Putumayo Presents: Italian Café

Putumayo Presents (Series)

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 21, 2005)
• Original Release Date: June 21, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Putumayo World Music
• ASIN: B00099IJ7S
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,426 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Italy

Editorial Reviews

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy, Fun, Enjoy life Songs, August 23, 2005

By	Dawn Woolcott (Vancouver WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I truly enjoy this cd. The songs are not the traditional songs you might think of listening to while cruising the Grand Canal in Venice in a gondola, but are songs that evoke images of Sophia Loren, Dean Martin, and the happy images of the late 50's. Most of the songs make you want to dance. They are a joy to listen to. They are not all old songs though - several are from current artists. Only track #3 seems out of place - but is not too annoying to make you want to avoid the cd altogether. Both my young children and I love listening to them all. Now to learn to speak Italian so I can sing along!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nostalgia, June 5, 2006

By	Stella Hostis (Boston) - See all my reviews

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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars felice, July 18, 2005

By	H+E (Albuquerque, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews

This collection is a lot of fun, spanning the ages from the 50's to modern pieces. My only criticism is that there are two singers who are represented twice on this cd. It's not that they aren't good songs, but weren't there other performers to represent?