Hey, lads! … Down here, please! Thanks. Enjoying the cover-artwork above, aren’t you? Let’s then discover who the singer is: Severina Vučković, a Croatian musician and actress well-known in the Balkan Peninsula thanks to her boundless composition-style rooted in a wide range of genres.
Born in 1972, Severina took her first steps on stage at the beginning of the 80s in musical events in her native city Split. During the following years her singing talent made her take part in more professional performances, such as at the “Split Festival” in her hometown. Later, the “Zagreb Festival” set a true milestone in Severina’s career, after her victory in a competition for young musicians, the “Demo X”, which granted her the chance to record her first self-titled album in the early 90s. In 1993 Severina issued her third album, “Dalmatinka” (“Dalmatian Girl”), and toured Croatia and Slovenia for the first time.
In 1998 her song “Djevojka sa sela” (“A girl from the village”) became the official anthem of the Croatian national football team. The 2019-released full length “Halo” is currently the latest album-release by Severina; yet I would like to focus attention instead on a single from her 2013 album “Dobrodošao u klub” (“Welcome to the club”): “Italiana“.
This track mirrors the most cheerful and happy-go-like features of our country. Croatian language alternates with Italian, and this may seem odd at first, but it is also surely captivating: it makes you dance, and that’s what really matters. And people dance also in the joyful video-clip of the song (please find here the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyqXia8XTfI), where Severina‘s car (look at the license plate!) rushes to start the party in Zagreb, Ljubljana and many other cities. The soft lights of sunrise and sunset follow, until «we lose ourselves in the rhythm of the night. Together, in the party, let’s dance. Let’s dance…»
Paolo Crugnola
