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', named the album as one of the most important releases of the decade, and the Italian edition of ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it fourth in its 2012 "List of the 100 Best-Ever Italian Albums", published on its 100th Italian issue.


Track listing

All lyrics by Fabrizio De André; music by
Mauro Pagani Mauro Pagani (born 5 February 1946) is an Italian people, Italian musician and singer. Pagani was born in Chiari, Lombardy, Chiari, Lombardy. A multi-instrumentalist, he made his debut in the music world in 1970 in music, 1970 as violinist and f ...
and Fabrizio De André, except as noted below. # Crêuza de mä ("Muletrack by the sea") – 6:16 # Jamin-a ("Jamina", an Arabic female name) – 4:52 # Sidún (i.e.
Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...
, in
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
) – 6:25 # Sinán Capudán Pasciá ("Sinàn Captain Pasha") – 5:32 # ’Â píttima ("The flea", a derogatory nickname for a tax revenue officer) – 3:43 # ’Â duménega ("On Sunday") – 3:40 (De André yrics Pagani usic # D'ä mæ riva ("From my shore") – 3:04


The songs

With the notable exceptions of "Jamin-a", inspired by De André and Pagani's then-recent trips to
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, and "Sidún", focusing on the
1982 Lebanon war The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...
, all songs are about
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
. In particular: * "Crêuza de mä" is about the hard working life of sailors and fishermen in Genoa, but also displays their serene mood when gathering together for dinner. The lyrics mention various traditional Genoan dishes (as well as some unrealistic, invented ones), which are allegedly served in "Andrea's house" .e. a tavern">tavern.html" ;"title=".e. a tavern">.e. a tavern- Andrea being a fantasy character "who is not a sailor", possibly representing De André himself as someone who is extraneous to the sailors' world, and in whose world the sailors view themselves as misfits. The instrumentation featured in the song is mostly ethnic, with Pagani playing a recurring Ostinato#Riff">riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...
on a
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
plucked with a guitar plectrum, referred to by the invented name of ndelele''; the chorus, built on a Polyrhythm, polymetric structure of three bars (respectively of 5/4, 6/4 and 4/4), is sung by De André and Pagani using meaningless words (''eh anda, yey yey anda, yey yey yey anda, ayo''), sounding more like Sardinian (another favourite language of De André's) than Genoese, and the song ends with chants and hollers by fishmongers and seafood vendors, recorded live by Pagani in the Genoa fish market. In ''Dentro Faber'', Pagani said he felt lucky for the fact that all vendors sang in a perfect
D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...
key (the key of the main song), most of them without having the faintest idea of what a key is. *;Translation of original Genoese lyrics to "Crêuza de mä": The opening line, defining the mood of the whole song, reads: "Umbre de muri, muri de mainæ / dunde ne vegnî, duve l'è che'anæ?" Shadows of faces, faces of sailors / where did you come from and where are you going?"As already mentioned, the Ligurian expression ''crêuza de mä'', in the Genoa area, defines a path or mule track, sometimes made of steps, which usually defines the boundaries of private property and connects (as indeed do virtually all roads in Liguria) the hinterland with the sea. The literal translation is therefore "sea lane". The lyrics are about sailors who, returning from the sea - poetically described as a place where the moon is bare (i.e. not shaded by hills, plants or houses) and where the night points its knife to men's throats - go to eat at Andrea's tavern, they drink at the fountain of doves in the stone house, and think of who they might find there: people from Lugano, people whose faces resemble those of pickpockets ("mandillä" in Genoese) and who prefer eating "the wing of the
sea bass Sea bass is a common name for a variety of species of marine fish. Many fish species of various families have been called sea bass. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, the fish sold and consumed as sea bass is exclusively the European bass, ''Dic ...
" (since fish obviously don't have any wings, this part doesn't seem to make much sense but it may a subtle metaphor: according to some interpretations the fish would symbolise Jesus n fact the sign of the fish, also known as "Jesus fish" or Ichthys, was the first symbol of Christianity] and the words "preferiscian l'ä" ["they prefer the wing"] sound a lot like "preferiscian Allah", therefore the meaning would be that those people prefer Allah to Jesus and thus they must be Islamic sailors in disguise, probably Moors from Sicily or southern Spain, which were frowned upon and fought by the Republic of Genoa during the Middle Ages. This interpretation was never confirmed though, so it's just speculation). At the tavern they also see some well-born girls of easy morals "whom you may stare at without a
condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...
" (it's rumoured that De André had initially planned to write "beciàle", a vulgar expression which means "to shag / screw them" but had to change it to "ammiàle", namely "stare at them" in order to avoid censorship by the record label and radio stations; the reasoning makes sense since it's obvious that one doesn't use a condom to stare to people, thus the possibility of a sexual intercourse is clearly implied in those lyrics). The lyrics then focus closer on the figure of sailors and their lives as eternal travelers, and more precisely on a night return of sailors to shore, almost as strangers. De André talks about their feelings, about their experiences on their skin, about the rawness of being at the real mercy of the elements; in the following verse, an ostentatiously joking distrust emerges, which can be seen in the assortment of food imagined, acceptable and normal (or nearly so, for a true sailor), as opposed to other dishes, such as lamb brains, or a sweet-and-sour hash of "hare of tiles" (i.e. the cat, passed off as a sort of rabbit), decidedly and deliberately less acceptable; these are evidently quoted to ironize about the reliability and steadfastness of Andrea (about whom it is stressed that he is not a sailor) and, perhaps, of a whole world to which they know they do not belong. * "Jamin-a" is about an Arabian
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
, represented as both fascinating and sinister. Introducing the song in his live shows from the era, as testified on ''Dentro Faber'', De André described Jamina as "a refuge, a safe harbour which sailors travelling all over the world for months and months on end look forward to coming back to, even if they know she could potentially destroy them." * "Sidún" describes the destruction of Sidon in 1982. In the lyrics, the city is personified as a woman holding a newborn baby and trying to lull him to sleep, even if she knows he is dying. (According to another interpretation given by British
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
ger Dennis Criteser in his blog ''Fabrizio De André in English'', containing Criteser's English translations of every single song released by De André, the lyrics are a portrait of an actual Lebanese woman, whom Pagani and De André met in Sidon, whose infant son had just been crushed by a tank and was dying.) After the narrative ends, the song goes into a multitracked, extended vocalization section, again sounding more like Sardinian '' tenores'' than anything related to Genoa or Liguria or the Middle East. * "Sinán Capudán Pasciá" is the story of the eponymous character, a
braggart Boasting or bragging is speaking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities. Boasting tends to be an attempt to prove one's superiority by recounting accomplishments so that others will feel adm ...
from 1500s Genoa (historically known as either Scipione Cicala or
Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha (also known as ''Cağaloğlu Yusuf Sinan Pasha''; 1545–1605), his epithet meaning "son of Cicala", was an Ottoman Italian statesman who held the office of Grand Vizier for forty days between 27 October to 5 De ...
), who was captured by the
Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...
and later fell into the graces of
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
Mehmed III Mehmed III (, ''Meḥmed-i sālis''; ; 26 May 1566 – 22 December 1603) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the Long Turkish ...
, eventually rising to the rank of
Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
. The song notably marks a departure from De André's usually serious, occasionally somber style into a lightweight one, almost bordering on
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
with his repeated quote of a popular Ligurian refrain about fish in the sea. He would later adopt the same style in songs such as the mock-operatic "Ottocento", "Mégu megún", and, with a stronger
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
vein, "Don Raffaè", all from his 1990 album ''
Le nuvole ''Le nuvole'' (''The Clouds'') is an album by Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, released in 1990. The songs were written by Fabrizio De André and Mauro Pagani. As Pagani revealed in an interview within the 2011 DVD biographical docu ...
''. * "’Â píttima" is a bittersweet song, simultaneously scornful and sympathetic, about a man who chose an unpopular job as his way to earn a living. The arrangement of the song is yet again built on a number of ethnic stringed instruments from the Middle East, all played by Pagani. * "’Â duménega" is a jokey song about prostitutes being allowed to walk freely through the streets of early 1900s Genoa on Sundays, and about the township exploiting the "income" generated by prostitution to pay for the works in the Genoa port. In the last verse, De André jokes about the
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
being such a narrow-minded, bigoted man that he insults the prostitutes without realizing that his own wife is among them. The music is written in the rhythm and style of a fast
tarantella Tarantella () is a group of various Southern Italy, southern Italian Italian folk dance, folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania, Sicilia, and Apulia. It is characterized by a fast Beat (music), upbeat tempo, usually in Ti ...
, very reminiscent of De André's early compositions. In an interview from the era, De André emphasized the song as a show-off for Pagani's compositional strength, with the latter explicitly telling the former that he was going to write a piece in "pure De André style". Pagani, in turn, confirmed that he composed all of the music for the song on his own, warning De André that people would say "Ah, there goes old-time Fabrizio!" about the song. * "D’ä mê riva" is a regretful and nostalgic lament of a sailor leaving Genoa for an unknown destination, maybe for good, while his girlfriend watches him sailing away from the shore and waves him goodbye holding a handkerchief. (The word "Zena", used within the ending lyrics to the song, may vaguely sound in context like a female name, but it is actually the name of Genoa in Genoese.) The song is the only one on the album where De André actually plays an instrument, namely a simple
arpeggiated An arpeggio () is a type of chord in which the notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpeggios may include all notes ...
part on a small high-strung guitar, referred to as a
octave guitar


Personnel

*
Fabrizio De André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter and the most-prominent '' cantautore'' of his time. He is also known as Faber, a nickname given by the friend Paolo Villaggio, as a referen ...
- "Octave guitar" on "D'ä mê riva" and vocals * Mario Arcari -
Shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a type of oboe from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end. It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court. The shehnai is sim ...
and
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
on "Jamin-a" * Aldo Banfi -
Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the ea ...
* François Bedel -
Goblet drum The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-shaped body. It is ...
and
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
instruments * Francis Biggi - Consultancy on medieval and ethnic instruments * Walter Calloni -
Drum kit A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one p ...
* Dino D'Autorio -
Bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
on "Sinàn Capudàn Pascià" * Edo Martin - Yamaha GS-2 electronic piano * Franco Mussida -
Classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...
and electric
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
s on "Â duménega" *
Mauro Pagani Mauro Pagani (born 5 February 1946) is an Italian people, Italian musician and singer. Pagani was born in Chiari, Lombardy, Chiari, Lombardy. A multi-instrumentalist, he made his debut in the music world in 1970 in music, 1970 as violinist and f ...
- Oud,
bağlama The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Khazar, Central Asia including Germany, France, Belgium, TRNC, Netherlands, Albania, Greece,Bosnia, Serbia, Croat ...
,
bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...
,
mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
s, mandolins, plucked
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
lso named ndelele'' in the liner notes plucked
viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...
, Roland SPV-335 synthesizer module and vocals * Maurizio Preti - Percussion * Massimo Spinosa - Bass guitar,
audio editing Audio editing software is any software or computer program which allows editing and generating audio data. Audio editing software can be implemented completely or partly as a library, as a computer application, as a web application, or as a loa ...
* Domna Samiou - Introduction to "Crêuza de mä" from ''Aria per gaida sola'' .e. "Aria for solo gaida", a folk tune sampled from Samiou's 1976 album ''Il flauto greco'' ("The Greek flute")">gaida.html" ;"title=".e. "Aria for solo gaida">.e. "Aria for solo gaida", a folk tune sampled from Samiou's 1976 album ''Il flauto greco'' ("The Greek flute")


Artwork

The album cover, seen by Italian music reviewers at the time as simultaneously attractive and mysterious, was later revealed by Pagani to be a photo of a house in Greece, shot by American photographer Jay Maisel and chosen by Pagani himself in keeping with the album's overall Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean theme. On the inner gatefold cover, a Greek motif is used as well, to frame the lyrics.


30th anniversary remix/reissue

In 2014, for its 30th anniversary, the album was thoroughly remixed by Pagani, who went back to the original tapes and, after "de-mastering" them (i.e. removing all layers of digital remastering made over the years, in order to obtain flat transfers), mixed all the songs anew, bringing out previously obscured details. The result of his efforts was released as a 2-disc
box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...
. Disc 1 includes the remixed album, a previously unreleased version of "Jamin-a" (faster than the original, in a higher key, with a deliberately strained vocal by De André
double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...
on the final repeated verse], featuring prominent drums and no percussion) and three alternate mixes of "Sinàn Capudàn Pascià", "Â duménega" and the title track. Disc 2, titled ''La mia Genova'' (i.e. ''My own Genoa''), includes live renditions, taken from De André's 1984 and 1991 tours, of all tracks from the album except for "D'ä mê riva", plus "'Â çímma" and "Mégu megún" from ''
Le nuvole ''Le nuvole'' (''The Clouds'') is an album by Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, released in 1990. The songs were written by Fabrizio De André and Mauro Pagani. As Pagani revealed in an interview within the 2011 DVD biographical docu ...
'' and three spoken intros; "D'ä mê riva", which was never performed live by De André, is featured as a solo live performance by Pagani, accompanying himself on bouzouki and featuring Andrea Parodi from Tazenda, recorded in 2004 for his own live tribute to the album.Discogs entry for the 2014 remix/reissue of the album
/ref>


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creuza De Ma 1984 albums Fabrizio De André albums