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Italian pop music in brief

What do you know about ÌýItalian pop music?

Some Americans seem to equate Italian music with O Sole Mio and ¹ó³Ü²Ô¾±³¦³Ü±ôìÌý¹ó³Ü²Ô¾±³¦³Ü±ôà. Meaning no disrespect to these great songs, Italy has a popular music tradition that provides strong competition to popular and rock music from other countries such as the United States and England.

I would divide Italian popular music into four different categories, overlapping to some extent.

• Melodic music
• Italian Rock
• Singer-songwriters (Known as “cantautori” )
• Original style

Melodic Music

Italian music, and Italian pop music in particular, Ìýhas seen many changes over the past forty years.ÌýI still remember Ìýthe songs that characterized my youth:ÌýVolare,Ìýby Domenico Modugno, Sapore di Sale, Abbronzatissima!, Fatti mandare dalla Mamma, ´¡³ú³ú³Ü°ù°ù´Ç.ÌýWe are talking about the lighthearted Italian 1960s.Ìý

Any Italian who was around at the time will never forget other iconic songs of the time, such asÌýVengo anch’io – no tu no!,ÌýÌýby Enzo Iannacci, a dentist-come-songwriter. This was the period when wild young stars like Mina, Rita Pavone, Adriano Celentano, Gianni Morandi first appeared, the first great icons of Italian pop music.Ìý

The period of the 1960s and 1970s also sees the great success of the Italian “cantautori“, singer songwriters.ÌýGino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, Bruno Lauzi and Sergio Endrigo can be counted among the most representatives.

An extremely “cant ante” was ÌýLucio Battisti. He alone, among Italian singers, could be compared in popularity to the Beatles or Simon and Garfunkel:Ìýthe majority ofÌýItalians between the age of 15 and 60Ìýis very likely able to name and sing at least one of his songs.Ìý

Most of Battisti’ lyrics were penned byÌýMogol: often romantic and usually non-political, the duo Battisti-Mogol produced, in fact, theÌýperfect “date” music.

On March 20th, Ìý2020 all Italian radios played the same music, Ìýin order to unite the country and make people feel good during the Coronavirus lockdown. The tunes chosen where the Inno di Mameli Ìýand then 3 iconic Italian pop music anthems: Ìý“Azzurro” By Adriano Celentano, La canzone del sole, by Lucio Battisti and Ìý“Nel blu dipinto di blu,” by Domenico Modugno (known internationally as Volare).Ìý

After the middle of the 70s, when young Italians became more politically conscious and expected music to reflect such a change,ÌýBattistiÌýlost some of his audience only to gain it once againÌýin the 80s and 90s.Young Italians still play Battisti songs and I consider his albums “the top” in Italian music.

For anyone interested in Italian Music, the Best of Battisti is an absolute must buy. La canzone del sole, Il mio canto Libero,ÌýLa collina dei Ciliegi, Acqua Azzurra acqua chiara, and many many other songs are the best of the best.

Italian Rock

Melodic style gave way in the 70s to a new style of music. Woodstock with Jimy Hendrix,ÌýThe Who, Janis Joplin, Credence Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton and many others changed the story of music forever in England and the United States.

Italian rock singers and singer-songwriters of the 70s and 80s include

• PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi)
• Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
• I Nomadi
• Edoardo Bennato

They were followed more recently by Vasco Rossi, Ligabue and Zucchero.

In Italy,ÌýItalian rock gives US-style rock a run for its money in terms of popularity.ÌýAt the end of 2004, Vasco Rossi gave a free concert with an unheard-of audienceÌýfor an Italian singer ofÌý300,000 spectators,Ìýthat happily stood under the rain. His crowd was surpassed only by the free concert that Simon and Garfunkel gave in front of the Colosseum in Rome in the Summer of the same year, Ìýwhere crowds reached more than 500,000.

Singer-Songwriters (usually politically influenced)

The first of the singer-songwriters is poet-singer Fabrizio De André.ÌýWe could compare him with Bob Dylan, even though his work has been influenced much more by French poetry and chansonniers.ÌýDe André wrote wonderful songs like La canzone di Marinella,ÌýBocca di rosaÌýand La guerra di PieroÌý(an anti-war song that I had to study at school,Ìýalong with Bob Dylan “BlowingÌýinÌýthe Wind”).

There are also cross-over artists:ÌýEdoardo Bennato writes and sings rock songs, but with a clear political meaning even if he claims that “Sono Solo Canzonette” (They are just simpleÌýsongs) as he does in one of his tunes.

Italian music has produced, of course, many more artists than those mentioned above:

• Singer songwriter Antonello Venditti:Ìý” Sotto il segno dei pesci” isÌýprobably his most famous album and “Roma Capoccia” his most famous song.
• Poet and ballad singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori:Ìý“Rimmel” is probably his best album,Ìýbut you can find most of its songsÌýin the compilation “Il bandito e il campione,” anÌýalbum that contains also a few new songs.
• Political singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini,Ìýwho started his career with “Due anni dopo” (1970),Ìý“L’Isola non trovata” (1970)Ìý and reached fame with “Radici”Ìý(1972) andÌýÌý“Via Paolo Fabbri 43” (1976). I stopped following him for a while, then I enjoyed his 1996’s album “Amore, morte ed altre sciocchezze.” A great live isÌýAlbum Concerto (along with Nomadi,Ìý1979) a double album with a collections of songs.
• Lucio Dalla, from Bologna, began his careerÌýin a jazz band and proceeded to develop his own style. Towards the end of his career, he also created theatrical scores.

Original styles

Italian pop music comprises excellent singers and performers,Ìýwhose style models are french-cabaret Ìýand jazz. Among them, piano player Paolo ConteÌý–Ìýinspired byÌýblues, orÌýÌýneapolitan music’s iconÌýPino Daniele. Some artistsÌýeven base their production on ancient, medieval-style music and folk songs, a style best seen in the violin music of Angelo Branduardi (La pulce d’acqua).

Singer-songwriting has today embarked inÌýnew musical territory with Italian rap singers Jovanotti (who has eventually changed direction and went more melodic) and Fedez, or the highly intellectualized work of Franco Battiato.Ìý

There has also been a revival of opera-likeÌýromantic singing, which reached its height with stars such as AndreaÌýBocelli, following the outstanding worldwide success of the song Caruso, by Lucio Dalla.

MODERN POPÌý : New Artists, new sound comes from newer artists like Fedez, Baby K ( video below) , Max Pezzali