Daniele Tenca - Just a Dream (2023) [Official Digital Download]

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Daniele Tenca - Just a Dream (2023) [Official Digital Download]

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He had done it years ago, first with Blues for the Working Class, which dealt with the issues of safety in the workplace (a topic in which Tenca is particularly expert and involved); then, with Wake up nation, which is ten years old, but which is still very current; finally, with Love is the only law, which sees the collaboration of the great bluesman Guy Davis. Now, after a break of a few years, the blues is once again pressing the accelerator of emotions, the social and political situation is far from being improved, and the eleven songs of the new work constitute a manifesto of what Tenca thinks is the duty of a bluesman today: to continue singing, to denounce, to invite reflection, beyond the ideological fences and various mystifying propagandas.

With the precious help of co-producer Antonio Cooper Cupertino, also second voice in the splendid, funky, disturbing Dreamkiller, the brilliant and expressive voice of the singer-songwriter draws, with energetic and relentless touches - and with an English accent that borders on perfection…- a defined and complete portrait of our times, drawing from current events ideas for dealing with and condemning racist violence (I Can't Breath, inspired by the words of Eric Garner first, and then of George Floyd, in support of BLM, with a long, moving spoken word by Guy Davis), pollution (No More Time Left), marginalization (What If He Was Your Son?, with the slide by Heggy Vezzano as a countermelody), indifference (Indifference, with final rap and a nice dialogue between Nik Taccori's drums and his guitar), manipulation of various kinds (the melancholic Cellphone Ringtone Blues, with the obsessive rhythm of Pablo Leoni), and many other themes, always with lucidity, but also with force of those who still believe that Woody Guthrie's saying This machine kills fascists is valid (because, if fascism as a historical movement is outdated, fascist attitudes have not disappeared).

In this sense, the text of What If He Was Your Son? is illuminating, of which we report a long part in translation (present in the booklet): Policemen and truncheons on the screen / All people who make you proud / "Send them home / That there is no place for this rubbish here” / You keep yelling “Italians first!” / And show how petty you are /“It's over!” /While the boats sink / "It's over!" /And a child is about to drown / "It's over!" / You should learn that you are lucky / "It's over!" / Just answer this question/ And… What if it was your son?

Another example: the nightmare of the narrative voice in Just a dream, which seems to prophesy what happened to the boys beaten in front of the Liceo Michelangiolo in Florence (I still feel your truncheon on my chest / And I can see the /smile on your face / And the boots close to my head), but in which Tenca also provides a possible solution, inspired by Martin Luther King's speech on August 28, 1963: Let's bring down the walls of hate / And freedom will triumph / Let's go back to the origins / The love conquers greed / Let's work together for a better world / Sowing better seeds.

Impossible to applaud Tenca's blues without understanding the lyrics; impossible to get passionate only by the range of sounds, excellently played and sung, without reflecting on the message; impossible to avoid calling out. This is a record that will remain, and that flawlessly documents the moment we are going through, together proposing how to get out of it with dignity and respect.
To be listened to, even live, but to be kept with care.