Spaidermen. A Neapolitan superhero. UAH! -

Visiting the United States of America you realize that the perception of space is different from that one in the “bel paese”. However, this wide territory is occupied by people accustomed to leading such a miserable life.
The robotic system had its break-in in many workplaces where a time for lunch is foreseen in “pit stop” mode. Fifteen minutes, or, if you are lucky, forty-five minutes to have lunch.
Few people cook and, if they do it, it’s to prepare dinner, or, better, to reheat processed food.
So what to do? You place a food delivery order at your favorite restaurant.
Just one click and any kind of delicacy arrives at your home during the week, weekends and holidays. Whether it’s sunny or rainy, at any time.
An intuitive application that simplifies things to deliver “the whole world” to your home!

Behind these magical applications, which never work perfectly, there are mathematical calculations that do not take reality into account.
Food delivery orders are many and during the lock-down of the last two years they have increased dramatically. Thus, the number of delivery drivers has also increased. They have been delivering all kinds of things, for years, from packages, to groceries, to food, and even transporting people.
The food delivery driver in the United States of America turns out to be one of the most dangerous jobs.

During the last years, in America the driver and delivery driver sector has increased significantly and in the last six years many drivers have been robbed, attacked, someone has died.

Last year, a 42-year-old delivery driver was attacked in Denton, Texas by a man who demanded delivery without paying. In New York, a cycle-boy was killed for his bi-cycle. In Washington an Uber driver was killed. Another one of the same company was killed in Chicago by a passenger, during overnight ride. And there are many others. Even in Australia, delivery drivers are encountering the same difficulties and, even they, especially the cycle-boys, despite the promises of the companies, do not feel protected.

Napoli seemed to have resisted Uber slavery, thanks to the taxi drivers. Unfortunately, Uber, like other companies, has equally managed to make poor and unemployed Neapolitans fall into the trap as they do not have many job alternatives.

Some drivers do it as a second job, others have no other chance, still others, and these are many, because lost their jobs during the lock-down period.

In Napoli they are called riders and load orders to be delivered on a moped or in small cars.

Although our spaces are smaller, time is short, deliveries are many and competition is fierce. Most riders are paid by the piece and are not covered by any guarantees, despite being exposed to accidents and robberies to a greater extent than other workers.
There have been many reports of assaults on riders by gangs who place orders online and then, upon delivery, they refuse to pay. Some workers were stabbed, someone else was beaten.
The Italian riders have moved to raise awareness of this problem, which is extended to the entire peninsula, and to ask for help. There is no lack of initiatives in their favor. Surely time will pass before things are resolved. Meanwhile they need to work so they are forced to take risks every day.
They shoot like lightning bolts in traffic jumping from one part of the city to the other, fastly, “pe nun fa correre …’ o tiempo ” (to not let the time go away),
Just like Spaiderman does, on his moped, as it is sung in the homonymous song by UAH!

UAH!|Spaidermen

Spaidermen

This single is a tribute to the category of riders that the author identifies in the superhero who resists and lives his adventures every day, extricating himself from the tangled web of Neapolitan traffic.
UAH! sings in Neapolitan and we can tell him that Spaidermen is highly appreciated by someone from our editorial staff who, despite not knowing the language, was captured by the song believing it was a love song. Spaidermen is not a love song. However it is imbued witht love for Napoli and for those who daily struggle and go forward with dignity without ever stopping. The slang is familiar and the sound too. A “Bailando” style hip-hop rap latin-pop whose lyrics run through the narrowest and darkest alleys of the Neapolitan city.

The songwriter is UAH!
A Campanian artist who prefers to remain anonymous and who is already being talked about on a national level.
His single was indeed presented on Rai channel Italian television.
At Napulitanamente we have been blessed and we ‘ve got an interview with the mysterious singer-songwriter. For this we thank Officina Mirabilis and its staff.

How about UAH! Who is he?
Officially we know that:
“UAH! sings in traffic, in a city car, on the streets of Napoli.”
In fact, he also drives a lot for work, so he is a witness to the life that flows every day through the streets of our city and Campania.
Whenever he is stuck in a “hooked cross” traffic jam he captures images and vibes from the street and he transcribes them into metropolitan poetry which soon after becomes a song with the collaboration of well-known Neapolitan musicians.

We start the interview from the official presentation sentences.
“UAH! is free, he doesn’t do business, he doesn’t sing in public. ”
Yes he is free because he is not a professional singer, and he will explain it. He does not sing in public just to remain anonymous. Regarding business, we asked him a provocative question.

Another official information is that “UAH! feels fine only when he sings.”.
This sentence made us worry but he clarified the concept, reassuring anyone, with greatest happiness of his latino fans at our editorial office.
So let’s get to the chat!

NAP – UAH! stands for “Unleash Anema Hit” in the sense of a soul without a leash? Please tell us more. –

UAH! – It suits me as a translation “Soul without a leash”. The meaning is precisely that of maximum freedom. Composing songs is my passion, if I did it as a profession I would have to look for another way to feel free. My aspiration, at the moment, is to be able to “take”, through each song, a photograph from my point of observation, which is that of an anonymous man who, until a few months ago, composed and sang only for “self-consumption” and who has now decided to experiment with an enlargement of the audience. I would like to be able to make songs that, in addition to pleasing myself, may also be pleasing to some other listener. The next step, the third phase of the game (I don’t know if I will ever get there), would consist in getting the approval of many listeners. Hopefullyalso non-Neapolitan speakers. –

NAP – What do you see when you drive around Napoli? –

UAH! – I see many contradictions: beauty and wealth, degradation and misery. In the case of Spaidermen, what I see outside my car certainly inspired me. A huge number of Riders who was rare to meet before the lock-down. In full lock-down, my main activity allowed me to drive more easily. However the street were crowded by riders. In my opinion, they played a very important role. They acted as intermediaries with the outside world when people couldn’t go out. The riders did so without protection, with low salaries and contractual conditions often bordering on indecency. Thanks to them, many businesses survived the pandemic. They deserve a mention to the value for what they have done. Instead someone considers them workers of “B” series. In my own way, with this song I intend to pay homage to them, regardless of how many people will listen to it. –

NAP – What would you like to see touring the streets of Napoli? –

UAH! – A safer and cleaner city, more efficient public services. Trivially and utopically, I also would like to see less traffic, more pedestrian areas, more greenery, more space for children and areas for sports and activities. –

NAP – How comes that you only feel good when you sing? –

UAH! – “I feel good only when I sing” is an extremely synthesized concept. However, when I am not singing or composing I am mostly immersed, from head to toe, in the stress of the production circuit in which my main job falls. Writing songs is my way to get out from the greyness of my job that requires fast pace of work and very little creativity. It is an environment that I often feel asphyxiated but I have to immerse myself in it to ensure my family a dignified life or even something more. It is the old story of those who do the job for which they do not feel they are cut out but have to do it, and therefore needs a minimum of escapism: those who play golf, those who cultivate relationships outside of work, those who disassemble and reassemble motorcycles … I do UAH! –

NAP – You sentence that you don’t do business but your song is available on all online platforms. Are you going to devolve the proceeds from the sales to charity? –

UAH! – Don’t think it’s easy for an independent like me to cover expenses and even generate profits with online sales alone. But thank you for the good wishes you give me, regarding the proceeds! “UAH is not music-business” is a phrase that summarizes (perhaps too much and in an unclear way) the way in which I took these first steps in the world of music, that is without any strategy, without even thinking about a hypothetical sponsor, label, reimbursement of expenses, search for musicians-partners. I have been guided, up to now, by the inner need to have my songs heard and that’s it.
As for charity, in general, I just say that I appreciate the people who do it without promising it and possibly without flaunting it. –

NAP – Following Spaidermen is there an album coming out? –

UAH! – I have some songs ready, others to fix, others are in embryonic stage. Actually I’m not thinking about an album. I only think of “treating” every single song in order to give it the maximum dignity possible, availing myself of a team of professional musicians and consultants. At the moment the idea is to publish a song every 1-2 months, at least for a year, then we will see.