Out of the Box #9
Out of the Box is an irregular series focusing on seven inch records. It’s an excuse to engage with my collection in a new way, as well as to write about older records and genres we don’t often cover at ACL.
OUT OF THE BOX #9
Diana Est ~ le louvre. (1983)
For this installment I’ve selected a record that is quite outside of our wheelhouse. But as I said at the beginning of this series, when I wrote about Minor Threat, this series is partly an opportunity to write about older records and genres we don’t normally cover at ACL. So with that in mind, here’s a somewhat obscure early 80s synth pop record from Italy.
I think I found this single digging in Rome a decade ago or so, grabbing it along with a bunch of other 45s. At the time I had never heard of Diana Est, which shouldn’t be very surprising as her career had fizzled out by the time I was born. But I was intrigued by the cover and the record only cost a couple of euros, so I took a chance on it.
The follow up to her 1982 debut single “Tenax” [Tenacious], “le louvre” is classified as Italo-Disco on Discogs but that doesn’t feel quite right to me. Working with Enrico Ruggeri of the 70s Italian punk band Decibel, who reinvented himself as a pop songwriter in the 80s, and other musicians including Stefano Previsti (later of the Italo-Disco group Big Ben Tribe), Diana Est channeled the synth pop Italo-Disco era into a brief career as a postmodern yéyé girl, releasing three singles before fading into obscurity in 1984.
Her uncle is singer-songwriter Mario Lavezzi, who had hits with his pop-rock bands The Trappers and Dik Dik in the 60s, the prog rock group Il Volo in the 70s, later writing songs for artists including the great Lucio Dalla. That is, a versatile songwriter who could evolve with the times. I’m speculating, but I have to assume that this familial connection helped his niece to secure a recording contract.
At 18 years old, Milan-born Cristina Barbieri adopted by moniker Diana Est, after securing a solo recording contract with Dischi Ricordi. She debuted in 1981 as a backup singer for the alternative artist Ivan Cattaneo, followed by her first solo single the next year. That record, “Tenax,” fused Latin and Italian lyrics with a triumphant synth pop sound, but one that is slightly naive, clearly aimed at teen centers rather than the Hi-NRG nightclub scene. Or at least that’s how it sounds to these ears in the 21st century. Her lip-synched TV performance, with the slightly awkward dance moves of a gawky teenager thrust in the spotlight, seems to confirm this reading. Again, her voice isn’t really anything special, it’s actually quite weak. But weak was the spirit of the times, and despite this I find something quite charming and endearing in these songs. In fact, it’s quite a catchy song, which I enjoy unironically.
By her third and final single, 1984’s “Diamanti/Pekino” [Diamonds/Beijing] her vocals had grown stronger, though her new songwriters couldn’t quite match the success of her earlier singles. And the less said about the ill-advised chinoiserie of “Pekino” the better. Her contract with Ricordi expired and she faded into obscurity, reappearing for the occasional novelty nostalgia performances two decades later.
For me, it is her 1983 singles "Le louvre" and "Marmo di città" that are the highlights of her brief career. The A-side builds upon a triumphal march with a soaring group chorus that benefits the fragility of her voice, not unlike Timbaland working with Nelly Furtado. Diana Est sings the verses solo, with the group vocals giving the chorus that much more oomph.
Fuori dai musei
Nuovi amici miei
Si distruggerà
La civiltà delle banalità
Translation:
Outside the museums
My new friends
The civilization of banalities
will be destroyed
Again, quite catchy, and, perhaps if we squint, slightly more profound than one might first think. But in fact, the second track is probably my favorite of the six songs in her short discography. “Marmo di città” [City Marble] further extends this theme of antiquity, already conveyed by the Latin title of her first single, and the reference to museum culture of the a-side. Again, the chorus:
Marmo di città, non ti sveglierò
E la verità non ti chiederò
Marmo di città, io ti sognerò
Ma paura non avrò
Translation:
City marble, I won't awaken you
And I won't ask you the truth
City marble, I will dream of you
But I won't be afraid
The song also has a compelling synth lead and dramatic piano chords for additional emphasis. All in all a solid bit of pop songwriting and orchestration.
The actual b-side is an extended instrumental version of “Le Louvre,” which is still pretty good, especially as it includes the group chants of “Le Louvre” from the chorus. Begging for a 21st century remix?