Throughout a current stay live performance on the Demode membership in Modugno, Puglia, when a synth-only melody was supposed to present the voices a second of respite, singer and composer Giorgio Vanni chanted, “Su le mani per il capitano. ” (elevate your fingers) he shouted. For the Captain”). Whether or not in a club-like indoor venue, beneath a sweltering August sky, surrounded by rave-like lights, or in a regular live performance corridor, Vanni constantly delivers the “Fuori La Voce” ( A relentless four-on-the-floor beat blares as they sing “Sing Me” and “vi voglio sentire” (“I need to hear your voice”).
This may increasingly sound like a typical Eurodance dance, however Vanni just isn’t your common Eurodance performer. Vanni, 61, and his creative and enterprise accomplice Massimo “Max” Longhi, 56, are generally known as “Il Capitano” (“The Captain”) and “La Mirario” (“The Admiral”), respectively. It has change into a cult determine amongst millennials. And Gen Z Italian followers. They’re the voices and composers behind the localized opening track. pokemon, dragon balland one piececreating Eurodance-style anthems for the Italian market.

This week in gamebixby, we take a look at how cultural variations have an effect on media in a particular problem we name Tradition Shock.
Vanni’s aforementioned synth-only melody is an interlude to “Viva i Pokemon”, the opening theme for the primary 51 episodes of Vanni and Longi. pokemon In Italy. Audiences all over the world heard Jason Web page’s “Pokémon Theme” in French, German, Spanish, and different translations, and in Italy it turned a four-on-the-floor dance anthem, composed and written from scratch with lyrics about Pokémon. I bought a brand new track. A pleasure to discover.
In Italy, it has been widespread to localize anime opening themes with authentic melodies and vocal tracks since 1978, when the anime appeared on the state-run RAI tv community. On the time, the Japanese originals had been thought-about merely bizarre by those that oversaw their localizations. Nonetheless, aside from the early levels of the late Nineteen Seventies and early Eighties (closely influenced by disco, Europop, new wave, and synthpop), a lot of the early Italian localizations of animated themes had been Disney-lite ( Atmospheric pop). -Good melody and instrumentation). This modified in 1998, when Vanni and Longhi started performing and writing opening themes which are synonymous with dance music hits.
Vanni and Longhi stay widespread not solely due to their danceable songs, but in addition due to the truth that nearly all of the sequence for which they composed and/or carried out theme songs aired back-to-back weekday afternoons. There may be additionally. For instance, from round 2001 to 2005, youngsters and youngsters needed to dragon ball Z, pokemon, Narutoand one piece That very same day, I heard Vanni’s lilting tenor again and again between 1pm and 5:30pm. These youngsters and youths are actually adults and have adopted Vanni and Longhi by means of a wealth of stay concert events that started in 2009. Lucca Comics & Video games is Europe’s main comedian conference.
Think about the case of Gianluca Allegretta, 28 years previous. He’s a prepare conductor from Puglia and co-administrator of the anime-themed Instagram web page “Anime Age Italia”. He began watching anime within the early 2000s. pokemon, dragon ball Z, one piece, Narutoand Detective Conan They had been broadcast virtually in fast succession. “Each time I got here house from college, I at all times needed to make it in time to sing the Vanni theme track on daily basis,” he says. “They’re actually burned into my coronary heart and remind me of a extremely nostalgic, luxurious time in my life once I was little. ‘Viva i Pokémon’ is Vanni’s most memorable second within the Pokémon world. It continues to be an attractive work.” Equally, the opposite half of Anime Age Italia, Andrea Defronzo, 28, a e-book writer and a nurse working within the Italian Navy, has been enjoying Pokémon since 2019. I am chasing. pink/blue Period. “I owe a giant a part of my character to watching anime,” he says. “I will always remember coming house from college, turning on the TV, and listening to my grandmother smile and sing alongside to the Giorgio (Vanni) theme track.”
So how did Pikachu conquer the dance ground?
Vanni and Longhi are each from Milan and have recognized one another because the Eighties after they had been energetic in Milan’s stay music scene. Longhi was a pianist/keyboardist with a music diploma from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, and Vanni was the vocalist of the pop-rock band Tomato. Longhi as soon as crammed in for Tomato’s keyboard participant at a stay efficiency.
“Our first official skilled collaboration dates again to 1995,” says Longhi. “We had been on[then-teenage TV host]Ambra Angiolini’s speak present.” eraThere I used to be the music director for the stay band and he was the singer. ” era It was produced beneath Mediaset, Italy’s largest non-public broadcasting firm, based by former media tycoon and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Like many Italians of their 30s born within the mid-to-late Sixties, they knew a factor or two about anime, but it surely did not outline their tastes. Regardless of being a lifelong sci-fi nerd, Vanni says, I turned extra excited by music usually. After I ask, he says: house pirate captain harlock Italian theme or Riccardo Zara model tiger masksAnd I really like them, however as unbiased songs from a fictional world. ”
Then again, Longhi felt that he was fairly detached to anime and otaku tradition. Within the function, he additionally labored on preparations for the works of Piero Cassano, a founding member of the synthpop band Matia Bazar. Cassano additionally helped localize manga and anime theme songs for Mediaset’s channels. This youth program was directed from 1980 to 2001 by Alessandra Valeri Manera, who not solely directed applications for youngsters and youth, but in addition wrote the lyrics for lots of the authentic songs featured in these applications . These collaborations with Cassano led Longhi to promote himself to Valeri Manera in 1998, who introduced Vanni on vocals. She appreciated them and was particularly impressed by the singer,” says Longhi. “As soon as she discovered it was Giorgio, she mentioned he completely needed to sing the ultimate manufacturing.” What stood out on this audition was an authentic track from an early model of DC. Superman: The Animated SequenceValeri Manera employed them.
their model of the theme track of superman The duo practiced four-on-one in an animated youngsters’s sequence titled Superman, which aired from September 1998 to January 1999. If that model of Superman hadn’t labored out, Viva Y Pokémon, his second mission beneath Valeri Manera, may by no means have occurred.
“I used to be writing and producing a variety of dance music on the time, and Giorgio appreciated that too,” says Longhi. “After we are given a activity, pokemonSo, I believed, “Perhaps I ought to strive making some extra (opening themes).” Tamari (Assume Will Ferrell) roxbury night timeversus the tree-lily, Disney-ish themes that dominated anime localizations? (…) In any case, these had been the times of Hadaway’s What Is Love? ”

Picture: OLM/Pokemon Co., Ltd.

Picture: OLM/Pokemon Co., Ltd.
When requested how they managed to land jobs at main corporations within the anime, online game, Pokemon and different product fields, each males claimed that it was only a job, achieved like a product on an meeting line. “[Valeri Manera]understood the potential of the 4/4 beat and gave us the proper possibility. And, in fact, we made probably the most of it” Vanni says.
first of the pair pokemon The theme “Viva i Pokémon” was permitted by Valeri Manera with minor edits. Along with using synthesizers, digital basslines, and the same old four-on-the-floor beats, using autotune can be outstanding. “Everybody makes use of Autotune an excessive amount of now, however in 1999, Cher’s ‘Imagine’ had simply been launched,” Longhi says. “We took the signature fashion of autotune from the title observe and included it into each songs.” pokemon and dragon ball” Vanni added, “We’re one of many first corporations to make use of this in Italy.”
Proceed pokemonThe Italian premiere of was held on January 10, 2000, and the track turned one of the widespread anime opening themes in Italy. The truth that I barely managed to flee pokemon pink, blueand yellow Schoolyard (the sport was launched in Italy within the fall of 1999) clearly contributed to the recognition of the sequence. However Vanni and Longhi additionally understood their viewers’s tastes.
“After I was a child, (Euro) dance music was mainly served with milk for breakfast,” says musician Matteo Mukavelo, 39. He works as a content material creator beneath the identify loqimusic and makes a speciality of Nineteen Nineties and Y2K nostalgia by means of the lens of dance. music. He attributes the style’s success to its catchy, simple melodies and rhythms of 130 bpm or greater, which make it extremely palatable to youngsters and sometimes performed in laid-back environments similar to arcades and carnivals. I believe it is as a result of it was performed. These had been the times of continent-wide Eurodance hits, similar to Me&My’s self-titled album. aqua album aquarium;Eiffel 65 euro popthe one “Blue” was born. and Bengaboys social gathering album. “Dance music was as widespread as pop music again then. The closest factor to this right this moment is lure music. 9-year-olds hearken to this music simply as a lot as 30-year-olds,” Mukavelo says. Masu.
By mid-2000, pokemonThe second season of Indigo League masking the second half and the Orange Islands was approaching. Valeri Manera needed one other robust theme to indicate the change of location for Ash and his touring companions. “The second time was much more troublesome, as a result of after writing Eurodance anthems like “Viva Y Pokémon,” I believed I had given it my all,” says Longhi.
Nevertheless, the pair didn’t lack for sources. “We already had a pseudo-English demo with the phrase ‘I wanna know what I’m’ repeated,” Vanni says, including that he cannot keep in mind what he created the melody for within the first place. I rapidly added. “As soon as[Valeri Manera]requested me to compose for Season 2, we already had this melody, so I simply layered the lyrics that she had written. It was simply excellent. The melody of the chorus was precisely what we needed. It’s a attribute of the fashion,” Vanni continued, referring to the mixture of ascending and descending chords that transfer towards decision. It will also be heard within the refrain of the later hit track “What’s My Future Dragon Ball” (dragon ball z) and “Let’s all journey, come on!” (one piece). Thus “Oltre i cieli dell’avventura” (“Past the Sky”) was born, and the primary episode of the season was broadcast on September 3, 2000.
“Oltre i cieli dell’avventura”, which covers episodes 52 to 116, is Longhi’s favourite. “The primary one is a extra commonplace crowd-pleaser,” he says. “’Oltre i cieli’ has a extra stable construction and incorporates a singer-songwriter-like acoustic intro with piano and voice. was impressed by and needed to pay homage to Eiffel 65’s 1998 hit ‘Blue’, which was produced by my good friend Massimo Gabutti,” he says. “The primary opening theme had the strongest impact on our complete mind just because it was the very first theme,” says Mukavelo. “The second is Eurodance, but it surely’s additionally tear-jerking, and that’s a profitable method.”
Vanni and Longhi communicate extremely of Valeri Manera, who handed away in 2024 on the age of 67, however she stays unpopular as a result of diploma of censorship that needed to be utilized to the animation world on the suggestion of kid psychologists. He’s a polarizing determine within the Italian anime world. Many of the sequence. This consists of coping with queerness sailor moonfor instance, the canonical romantic relationship between Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune is expressed in very imprecise phrases (it seems like a poisonous friendship). Many followers who gathered on boards and had been in a position to buy Italian translations of the manga noticed it as an infantilization of the manga medium. for pokemonItaly complied with the US model of censorship.
“She modified my life and Max’s life,” says Vanni. “She modified them in such a manner that dropping her was like dropping a sister who was a mentor each in private and non-private life. She enriched our lives and supported at the very least three generations of Italians. It introduced nice pleasure to anime viewers.”
The duo continued to compose Pokémon themes in Italy, however diamond and pearl The following 9 songs did not generate as a lot buzz as “Viva i Pokémon” or “Oltre i cieli dell’avventura.” Nonetheless, Vanni and Longhi’s sound would finally form the musical path of Mediaset’s cartoon present. On the top of their collaboration, they created round 24 theme songs a 12 months, often beginning with simply an overview and a few generic video property.
After Valeri Manera resigned in 2001, the recognition of anime on community tv started to say no, and by 2008 Mediaset started phasing out using authentic songs in anime and manga programming. Since then, Vanni and Longhi’s contributions to that world have change into extra sporadic. their final pokemon The unique track was launched in 2007, diamond and pearl In the meantime, the latest official opening theme for an anime sequence was “My Hero Academia” from the sequence of the identical identify in 2018. Vanni and Longhi’s day job is with the document firm LoVa Music (based in 2002), the place they do sound design and sound design. He does industrial work, writes for Latin pop and J-pop performers, and dabbles in post-production for tv and movie.
Nonetheless, they proceed to make tracks impressed by Pokémon and Dragon Ball, in addition to unofficial themes they’ve launched independently. “Pokemon Sole e Luna” (2019) is a Latin pop and reggaeton quantity. Launched along with the discharge of “Pokemon GO” (2016) and “Dragon Ball Tremendous Kamehameha” (2019) Pokemon GO and dragon ball tremendous, It would not be unusual to seek out your self in a membership that performs a 2010s night time. What’s extra, they usually fully eclipse the celebrity of the four-on-one. their 2022 album gold sessionFor instance, “,” which was impressed by lockdown-era jam periods, consists of acoustic variations of among the most notable songs. “Oltre i cieli dell’avventura”, the one pokemon The theme can be included, rearranged right into a full energy ballad (Mediaset owns the rights and Vanni/Longhi owns the grasp of this model). Usually, it is was a ballad or classical crossover observe, similar to Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partillo” changing into Donna Summer time’s 1999 Eurodance hit “I Will Go With You.” The other is true for the dance beat remedy.
“That is as a result of our melodies work. You possibly can put the devices down, however the melody needs to be the primary focus,” says Vanni. “That was at all times Alessandra’s request: ‘Guys, I am wonderful with you.’ dance dance (4/4 beat), know-how, autotune, however ensure the melody is catchy. ”
And so they’re catchy. Vanni and Longhi are consistently touring Italy, with a fandom largely comprised of Gen Z and Millennials, who often pack out venues that may maintain as much as 10,000 individuals. In fact, that features a mosh pit. In November 2024, the 2 will launch a document album on Sony Music, which is able to embody not solely their greatest hits, but in addition a brand new track “Uno di noi” (“one in every of us”), which has nothing to do with the manga. It reached quantity 3 on the US charts. Official Italian singles chart. “It has a four-on-the-floor beat, but it surely’s a extra pop model,” Longhi says. “That is devoted to our public. Throughout our concert events, the stadiums erupt with chants of ‘Uno di Noi, Giorgio Uno di Noi,'” says Vanni. “Max and I are one in every of them, and they’re one in every of us.”