Dove Voglio Stare

A popular act in the Neapolitan live scene for the past 12 years, Tartaglia Aneuro gather around singer and frontman Andrea Tartaglia and call themselves a local folk/crossover/patchanka act. Patchanka, in case you missed it, is a music style named after Mano Negra’s 1988 debut album of the same name and mashes up traditional music, punk, reggae, ska, rock, hip-hop and whatever else comes in hand. So it is little surprise that Dove Voglio Stare, Tartaglia Aneuro’s third album, has Vincenzo Rizzo (a habitué with Mano Negra and Manu Chao) sitting behind the mixing board and features Manu Chao’s guitarist Lucky Salvadori showcasing his chops on ‘Pazzià’. True to their self-definition as a group dedicated to crossovers, Tartaglia Aneuro collect all sorts of different elements and so, at their peak, we may find them going full-on Manu Chao rock-ska style in ‘Le Pale Eoliche’, hesitating between Italian pop, South African vocal songs and madness-tinged choruses on ‘Tarantella Finale’ and paying a visit to New Orleans swing on ‘Carmela’. The major problem with Tartaglia Aneuro is that, unlike their hero Manu Chao, they occasionally concede to a pop music model a bit too sugary (‘Ninna Nanna’ and ‘’O Mare’). And unfortunately, the group only seem to really address their Italian roots in the excellent opening track ‘Sent’ Ancora’. Dove Voglio Stare is a fine record, but Tartaglia Aneuro’s music would benefit if they dared to push themselves a little more.