"Sinan Capudan Pascià " tells the story of Scipione Cicala, the son of a Genovese nobleman, who was captured by the Ottomans at the battle of Djerba. He converted to Islam, and rose to the rank of Grand Admiral ("Capudan Pasha") of the Ottoman fleet.
De Andrè's song describes his capture ("turbaned heads on the galley, the sabers flash in the moonlight"), and his later rise to fortune. The song seems to imply that he was a galley slave who came to the attention of his masters when he saved a ship from being wrecked, but this seems not to have been the case: the real Cicala, captured at an age between 14 and 16, was trained to enter the service of the Ottoman Sultan, and subsequently married two great-granddaughters of Suleyman the Magnificent.
The chorus portrays Sinan/Cicala as uninfluenced by wealth and attaching no significance to his conversion: "... and tell those who call me a renegade, that I have left the riches of gold and silver to sparkle in the sun, blaspheming Muhammad in place of Christ".
"Sinan Capudan Pascià " tells the story of Scipione Cicala, the son of a Genovese nobleman, who was captured by the Ottomans at the battle of Djerba. He converted to Islam, and rose to the rank of Grand Admiral ("Capudan Pasha") of the Ottoman fleet.
De Andrè's song describes his capture ("turbaned heads on the galley, the sabers flash in the moonlight"), and his later rise to fortune. The song seems to imply that he was a galley slave who came to the attention of his masters when he saved a ship from being wrecked, but this seems not to have been the case: the real Cicala, captured at an age between 14 and 16, was trained to enter the service of the Ottoman Sultan, and subsequently married two great-granddaughters of Suleyman the Magnificent.
The chorus portrays Sinan/Cicala as uninfluenced by wealth and attaching no significance to his conversion: "... and tell those who call me a renegade, that I have left the riches of gold and silver to sparkle in the sun, blaspheming Muhammad in place of Christ".
Wikipedia has more information about the historical Cicala: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigalazade_Yusuf_Sinan_Pasha