Italian Song Summer Hit In Germany

words by Carol King The 2013 summer hit in Germany is a song by Italian-born singer Vito Lavita. Called ‘Danzare’ (Dance), the song is the work of 22-year-old Vito Lavita, who was born in Stigliano, Basilicata, but soon moved to Bamberg in Germany. The catchy song is all the rage on German radio and TV, and the video shot to accompany the song is one of the most popular on the internet. However, not all Italians are happy with what they regard as the pop video’s stereotypical depiction of Italians. Italian news site ‘Lettera 43’ points out that Lavita wears a traditional Sicilian coppola flat cap, 1950s-style jeans, braces, V-neck white T-shirt and sneakers to dance in a mock-up of an Italian seaside town in Germany. Lavita also dresses in a panama hat, open-neck shirt, sunglasses and false moustache to drive a Vespa and a Fiat 124 Spider, alongside images of a woman in a black-and-white polka-dot dress, and an elderly lady dressed in black shopping at a market stall. The macarena rhythm song features an accompaniment by Nigerian reggae-rap artist Toni Tuklan, which completes the so-called “exotic” effect. Italian newspaper the ‘Bollettino di Trieste’ said of the video in an outraged tone: “Behold how the [Germans] would like Italy to be.” Nevertheless, others say the song makes for good summer listening in the car or at the beach. It remains to be seen whether Lavita will find similar success in his native homeland.