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Marzelez: World of Secondo
by N. D. Schäfer ID: 359Whereas rappers with all kinds of cultural backgrounds in the US rap in English (with only few exceptions), and rappers with all kinds of cultural backgrounds in France rap in French, many crews in Germany and Switzerland rap only in their native tongue. In Germany, some groups rap exclusively in Turkish; the same in Switzerland. A few years ago, the group Stoffunita from Baden (in the German-speaking part of Switzerland) dropped an EP that was 100% in Italian and was even partly produced by Bassi Maestro, one of Italy's most important producers and rappers.
Whereas in the US, Chicano rappers Akwid were originally rapping in English and only now discovered Spanish as their main language, in Germany and Switzerland it's normally the other way round, e.g. D-Flame in Germany or Marzelez (pronounced like Marcellus) from Switzerland's Stoffunita.
D-Flame was rapping only in English as a member of Asiatic Warriors. Now, he raps only in German. After rapping only in Italian on Stoffunita's EP Perché non famoso, his solo EP, Marz Attax, features rhymes only in Swiss German.
This shows two things: on the one hand, it shows that Italians are part of Swiss culture, on the other hand, it also shows that their voices are still to a certain extent marginalised but that things are clearly changing. Italians? People like Marzelez are not only Italians, because they were born in Switzerland. But since people of foreign descent born in Switzerland don't automatically get a Swiss passport, they are still seen as different from the Swiss natives. There's even a term for them: "secondo" (for females: "seconda"), a term used only in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (even though clearly Italian). The sons and daughters of secondos and secondas are called terceros and terceras (from the Spanish). Not surprisingly, one of Marzelez's tracks is called "World of Secondo" (in English - a language that is also becoming more common as a lingua franca among French-speaking, German-speaking and Italian-speaking Swiss natives, today's international language and of course the native language of rap music).
The jus sanguinis (law of the blood) that is still prevalent in Switzerland and Germany and says that people born in those respective countries may become citizens but aren't automatically citizens (unlike in the US and France where the jus soli is applied, according to Roman tradition) seems archaic, yet it may be based on nationalism rather than old traditions. In any case, double citizenship is at least allowed in Switzerland (unlike in Germany). However, things seem to be changing. Being a secondo is more and more seen as hip in Switzerland. In hip hop culture, of course, many of the pioneers are secondos, like Luana (usually rapping and singing only in English) from Basel or MC Carlos (rapping in French and sometimes in Spanish) from Renens/Lausanne's Sens Unik, a bilingual crew from day one. Other bilingual crews include Documento C from Zürich (Spanish/Swiss German) and Vizioso (Italian/French - even though from the German-speaking part). Switzerland may be officially quattrilingual (German, French, Italian, Romansh), but only speakers of Romansh are truly bilingual (they all speak German, too) - in other areas of the country you have to speak the language of the majority (Swiss German in the Deutschschweiz, French in the Romandie and Italian in Ticino) to communicate with the "natives with passports." Of course, many languages other than those three are spoken in Switzerland, and rappers like Basel's Makale (who almost exclusively rap in Turkish) to Zurich's Bligg (who exclusively raps in Swiss German) all reflect contemporary Switzerland. Left wing politicians are trying to change the laws so that secondos or at least the children of secondos become automatically Swiss citizens, but right-wing politicians still dream of Switzerland as a homogeneous country - an absurd idea in the first place, because of Switzerland's multilingual and multicultural heritage. Marzelez's decision to use only Swiss German on Marz Attax may also reflect his own culture: Whereas "Perché non famoso," Stoffunita's EP is in Italian exclusively, but their website www.stoffunita.com is in German. Marz Attax was produced by Bassi Maestro, DJ Record, Turi (a Swiss-Italian/secondo producer, not to be confused with Italy's Turi) and Kuze who even uses Greek samples. Ceschi Dee (in Italian, as usual) from Stoffunita, H-Maa, Semantik and Microbatik are the guest rappers. Swiss Germans and Italo-Swiss Germans working together - that was probably what James Schwarzenbach, a right-wing politician who wanted to oust all Italians in 1969/1970 (Marzelez also mentions him on "World of Secondo") wanted desperately not to happen. But many Swiss people with passports can see how people of foreign descent enrich Swiss culture, and one day (hopefully) there will be no more secondos ... just citizens. Some Swiss communities actually already allow all foreigners (i.e. not only secondos) to vote. World of Secondo, mondo dell'hip hop!
May 6, 2004
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