Nziria eludes labels and transcends boundaries. They open their latest music video “Amam Ancora”, that was published yesterday in striking profile, holding in a pose reminiscent of the iconic non-binary artist Claude Cahun. Much like their genre-bending sound and image, the artist’s moniker is hard to translate – the word is used in Neapolitan dialect and implies “the obstinate and unprovoked tantrum of a tired child”. It’s fitting that Amam Ancora flows sporadically to the impulsive and dreamlike tune that plunges us into the timeless party trance. The track comes off their much-awaited album XXYBRID, due out late May on Gabber Eleganza’s record label Never Sleep.
As viewers we are whisked past dinners fit for a painting to find a wife located in the crowd. But the marriage is short lived as soon a new non-binary bride comes along to leave the discarded ex looking on in disappointment. The camera scatters us through a party of queer dancers and concludes with the first bride riding sadly away on the back of the devil’s motorbike to the countryside. It’s a queer story. Populated by Neapolitan cultural motifs what stands out is the marked presence of Femminiellos, the non-binary spiritual leaders, that party together. These people surely paved the way for Nziria’s queer community. An impressive use of light imbues a sense of the angelic into dancers that further illuminates the reference. Yet there’s still space for subversion, as Amam Ancora, translated as will you love me again, subverts the hyper-sentimental, possessive and discriminative lyrics of traditional Neomelodic artists. We can’t wait to see what’s next.
