the songs: Rosa Balistreri 1927 - 1990
Born to a poor family, unhappy in an arranged marriage, with time spent in jail for the attempted murder of her gambling, drunken husband, Rosa Balistreri lived the hard life. Known for her dramatic renditions of traditional Sicilian folk songs, you can hear in her voice the suffering and strength that is the fabric of the Sicilian soul with its mix of desperation, tragedy, sweetness, beauty, misery, and pride. She was 39 when she first made her mark as a professional singer.
the songs: Franco Battiato 1945 - 2021
Musician, singer/songwriter, composer of electronic, avant-garde and classical music, filmmaker, painter, student of history and of esoteric and spiritual traditions, Franco Battiato's work was by turns intellectual, poetic, visceral and meditative; his musical journey and artistic voice are absolutely unique in the landscape of Italian pop music. His career was marked by multiple reinventions as he followed his muse for over fifty years of making music and meaning.
the songs: Juri Camisasca 1951 -
After the release of a highly idiosyncratic first album in 1974, singer/songwriter Juri Camisasca lent his extraordinary voice to a variety of projects by artists like Franco Battiato, and also performed extended vocal improvisations in live concerts. In 1979 he became a Benedictine monk for many years and subsequently lived as an eremite on the slopes of Mt. Etna, returning sporadically to the music world as a vocalist and songwriter starting in the late 1980s.
the songs: Cantacronache 1957 - 1962
In 1957, a group of musicians, writers, and poets formed Cantacronache (literally, singing the news) to create a more socially relevant and truthful portrayal of Italian life. Influenced by French chanson, Brecht, Weill, and traditional Italian folk material, their approach lay the groundwork for the songwriters of the 1960s who remade Italian popular song. 7 EPs from 1958-1961 include songs exploring the Resistance, anarchism, socialism, labor, and protest.
the songs: Caparezza 1973 -
Beginning with his first album ?! in 2000, rapper/songwriter Caparezza has created a fascinating body of work, brainy, incisive, and packed with pop culture arcana. A master of word play, he crafts songs with elements of rock, heavy metal, hip hop, even classical music, over which his rapid-fire raps tackle many aspects of Italian life and his own personal struggles. His humor, satire, irony, and hair are reminiscent of that of his artistic lodestar, Frank Zappa.
the songs: CCCP 1982 - 1990, 2023 -
CCCP - Fedeli alla Linea was a punk band from 1982-1990. Founded in West Berlin by vocalist Giovanni Lindo Ferretti and guitarist Massimo Zamboni, the band absorbed many flavors as it evolved from its early low-budget DIY days through its theatrical live shows: industrial, Middle Eastern, folk, and electropop. Their lyrics touch on socio-political themes and offer bleak visions of modern life. The band’s dissolution coincided with the collapse of the USSR.
the songs: Adriano Celentano 1938 -
As a teenager in Milan, Adriano Celentano jumped into the rock ‘n’ roll of Bill Haley and Elvis and never looked back, becoming one of Italy’s top pop artists. A singer/songwriter, actor, filmmaker, and all-around showman, his long career is studded with highlights over the course of 45+ albums and almost 40 films. In 1962 he founded his still-current record label, Clan Celentano, as part of an artistic commune to gain greater freedom for himself and other artists.
the songs: Piero Ciampi 1934 - 1980
Piero Ciampi considered himself primarily a poet. In the late 1950s, he scraped by in Paris singing his poems in cafes. Ciampi had lots of rough edges, loved to drink and get in fights, upset lots of people in life and the music industry, and two wives left him after less than a year. He had modest success writing for other artists, but his own releases saw little acceptance from critics and the public. Rawness, pain, drunken wisdom, humor – Ciampi's work has aged well.
the songs: Lucio Dalla 1943 - 2012
Self-taught on woodwinds and piano, Lucio Dalla played clarinet as a teen with a successful Dixieland jazz band in Bologna. At 19, he was vocalist in another band, then embarked on a solo career as a soul singer. Songwriting followed, and eventually huge popular and critical success. His work is musically adventurous, eclectic, and accomplished, ranging from experimental prog rock to mainstream pop. A singular artistic voice, Dalla is truly one of the greats!
the songs: Pino Daniele 1955 - 2015
Influenced by jazz, funk, R&B, blues, and middle-Eastern music, Pino Daniele's roots were in the musical traditions of Naples - he described his music as "tarumbò," a mix of tarantella, blues, and rumba that captivated Italy and the world. He was an accomplished self-taught guitarist with a beautiful voice that could range from a heavenly purity to a gritty soulfulness. Many of his lyrics are in the Neapolitan dialect on topics both personal and political.
the songs: Fabrizio De André 1940 - 1999
Known especially for his poetic lyrics, Fabrizio De André created a deep and enduring body of work revered by young and old in Italy still today. He collaborated often with other artists, his music taking on new colors and influences, but at the core of De André's work is his warm, soulful voice, equally informed by head and heart. His biggest influence was French chanson. A songwriting success just before completion of law studies let him "give up his day job."
the songs: Sergio Endrigo 1933 - 2005
Singer/songwriter Sergio Endrigo was pressed into service as a singer, at 10 years of age, by a local pub owner who paid him a couple lira to sing from a table top to working-class customers at lunchtime. As a teenager he taught himself guitar – it was the only instrument he could afford. Before reaching success with his own songs in the 1960s, he spent seven years in nightclubs singing material by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Johnny Mathis.
the songs: Gabriella Ferri 1942 - 2004
Gabriella Ferri was the voice of Rome from 1965 into the 1980s. Raised in Testaccio and steeped in the sights, sounds, and history of the city, she was best known for her repertoire of traditional songs from Rome and Naples. Ferri was also a songwriter and charted in the Latin American market. Her voice was a remarkable instrument, reflecting the attitude of Rome in its many facets as well as the joys and sorrows she experienced so intensely in her own life.
the songs: Giorgio Gaber 1939 - 2003
After achieving success in the 1960s with his recordings and TV appearances, Giorgio Gaber, of Milan, forged a new path with his more intimate teatro canzone (theater song) performances, where he interspersed monologues and songs which became expressions of Signor G, a sort of Italian everyman that Gaber and his lyric partner Sandro Luporini developed to explore a wide range of psychological, social, cultural, political, and philosophical topics.
the songs: Rino Gaetano 1950 - 1981
In the turbulence and terrorism of 1970s Italy, Rino Gaetano was a unique artistic voice only more widely appreciated after his career was cut short by a tragic auto accident in 1981. Influenced by Brecht and Ionesco, he used irony, satire, and nonsense paired with simple music and melodies to name names and call out social injustice and corruption, delivered with his rough-edged voice and sly smile. A light-hearted, fearless cultural warrior, Rino is still relevant today.
the songs: Enzo Gragnaniello 1954 -
Singer/songwriter Enzo Gragnaniello is a Naples-based artist with deep roots in traditional Neapolitan music. He has released 18 albums since his first in 1983, four of which were awarded the prestigious Tenco Prize for best album in dialect. Gragnaniello also wrote for other singers, most notably during a collaboration of several years with Mia Martini, whom he helped to emerge from her dark period of retreat from the music scene.
the songs: Enzo Jannacci 1935 - 2013
An early adopter of American rock 'n' roll in the 1950s, Enzo Jannacci's primary musical influences were jazz, French cabaret, and traditional songs of Lombardy. He is known for his irony and humor, his storytelling and character sketches, and, especially in his early years, his distinctively zany (he called it "schizo") approach to performance. Milanese through and through, Jannacci was also a doctor (surgeon) and achieved a black belt in karate.
the songs: Marta sui tubi 2002 - 2016
Two Sicilian musicians, Giovanni Gulino and Carmelo Pipitone, met in 2002 and Marta sui tubi was born out of their mutual interest in pushing the boundaries of acoustic music. The duo moved to Bologna where they gained a following for their edgy sound and high-energy performances. Described as folk punk and experimental rock, Marta sui tubi became a trio, then a quintet, and created a compelling and exciting body of work over their 15 years of activity.
the songs: Mia Martini 1947 - 1995
Voice and emotion – the essence of Mia Martini. Strongly influenced by Etta James and Aretha Franklin, Martini’s is one of the great voices of contemporary Italian pop music. Known primarily as an interpreter of others' songs and for the intensity of emotion that she conveyed in her singing, she also released one album of original work. She overcame significant setbacks in her career, including vocal nodules that required surgeries and an entire year of silence.
the songs: Domenico Modugno 1928 - 1994
Influenced by the folkloric cantastoria tradition, Domenico Modugno is hailed as Italy’s first modern singer/songwriter. His early 1950s records were in regional dialects. His international smash hit “Volare” won the 1958 Sanremo Music Festival and won two Grammies in 1959. Parallel with his long music career, Modugno appeared in 46 films until a 1984 stroke forced him to give up the stage. He spent much of his final years working for the rights of disabled people.
the songs: Roberto Murolo 1912 - 2003
A native son of Naples and son of a poet whose works were part of the golden age of Neapolitan song, Roberto Murolo began his musical career with a vocal quartet modeled after The Mills Brothers, touring Europe from 1937-1946. After the war, Murolo attained great success as a solo artist, accompanying himself on guitar and expanding his repertoire of Neapolitan songs dating back to the 13th century. He continued to perform and record through the ‘90s.
the songs: Gino Paoli 1934 -
Singer/songwriter Gino Paoli is associated with the Genoa School of artists who, in the 1960s, helped shift Italian songwriting away from saccharine commercialism to a more genuine form of self-expression. Paoli wrote his biggest hits in the ‘60s and managed to survive an attempted suicide and several years of drug and alcohol abuse to go on to a long career: songwriter, film music composer, producer, and singer, with many albums very much in the Italian pop mainstream.
the songs: Massimo Ranieri 1951 -
Born in Naples to a large working-class family, Massimo Ranieri worked his way up from singing at restaurants and weddings to being a teen idol after a successful TV appearance in 1969. Also a successful actor, he has sold more than 40 million records and appeared in 35 films and 40+ stage pieces, many of which he also directed. Ranieri is known equally for his pop music and his renditions of traditional Neapolitan songs, which are the gems featured here.
the songs: Luigi Tenco 1938 - 1967
Part of the first wave of Italian singer/songwriters from the 1960s, Luigi Tenco wanted to create a new kind of Italian song based in stark reality, not pop fantasy. His songs - introspective, emotionally honest - dealt with love and topics of social and political import. His career ended tragically by suicide after his entry was panned at the 1967 Sanremo Music Festival. The intensity of his voice and lyrics, along with his commitment to his art, had an out-sized impact on Italian songwriting.
