The Mosco Ballet Comes to Nuoro

A wonderful Christmas, much of which was spent in the company of Maria Rita's extended family, was rounded off by a visit to Nuoro's concert hall 'Teatro Eliseo' on the evening of Sunday December 27th to see the Moscow Ballet dance to Tschaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Maria Rita was very keen to see it as she had practised ballet for several years as a teenager and young woman and such shows are rare in Nuoro! Although I'd been to a few classical music concerts before I had never actually been to watch a ballet and didn't know quite what to expect. Well, visually it was stunning and you couldn't help but admire the grace and athleticism of the dancers and, in the case of the male dancers, their strength too. I was reminded of something my late father said to me when I was about 10 or 11 years old and I was never happier than when I was kicking a football about. I had been rather dismissive about ballet dancing being a manly activity when my father said, "you'd be surprised how much fitness, strength and skill is required in order to be a male ballet dancer. Probably more than is needed to play football." After seeing the male lead effortlessly lift the female lead above his shoulders, and turn with such elegance and precision during this performance, those words and the obvious truth of them came back to haunt me. Ironically, I was also reminded of something a young footballer said to me many years ago, about how some ballet training was a huge help in strengthening the muscles around his ankles, with which he was having some problems. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting evening.

Museo Etnografico Sardo

With all my Christmas shopping completed, and with some time to spare this morning, I visited the Museo Etnografico Sardo which I have visited before, on a previous stay in Nuoro, but it was well worth a second visit. According to the guide it is the most important ethnographical museum in Sardinia and the only museum directly emanating from the Sardinian Regional Government. There are over 7,000 items in the museum's collection, comprised of jewellery, masks, popular musical instruments dating back to the 19th century etc, but among the most striking exhibits are the examples of popular Sardinian dress and costumes, especially those costumes used in some of  the festivals and parades that take place in Sardinia (as Heather Cowper has written about here in her travel blog). As she says, some of the costumes look rather sinister and nightmare-ish but are supposed to be symbols of good luck and abundance. These are the photos I took this morning while I was at the museum.

The Beginnings of the Railway in Sardinia

A few evenings ago Maria Rita and I went to her sister Patrizia and brother-in-law Gianfranco's apartment for dinner. After we'd eaten, as always, some fabulous food, the conversation turned to the famous English author D H Lawrence and his travel memoir of Sardinia Sea And Sardinia (which I have to confess that I've never read) and Patrizia actually produced an Italian translation Mare E Sardegna which was interesting to browse through briefly. Much of Lawrence's travel around Sardinia was done using the island's railway system and it was interesting to hear Gianfranco tell me that Sardinia owes its railway, completed around 1870, to a wealthy Welsh engineer named Benjamin Piercy who was so taken by the Sardinian landscape that he also built a villa, the Villa Piercy, in the British architectural style of the Victorian era in which he lived, on the hills at Bolotana and in the locality of Badd'e Salighes. He imported trees from Britain for its gardens, amongst plants and shrubs from other parts of the world, and today the surrounding gardens have become a public park. If I was understanding the conversation correctly (which was exclusively in Italian), the original four railway lines that Piercy was responsible for have become the tourist railway network, Il Trenino Verde. It is not a particularly fast network but very popular with tourists because of the breathtakingly spectacular views of some of the mountainous scenery on the island inaccessible from view by use of any other form of transport. I have read elsewhere that if you wish to get around the island quickly then using the railway system is not the way to do it, and Patrizia told me that the carrriages in use in central Sardinia still have wooden seats!

Poetry Translation And Nuoro's Artistic Traditions

The other day I wrote aboout the Caffè Tettamanzi in Nuoro which is about the oldest bar in town and used to be a popular meeting point for local artists and writers. In fact, although Nuoro is far from being the first town on the list for sightseers in Sardinia, it has a cultural and artistic heritage which is amongst the most renowned on the island. The Nobel Prize winning author Grazia Deledda came from Nuoro as did another well known literary figure Salvatore Satta, amongst others, and it's good to see that other members of Maria Rita's family could well become a part of this rich artistic heritage in the future. One of her brothers, Mariano, is the bass player in local band Frammenti Anni '60 whose CD Bonasera Sardigna da Quelli che Amano.... is, in my opinion, excellent. It features songs in both Sardu and Italian and musically there is an effective fusion of both a Latin influence and that of the British and American rock tradition, especially the 60s era. Her other brother Raimondo is, like me, a published poet and also, like me, used to be the lead singer in a band. On my last visit to Nuoro, in early September, Raimondo and I exchanged gifts. I gave him a copy of my CD of original songs Ancient Wisdom Modern World and in return he gave me a signed copy of one of his collections of poetry I tamburi del cuore. Even though I'm still learning Italian I could still tell that his work was rich with imagery, psychology and a depth of genuine feeling. I immediately started to try to translate some of the poems. Having translated about nine of them I unintentionally put the project on ice, instead working on the songs of Fabrizio de André. A couple of days ago Maria Rita asked me when I was going to have a go at translating some more. This spurred me on to translate two in the same day, the most recent of which is as follows:-

A Dedication To The Sea
by Raimondo Selenu

I sit silently beside you
between the memories
of an old sailing vessel
and the future hopes
of a speedy motorboat.

I feel
like a small child
who listens attentively
to what it is you have to say.

Your way of speaking impresses me.

I am the sand that loves the waves
and lives in the immensity of your breath,
listening to the song
of the reef.

Alongside you I appear so small
amongst the pebbles
smooth with age
and shells
that dwell within you.

I curl myself up like a small child
finding nourishment
in fairy tales and adventure stories.

I adore your way of speaking.

© Raimondo Selenu (Trans. from the Italian by Geoff Davis)

 

And this is the Italian original:-


      Dedicato Al Mare

Mi siedo silenzioso accanto a te,
                 tra i ricordi
  di una vecchia barca a vela
             e le speranze
     di un motore fuoribordo.


                Mi sento
     come un piccolo bambino,
                che ascolta
          ciò che hai da dire.


Mi impressiona il tuo modo di parlare.


     Sono sabbia che ama le tue onde
        e vive nell'immenso tuo respiro
            nell'ascolto del tuo canto
                   alla scogliera.


     Mi faccio piccolino accanto a te
                      tra i sassi
               levigati dai tuoi anni
                      e conchiglie
                 che abitano in te.

Mi accuccio come un piccolo bambino
                     per nutrirmi
             di fiabe e di avventure.


        Adoro il tuo modo di parlare.


© Raimondo Selenu

Here is the link to my other translations of Raimondo's poems.

Aperitivo Before Dinner In Caffè Tettamanzi

Early evening, at around abour six o'clock, Maria Rita and I quite often like to go out for a walk into the centre of town which is no more than a few minutes' walk away. We often combine this with a bit of shopping and usually stop at a bar for an aperitivo before returning home for dinner. Last night we spent some time in a very charming bar Caffè Tettamanzi which we've frequented a few times on my visits here. I was interested to discover that this particular bar has been written about in another blog Heather On Her Travels and curiously enough Heather's hometown is also Bristol (although we've never met). Anyway, for me, this particular page of her blog is of special interest (in fact, her entire blog is fascinating) and has some excellent photos. Looking at the photos a few minutes ago took me back to last night when Maria Rita and I were both enjoying one of our favourite drinks Cocktail San Pellegrino.

Caffè Tettamanzi at night

Change Of Diet

One thing which has certainly changed for me since I arrived in Sardinia is the variety of food I've been eating. Maria Rita tells me that very little food here needs to be imported and it's certainly noticeable, when we visit the supermarkets, how much of the food is locally produced. There is an abundance of fresh fish and fresh meat, the range of which puts to shame the boasts of "more choice" from the huge supermarket chains in the UK. Furthermore, there is no need to fly in runner beans from Kenya, oranges from Spain and apples from South Africa - nearly all the fruit and vegetables come from the island too. Seeing as agriculture is one of the main industries here along with tourism, I suppose this is hardly surprising. But for an Englishman like me it's very refreshing to find myself in a culture where the ruthlessly competitive commercial approach, of a handful of huge supermarket firms, would never be allowed to flourish in the same way as in the UK.

Of course, there is another reason why I'm eating a greater variety of food. I'm not a great lover of shopping so, for me, the supermarket in England was a place for me to get in and out of as quickly as possible once a week. Although I would usually eat my five portions of fruit and vegetables every day, it was usually limited to a choice between potatoes, carrots, beans and peas and bananas, apples, clementines and grapes. And my range of main meals amounted to a total of little more than five or six.

The Italians know how to enjoy their food. It is not something to be gobbled down as quickly as possible (as is so often the case in England), a kind of interruption to the more important things that need to be done (which usually have little or no importance in comparison with the importance of eating food a little more consciously and sensibly). It's an experience for the whole family to share and savour. I remember, on a previous visit, when we were at Lotzorai sharing a meal with Maria Rita's sister Patrizia and her brother-in-law Gianfranco. "Piano, piano" they said, "mangiamo un po, parliamo un po. Non abbiamo fretta." (Gently does it. We eat a little, we talk a little. We're in no rush.)

It's well known that the staple diet here is pasta, and I've been eating plenty of that, but served up in lots of different and imaginative ways. In addition, for the first time ever, I've tried lamb's intestines (still not sure about that, but it certainly didn't make me feel ill!) and also other dishes which I may have eaten long ago, but so long ago I can't really be sure. Anyway, Gilt-head bream ('orata' in Italian) and tripe (trippa), amongst a few others, certainly got the thumbs up from me.

In Italy the Slow Food movement has really taken off, especially in Sardinia and it was very interesting for me to learn that even what might be termed fast food here is not like most of the fast food we experience in the UK or the USA. A few days ago Maria Rita, on her way home bought some still hot roast chicken and roast potatoes from a local 'Rosticceria' (the one in the picture below). It tasted so good that I remarked that it tasted every bit as good as if it had been cooked at home, perhaps even better. "That's because it's cooked properly," she said. "you can see the chicken roasting on a spit while you're waiting to be served." And the same goes for the pizzas. None of this being taken out of the freezer and heated up for a couple of minutes in the microwave!

Fabrizio de André

Fabrizio de André was a singer and songwriter who has acquired legendary status in Italy. He died of lung cancer in1999 aged 58. Influenced by the kind of songs which the likes of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen have written, his work is notable for its poetic content and empathy with those on the margins of society. A native of Genoa, he developed a profound affection for Sardinia, living on the island for some considerable time, despite a bizarre episode in 1979 when he was kidnapped by Sardinian bandits and held hostage for four months in the Supramonte mountain. He even wrote some songs in the Gallurese dialect of Northern Sardinia.

Maria Rita introduced me to de André's work with the kind gift of a 3 CD Box Set and the more I listen the more I'm convinced that his music is touched by genius. If he had written in English he would have had international success and been a household name all over the world. Just before I left Bristol for Nuoro I started to try to translate some of his songs into English which has proved to be a very useful exercise for the brain. Since I've arrived in Nuoro I've translated one of his most famous songs, 'Il Pescatore' , taking the total of songs translated so far to five.

These are my English lyrics to 'Il Pescatore' (The Old Fisherman):-

The Old Fisherman (Il Pescatore)

In the shade of the setting sun
there slept an old fisherman
with a lined and a wrinkled face
and a smile so full of grace.

And so a killer came to the shore
where a child's eyes were before
and two eyes so full of fear
is the story that we have here.

 

Then he asked the old man for bread

 'I am hungry' is what he said

 'and could you spare me a glass of wine

 because a killer has little time.'

 

He woke up with hardly a sound

but he didn't look or turn around

just poured the wine and he broke the bread

so that a killer he could be fed.

And so, the warmth of a moment there

then off out into the stormy air
the killer walked towards the sun
and left behind an old fisherman.

He left behind an old fisherman
in whom remorse had just begun
the regrets he could not discard
in the shadow of an old backyard.

And so the police soon came to town
and then the army they came around
wondering if an old man knew
if an assassin had passed through.

But in the shade of the setting sun
there slept an old fisherman
with a lined and a wrinkled face
and a smile so full of grace.

English translation © Geoff Davis


Understanding written Italian, by and large, is a lot easier than understanding spoken Italian; perhaps song lyrics and poetry even more so. However, translating song lyrics, especially when my aim is to make the songs singable in English, is quite a challenge. One cannot be too literal, especially when the words have to fit the rhythm of the music, but it is important to try to remain as true to the original sense and spirit of the original Italian lyrics as is possible. My long term aim is to record a collection of Fabrizio de André's songs in English and hopefully make them available on a CD. For now it's very much a work in progress, but as someone who has been writing songs for many years, having sung in bands and put out 2 CDs of my own work, it's a project that I find very exciting. These are the English translations of the songs that I've worked on so far.

Here is a live version of Fabrizio de André performing 'Il Pescatore'

Festa della Madonna delle Grazie

It was a festival day yesterday here in Nuoro, the "Festa della Madonna delle Grazie", and this is a celebration which is particularly significant for the inhabitants of Nuoro. According to the local legend, in the 17th century, a young shepherd found a small wooden statue of the Madonna which had miraculous powers and in 1670 the original church "La Chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie" was built to honour the discovery of this particular image. Today, there is a tradition amongst the faithful of attending the church every day for nine days prior to the festival to pray to the Madonna for help with any family difficulties that they might be experiencing.

Stall selling musical instruments of Sardinian origin

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday, warm enough not to need a jacket or pullover when out of the shade, and at around about mid-morning Maria Rita and I walked up to the Via Lamarmora, one of the main roads in the centre of Nuoro, part of which was closed to traffic in order to act as host to a seemingly endless number of stalls. They were selling an extraordinary range of goods, a great many of them reflecting the character and traditions of Sardinia. Of special interest to me was one stall selling really intriguing looking musical instrument of Sardinian origin and another stall which was selling locally produced jars of honey complete with a display of bees making honey behind a vertical protective glass case.

After a coffee in a local bar we started to stroll back homewards. Through the gaps between some of the buildings we could see the sunlight glow on the side of the mountains, just beyond the outskirts of the city, and as we watched the crowd gather outside the church in Via Lamarmora, "La Chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie", I had a very strong sense of being so very happy to be here.

Crowd outside La Chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie in Nuoro

Grappling With The Language

In two respects Sardinia is very similar to Wales. Firstly, in terms of size the land mass of the island is very similar to that of Wales. Secondly, like Wales it has its own language, Sardo (or Sardu), which a substantial percentage of the population can speak, probably a similar percentage to the number of Welsh people who can speak Welsh. And just as all Welsh people can speak English, likewise all Sardinians speak Italian. With Sardinia being part of Italy, the official language of the island is Italian. And according to Maria Rita, and others I've spoken to, Sardinians speak very good Italian.

Nevertheless, for me personally, two years of quite intense study of Italian, with special emphasis on speaking the language (although in terms of grammatical study I've gone as far as the present and imperfect subjunctive), hasn't brought me to a point where I find it especially easy to understand everyday spoken Italian. My brain is so accustomed to thinking and speaking in English that I only have to mishear one word in a comparatively simple sentence that the whole meaning is completely lost to me. For example, yesterday I heard 'pacco' (parcel) as 'parco' (park) and with a puzzled look I was thinking "what's she on about? My park's arrived?!" Yes, it can be quite comical sometimes. I created great hilarity a few days ago when I confused the word for chest (petto) with the word for penis (pene) while trying to say in Italian that I had a chesty cough. And yet, people say to me 'parli bene l'Italiano' (you speak Italian well). As they say this I'm thinking to myself "don't be ridiculous!" When I explain that I have a bit of difficulty in understanding everything that's spoken to me I am told " well, that's normal, it takes about a year to get your ear completely accustomed to the sound of language." There have been times when I've been out for dinner and the conversation has almost completely passed me by. However, on other occasions when people have been speaking directly to me I've been able to understand almost as well as if they were speaking English. For example, when Gianfranco, Maria Rita's brother-in-law, spoke to me of his admiration for the films of Alan Parker and also when her brother Raimondo was talking to me about the legistic problems presented by the arrival in Italy of illegal immigrants without any documents.

It's certainly evident that the Italians have a very different attitude towards foreigners making efforts to speak their language from that of the English. We English are so used to foreigners who speak English well that we are incredibly intolerant of those who are still coming to terms with mastering the language and, unless we've made a serious study of a foreign language ourselves, we have absolutely no appreciation of how much work and effort is involved. The Italians by contrast, safe in the knowledge that their language isn't so widely spoken the whole world over, are flattered that someone with another mother tongue should wish to learn their language.

In England we often speak about our "schoolboy French" and it's interesting to discover that here in Nuoro most people's knowledge of English is at about the same level. It should be a huge advantage in helping my efforts to improve my Italian. In fact, the only two people here that I've met who speak English reasonably fluently are Maria Rita herself, who studied English at Cagliari University, and her niece Sarah who spent several months in England in her student days.

New Arrival in Nuoro

It's ten days now since I arrived in Nuoro, Sardinia to spend several months with my Italian girlfriend, Maria Rita, who lives here. I don't think I've ever experienced bright sunshine and temperatures well into the twenties in my native Bristol during November, but that's what we have here. Ironically though, I've picked up a virus and have something of a severe head cold which is something I wasn't expecting to experience soon after I'd arrived!

The famous English novelist D.H.Lawrence wrote about Nuoro in one of his travel memoirs, 'Sea and Sardinia', and was rather dismissive about it having any memorable attributes. Obviously it has changed a great deal since then and it's so different and so much smaller than Bristol that it would be futile to make comparisons. However, one thing about both cities strikes me as very similar. They are places of extraordinary potential which has never been fully realised.

Bristol should be on the map as a tourist destination of international repute but isn't (and there is a lot of truth in this review from an online tourism guide). Parts of it are breathtakingly beautiful. One thinks of the Avon Gorge, Clifton Village, Cabot Tower, Ashton Court, Snuff Mills and Blaise Castle Estate. Parts of Westbury-on-Trym and other districts have all the charm of a Cornish village, although inevitably there are also the rather unattractive housing estates which can be found in any reasonably sized city. In addition, it has a cultural and architectural heritage equal to anywhere in the UK relative to size. Bristol should have a Premiership Football Team. It doesn't. It should have a decently sized concert arena. It doesn't. It should have a public transport system adequate enough to reflect its size and commercial importance as the largest city in the South West of England. It doesn't, even though it has a local railway infrastructure which could hugely reduce its congestion problems. However, the temerity of the local authorities in taking on vested interests and arrogant and ignorant London-centric National Government Departments, who say "concentrate on buses", has left most Bristolians frustrated and angry. In fact, the Local Authority has been found wanting every time when attempts have been made to build a new football stadium or concert arena. Furthermore, the cynic in me says that Bristol City's application to build a new football stadium, just recently approved, would have failed were it not for the hope of staging some World Cup matches should England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup Finals succeed.


Maria Rita relaxing by Cabot Tower on a recent visit to Bristol

Nuoro is a town in the heart of Central Sardinia, a little to the North, which the locals say reflects the real Sardinia as opposed to the pseudo Sardinia of the Costa Smeralda which has been invaded by the super rich. Surrounded by mountains, some of the vistas from the city are extraordinary as is the surrounding countryside, but the city itself is a strange mix of high-rise apartments and elegant historic buildings, scruffiness and charm. Lots of the buildings here are defaced by ugly graffiti, which the local authorities seem to have no interest in washing away (as opposed to Bristol where such work is given quite a high priority) and litter is just as prevalent, perhaps more so, as it is in the UK. However, there is a warmth and friendliness here which is quite touching. You can walk into the centre of town at night and feel perfectly safe, something which can't be said for many UK city centres. For all that, as I write, Nuoro, like Bristol, leaves me with the impression of being a place which could be so much more than it actually is.

Here I am on a previous visit to Nuoro in the 'centro storico' (historic part) of the town.