Putumayo Presents: Italian Café

Product Description
After the chaos and destruction of World War II and the conservative musical environment Italian leaders promoted, the Italian public was ready for a more relaxed sound. Jazz, swing and boogie-woogie were achieving worldwide popularity and merged with the Italian crooner tradition. The musical rebirth of the 1950s and ’60s was like a second liberation. Putumayo’s Italian Café captures the music and attitude from that era and from current singers whose musical DNA follows that lineage. While most foreign music was banned under the Italian fascist regime, Fred Buscaglione wound up in a U.S. internment camp, where he was able to get a jumpstart in trying out the styles emerging from America. Quartetto Cetra emerged in the late ’40s, when they provided the overdubs for the Italian versions of the movies Dumbo and Wizard of Oz. The following decade found Renato Carosone blending Neapolitan folk music with American jazz and boogie-woogie to create a signature style that made him a household name in Italy and a chart-topping crooner in the U.S.

Nicola Arigliano is the only 1950s-era artist on Italian Café performing to this day. Born in 1923 in a small village in southern Italy, Arigliano ran away from home when he was just 11 years old to play music in the nightclubs of Milan. Arigliano disappeared from the concert stage for 30 years. In the past decade he re-emerged with four new albums.

Gianmaria Testa is more famous abroad than he is at home in Italy, where he works as a train station manager. You can hear his trademark gruff, whispering voice on two songs on Italian Café. Daniele Silvestri’s "Le Cose in Comune" won Italy’s equivalent of the Grammy, as best song of the year.

The collection features extensive liner notes in English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Putumayo Presents: Italian Café,Various Artists,Putumayo World Music,Int'l & World Music,Italian,Italy,Pop

Average customer rating:

Found most of the songs old fashioned and hokey

One Star For the One Track I Liked

nostalgia

A little too old fashioned for some tastes

One of the best

Putumayo Presents: Italian Café
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Putumayo World Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Italy | Continental Europe | Europe | International | Styles | Music
General | Continental Europe | Europe | International | Styles | Music
General | International | Styles | Music
International | Putumayo World Music Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B00099IJ7S
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Tracks:

Juke Box - Fred Buscaglione
Un Bacio A Mezzanotte - Quartetto Cetra
Cannelloni - Giorgio Conte
Che Cosse L'Amor - Vinicio Capossela
Petali E Mirto - Maria Pierantoni Giua
Gne Gne - Giorgio Conte
Piccolissima Serenata - Renato Carosone
Dentro Al Cinema - Gianmaria Testa
Le Cose In Comune - Daniele Silvestri
Tu Vuo' Fa' L'americano - Quadro Nuevo
La Traiettorie Delle Mongolfiere - Gianmaria Testa
Carina - Nicola Arigliano

Album Description

After the chaos and destruction of World War II and the conservative musical environment Italian leaders promoted, the Italian public was ready for a more relaxed sound. Jazz, swing and boogie-woogie were achieving worldwide popularity and merged with the Italian crooner tradition. The musical rebirth of the 1950s and '60s was like a second liberation. Putumayo's Italian Café captures the music and attitude from that era and from current singers whose musical DNA follows that lineage. While most foreign music was banned under the Italian fascist regime, Fred Buscaglione wound up in a U.S. internment camp, where he was able to get a jumpstart in trying out the styles emerging from America. Quartetto Cetra emerged in the late '40s, when they provided the overdubs for the Italian versions of the movies Dumbo and Wizard of Oz. The following decade found Renato Carosone blending Neapolitan folk music with American jazz and boogie-woogie to create a signature style that made him a household name in Italy and a chart-topping crooner in the U.S.

Gianmaria Testa is more famous abroad than he is at home in Italy, where he works as a train station manager. You can hear his trademark gruff, whispering voice on two songs on Italian Café. Daniele Silvestri's "Le Cose in Comune" won Italy's equivalent of the Grammy, as best song of the year.

The collection features extensive liner notes in English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Customer Reviews:

Found most of the songs old fashioned and hokey.......2007-04-30

I expected more from this CD, based on the other Putumayo series I purchased in the past. Most of the renditions are really dated. The male vocals on Carina and Gne Gne are so bad they are almost funny. If it were cheaper, I would say go for it, but at $12.99, it isn't worth it for the few oldie songs on there.

One Star For the One Track I Liked.......2006-12-19

I'm going to the trouble of writing this review to warn you: this cd is not like the other Putumayo cds. No, it is not fun, hip, relaxing, good to dance to, or stimulating. It is a selection of hackneyed Sinatra-style slop sung by a variety of leery-sounding men with fake deep voices. I have this rule for music: if it makes me think of animated dogs kissing over pasta, it sucks. Consider yourself warned. If you like good music, try French Cafe instead.

nostalgia.......2006-06-06

I'm a music teacher and I speak Italian very well. I heard most of this CD while cleaning up after a Tuscan-themed Teacher Appreciation Lunch at my own son's school. I think this CD is a great find: contains a whole bunch of music I wasn't familiar with; witty lyrics, and a real authentic, not-overproduced feel. I really had not heard indigenous Italian jazz, and now I find that it's great stuff. I'm pretty picky--for instance, love Putamayo's Gypsy Caravan and Arabic Groove but detest Jewish Odyssey. So for what it's worth, that's my opinion.

A little too old fashioned for some tastes.......2006-02-21

Having purchased previous Putamayo products such as the African, Mississippi blues, and French sets, I expected this to be in the same style. The previous sets blended the new with the old very well and had a much more contemporary feel to them. This set is old fashioned music and songs done by both traditional and modern artists. Even with the modern artists, the style is old fashioned and in many cases, dated. Some songs are better than others but overall there's no balance of where that older music lead to. I'm no expert on Italian music (I'm a bigger consumer of their food) but it seems there's better stuff out there than this.

One of the best.......2005-10-26