The winning of Francesco Gabbani at Sanremo Music Festival 2017 drew the attention on eastern philosophies, that the songwriter quoted more or less explicitly i26n his “Occidentali’s Karma” that, other then a catchig tune, delivers a deeper message.

Nirvana, Buddha, mantra and, most of all, Karma: in the past few weeks, these words resounded in the ears of the italians thanks to “Occidentali’s Karma”, the song that won the 67th Sanremo Music Festival.

A text with different interpretations

A fun, lively song, with a catching tune, that “hides” a deeper meaning than the one you can get at first.This confirms that this year’s Sanremo winner could be considered a refined and brillant author (other than a legit sex symbol).

The true meaning of the East

As a matter of fact, the song reveals an interesting criticism to the commodification of the East in the western countries, that dismiss the true meaning of centuries-old disciplines and techniques, sometimes reduced to mere fitness or gym routines. There are actually organizations that work to spread the knowledge of the real Eastern philosophies, such as the portal Shankara.it (here for further information), that aims to reinforcing the values in our society through the dissemination of Ayurveda and natural products related to this ancient medical art.

The westernization of philosophies

Francesco Gabbani himself explained the meaning of his song: “The lyrics are ironic and sarcastic, but represent also our attitude towards the Eastern practices, when we look for inner peace”, says the singer, who wrote the lyrics with his brother Filippo Gabbani, Luca Chiaravalli and Fabio Ilacqua (that wrote songs for Mina and Celentano, with a declared passion for Pasolini). In this way, concludes Gabbani, “we end up to westernize them“.

Not just a song

The song, then, wants to suggest a reflection on this phenomenon, starting from the title, in which shines “the word karma, that automatically brings us to the Eastern culture, namely Japan and China“, says the songwriter. Moreover, the cover of the single shows a western man – Gabbani himself – split in half between a buddhist tunic and a selfie pose.

Morris’ “Naked ape”

As for the other interesting references in Occidentali’s Karma, already noticed by the experts in the press room, we can mention the “naked ape” one (a monkey actually danced on the stage with the singer), that immediately brings to the theory of the anthropologist Desmond Morris, that fifty years ago considered mankind as the result of ereditary insticts from our furry ancestors.

Cultured and classical references

There are also paraphrasis of Shakespeare‘s Hamlet or Marx, together with the classical Heraclitus aphorism “Panta rei”, everything mixed with irony and contemporary scenes, such as web or selfies. Therefore the lyrics manage to stress how western society suffers from a division between the longing of spirituality and the necessity of showing-off, to the point of becoming “selfist-anonymus“.

The orange color

So, Gabbani criticizes the habit of imitating farther traditions without even really understanding them, appropriating of terms such as nirvana or karma without any awarness. Or diminishing centuries-old cultures to mere fashion: this is the reason why the singer wore an orange sweater, “spiritual” color chosen by Hare Krishna and Osho’s Sannyasin for their tunics.

This article was written by Anna Capuano, marketing and communication blogger. 
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