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The expression Italian Popular Music refers to the musical output which is not usually considered Academic or Classical Music but rather have its roots in the popular traditions, and it may be defined in two ways: it can either be defined in terms of the current geographical location of the Italian Republic with the exceptions of the Germanic South Tirol and the eastern portion of Friuli Venezia Giulia; alternatively it can be defined as the music produced by all those people who consider themselves as Italians and openly or implicitly refer to this belief. Both these two definitions are very loose: due to the complex political history of the Italian Peninsula and the different independent political states, cultural and linguistic traditions which sprang within them, it is rather difficult to define what may be considered to be truly Italian. Since before the formation of a unified educational system and the spread of information through the radio and the press during the twenties, all the different cultural and linguistic groups within the country were independent from one another, and a unified Italian Country was still only a political or ideological concept far from the daily life.
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The Fascist period: Affirmation of a National Italian Culture
Music and the artistic production of this period reflected the need of the political class to affirm its ideological statement of an united and strong Italian identity on both the political as well as cultural basis.
Regional languages and independent cultural inheritances began to be slowly eradicated through the school system and the advent of the mass media which, at the time, were entirely controlled by the Italian government. Slow process of the industrialization which begun during the fascist period had strong effects on the lower classes; it helped in forming the contemporary italian society, in particular in the economical separation between the north and the south, which is reflected in the different references to the traditional background in the contemporary popular music. Emigration contributed to the exportation of the italian musical background to other countries such as Argentina, Australia and the United States.
1948 to the late '80: Slow Evolution to new Forms
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During the second half of the twentieth century Italian populas music has seen a strong shift as a results of the influences foreign music had on the Italian musicians brought by the technological advances such as television, tapes vinyl. In particular the protests of the 1968 helped to form a new group of musicians in contrast with the stereotypes of the Musica Leggera and opened to new musical forms.
- foundation of Musica Leggera during the fifties (Modugno, Celentano, Mina, Festival Di San Remo)
- Music of the '68 and the Modern Italian Troubadours (De Andre, Guccini, De Gregori, Gaber,)
- Opposition with more traditional music Musica Leggera (Celentano, Mina, Cutugno, Morandi)
- New direction of the late '70 (progressive rock, Battiato, Le Orme, Dalla)
- Rock Leggero of the '80 and '90 (Vasco Rossi, Piero Pelu)
Contemporary Music
Rock and pop
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Italian Rock and Pop produced many stars, including : Anthony Tortorich, Paola & Chiara, Lucio Dalla, Renato Zero, Adriano Celentano, Gianni Morandi, Fabio Concato, Marco Masini, Pupo, Mina, Eros Ramazzotti, Albano Carrisi, Umberto Tozzi, Andrea Bocelli, Ornella Vanoni, Vasco Rossi, Luca Carboni, Francesco De Gregori, Fabrizio De André, Francesco Guccini, Giorgio Gaber, Gianni Togni, Laura Pausini, Claudio Baglioni, Angelo Branduardi, Michele Zarrillo, and Toto Cutugno. Modern pop music tends to be sentimental ballads with a crooning vocal style, though it used to be unique in its blend of Mediterranean folk rhythms with pop forms. These folkier pop artists included Lucio Battisti, Vasco Rossi and Pino Daniele.
During the 1960s and 70s, Italian popular music changed by incorporating Latin American and Anglo musical traditions, especially Brazilian bossa nova and American and British rock and roll. The same period saw diversification in the cinema of Italy, and Cinecittà films included complex scores by composers like Franco de Gemini, Francesco de Masi and Riz Ortolani. This popular film music remained popular in the 70s, and then underwent a revival in the 1990s.
Italy was one of the leading nations of the progressive rock movement of the 70's - the others being Germany and the United Kingdom - and its progressive scene was quite big, united and lively. The main Italian style of progressive rock was symphonic rock mixed with Italian folk music influences (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Le Orme, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Il Balletto di Bronzo, just to mention a few), but there were also some very innovative avant-garde rock bands around (Area, Picchio dal Pozzo). Progressive rock concerts were usually political events with an energetic atmosphere. Area had mainly extremely left-winged political lyrics.
Beginning in the 1980s, pop grew more heterogeneous and more in line with international sounds.
Cinecittà soundtrack music and bossa nova were major influences on Nicola Conte (Bossa Per Due), an influential downtempo performer of the later 20th century. In 1995, Neri per Caso brought a new style of popular a cappella music to mainstream audiences after winning in the Sanremo Festival with their hit song "Le Ragazze".
Zucchero is a leading Italian rock musician, and has played with domestic stars like Luciano Pavarotti and international performers like Sting and Queen, while pop-folk singer Vasco Rossi has also experimented with rock and his 1999 hit "Rewind" was a popular rock song. Jovanotti is a widely popular singer mixing elements of dance with Italian popular music and rap. Other prominent rock bands include Litfiba.
Electronic and Dance Music
Techno, Trance, and Electronica are all popular forms of dance music in Italy.
- Gabry Ponte
- Eiffel 65
- Luca Parigi e Elysia La Russa
- Gigi D`Agostino
- Molella
Hip hop
The Italian hip hop scene began in the early 1990s with Articolo 31 from Milan. Their style was mainly influenced by East Coast rap. Other early rap groups are typically politically-oriented crews like 99 Posse (who later became influenced by British trip hop). More recent artists include Mondo Marcio [1] and gangster rappers like Sardinia's La Fossa.
Return to Tradition: Patchanka
After the example of De Andre, many artists are rediscovering the forms of traditional music abandoned since the fascist period as a sort of traditional revival.
- Tazenda
- Teresa De Sio
- Officina Zoè
There are many bands in Italy that play patchanka style music. This is characterized by a mixture of traditional music, punk, reggae, rock and political lyrics. Modena City Ramblers are one of the more popular bands; they mix Irish, Italian, punk, reggae and many other forms of music. Other bands that are worth checking out are Trenincorsa, Casa del Vento, Mau Mau, Banda Bassotti, Africa Unite, La Famiglia Rossi, Yo Yo Mundi, Pseudofonia, Folkabbestia, I Ratti Della Sabina, Fratelli di Soledad, Tupamaros, Radici Cemento and Aprés La Classe.
Jazz
The most important jazz scenes are in Rome and Milan, however many Italian jazz musicians are resident in Paris.
Relevant jazz players are: saxophonists Stefano di Battista, Rosario Giuliani and Maurizio Giammarco, pianist Danilo Rea and Stefano Bollani, trumpet players Paolo Fresu and Enrico Rava. Sicily has also a good jazz scene, based out of Palermo and including Enzo Rao, who have added native Sicilian and Arab influences to American jazz. The saxophonist child prodigy Francesco Cafiso is also from Sicily.
References
- Marcello Sorce Keller, "American Influences in Italian Popular Music between the Two World Wars", Orbis Musicae, no. 11, 1993- 94, pp. 124- 136.
- Marcello Sorce Keller, "Popular Music in the Mediterranean: Some Remarks Concerning Forms of Culture Contact", Revista de Musicologia, XVI(1993), no. 4, pp. 1- 7.
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