By Keith Walsh
Curating Synthbeat.com gives me the joy of discovering electronic music from around the world and meeting its creators. This time round I’m happy to introduce Gab of Australia’s Beat Ratio, who came to Melbourne from his native Italy in 2005.
Using only vintage electronic gear from 1983 and before, Gab produces charming, retro styled tunes that hearken back to the days ‘when hardware had soul,’ as he puts it. Gab and Beat Ratio came to my attention with his tune, L’Italiano, an homage to Italian expatriates around the world originally released in 1983 by Toto Cutugno.
Synthbeat: Is ‘L’Italiano’ a folk song or something else?
Gab: “While ‘L’Italiano’ is not a folk song, it is very much solidly engrained in popular culture in Italy. It celebrates ‘Italian-ness’ in its subtler and perhaps more day-to-day manifestations. Toto Cutugno was inspired by Italians living overseas and I believe it’s a sort of invitation not to lose our identity in favour of what Hollywood, the media or a globalized society tells us should be the latest trend to follow. While I very much consider myself a citizen of the world, I also think that a world where all cultures are homogenized is a far less interesting one than a world whose citizens can still experience the wonder of learning about and connecting with a culture different from their own. In that sense I think it’s important for people to maintain some level of connection with their roots whatever these may be.”
“I decided to record a cover of it during our lockdown here in Melbourne. I listened to the song a lot during the early days of the pandemic when Italy was being hit pretty hard and I felt completely powerless to do anything about it. It became a sort of little hymn for me as a way to dedicate a thought to people who were struggling back home.”
Synthbeat: Can you specify which vintage electronic instruments are used on the latest track and will be on the upcoming EP?
Gab: “For ‘L’Italiano’ I’ve used the Roland SH-2 and Juno 60, Arp Odyssey, Moog Liberation, Prophet 5 along with the Simmons SDS-V controlled by a TR-808. Other synths will also appear on the EP like the Yamaha DX-7, Korg MS-10, Casio VL-1 and hopefully a couple more that are currently waiting to be repaired. Recently I’ve also introduced the Commodore 64 in the mix.”
I’ll be featuring more of my interview with Gab of Beat Ratio shortly. We’ll get into how he goes about maintaining all of his vintage gear, why he chose 1983 as the cutoff point, and more.
Below are lyrics to ‘L’Italiano’ with parenthetical explanations provided by Gab for the English text.
L’Italiano
Lasciatemi cantare
Con la chitarra in mano
Lasciatemi cantare
Sono un italiano
Buongiorno Italia, gli spaghetti al dente
E un partigiano come presidente
Con l’autoradio sempre nella mano destra
Un canarino sopra la finestra
Buongiorno Italia, con i tuoi artisti
Con troppa America sui manifesti
Con le canzoni, con amore
Con il cuore
Con più donne e sempre meno suore
Buongiorno Italia, buongiorno Maria
Con gli occhi pieni di malinconia
Buongiorno Dio
Lo sai che ci sono anch’io
Lasciatemi cantare
Con la chitarra in mano|
Lasciatemi cantare
Una canzone piano piano
Lasciatemi cantare
Perché ne sono fiero
Sono un italiano
Un italiano vero
Buongiorno Italia, che non si spaventa
Con la crema da barba alla menta
Con un vestito gessato sul blu
E la moviola la domenica in TV
Buongiorno Italia, col caffè ristretto
Le calze nuove nel primo cassetto
Con la bandiera in tintoria
E una Seicento giù di carrozzeria
Buongiorno Italia, buongiorno Maria
|Con gli occhi pieni di malinconia
Buongiorno Dio
Lo sai che ci sono anch’io
Lasciatemi cantare
Con la chitarra in mano
Lasciatemi cantare
Una canzone piano piano
Lasciatemi cantare
Perché ne sono fiero
Sono un italiano
Un italiano vero
Lasciatemi cantare
Con la chitarra in mano
Lasciatemi cantare
Una canzone piano piano
Lasciatemi cantare|
Perché ne sono fiero
Sono un italiano
Un italiano vero
L’Italiano (English translation)
Let me sing
With a guitar in my hand
let me sing
I am an Italian
Good morning Italy with your ‘al dente’ spaghetti
and a partisan as your president (1)
with a car stereo always in your right hand
and a little canary by the window
Good morning Italy with your artists
but so many American posters everywhere
with (your) songs
with (your) heart
With more and more women and less and less ‘nuns’
Good morning Italy
good morning Mary
with your melancholic eyes
good morning God
Don’t you know I am here too?
Let me sing
With a guitar in my hands
let me sing
a song gently
let me sing
because I am proud
i am an Italian
a true Italian
Good morning Italy that doesn’t let itself be scared(2)
With mint shaving cream
with a pin striped blue suit
and (football) replays on Sunday TV
good morning Italy with ‘ristretto’ coffee
brand new socks in the top drawer
with the flag at the dry-cleaners(3)
and a beat-up 600 (4)
Good morning Italy
good morning Mary
with your melancholic eyes
good morning God
Don’t you know I am here too?
Let me sing
With a guitar in my hands
let me sing
a song gently
let me sing
because I am proud
i am an Italian
a true Italian
Footnotes:
(1) Sandro Pertini, our president at the time and leader of the Italian resistance fighting the fascists during the second world war)(2)Probably a reference to the bloody season of local terrorism that culminated in the 70s in Italy
(3) Possibly meaning getting the flag cleaned after a football match
(4) A Fiat car from the 50s-60s
Italian Flag photo from Michele Bitetto on Unsplash.com
Beat Ratio on Facebook
BeatRatio.com
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