La figura del guappo e le sue declinazioni musicali dalla sceneggiata ai neomelodici

Abstract

Starting from the conviction that ‘malamusica’, with its songs set among the criminal milieus of Naples, properly lies within the ambit of Popular Music Studies, this article examines several Neapolitan songs which thematise the figure of the camorrista, and, in particular, the guappo, in different modes according to the musical genre of reference (canzoni di giacca, sceneggiata, macchietta). After a brief historical excursus and examination of a few representative cases, the analysis turns to the present day, taking up the particular phenomenon of neomelodic music, which, in some cases, has invited no small number of polemics due to its often ostentatious closeness — in its themes, models, and sources of inspiration — to the criminal organization of the Camorra.