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A gifted pianist and jazz musician, Renato Carosone was one of the most important musicians and singers of the Neapolitan and Italian melody that he helped spread around the world after World War II. The Neapolitan artist skillfully blended tarantella with jazz and African and American melodies to create danceable rhythms.
His songs are played all over the world and some have become true milestones of our music. His major hits include Caravan Petrol, 'O Sarracino, Torero, Tu vuò fà l'americano and many others.
Carosone is also then the only Italian singer, along with Modugno, to see records in the United States without recording them in English. Today, his songs are still very relevant and are often taken up by other musicians to construct remixes and covers with a modern twist.
A life full of achievements
Renaro Carosone was born in Naples in 1920. The first of 3 siblings, he lost his mother early and had to help his father carry on the family by doing all kinds of work. As a boy with his brothers he composed the Carosone trio to entertain the neighborhood residents and at 17 graduated from the conservatory in piano.
In the same year he left for Africa as he was hired by an art company as a pianist and conductor. Called up for military service due to the outbreak of World War II, he was sent to the Somali-English front and during these years continued to play in small orchestras and English clubs.
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In 1946 Carosone returned to Italy, and in 1949 he was asked to open a new nightclub in Naples and form a musical trio with Dutchman Van Wood and Gegè Di Giacomo. After Van Wood's departure, the band grows to 4 members and then to 6. Meanwhile, the first 78rpm and 45rpm records are released and a successful 33rpm series named Carosello Carosone begins.
Included in this collection are songs such as Torero, 'O Sarracino, Pigliate 'na pastiglia and Tu vuò fà l'americano. Carosone's popularity also reached abroad, touching countries such as France, the United States, France and South America, but in 1960 the artist decided to retire from the stage and for 15 years devoted himself only to classical music.
In 1975 he returned to the scene with a concert in Viareggio, and in 1982 he recorded a new record entitled Renato Carosone '82. Instead, in 1989 he made his debut at the Sanremo Festival with the song Na canzuncella doce doce. In 1996 he was awarded the Tenco Prize, and two years later his last live performance took place on New Year's Eve in Naples. Carosone will die in May 2001 in Rome.
The great classics of Renato Carosone
Bullfighter
Torero was recorded in 1957 and is one of Carosone's best-known songs, composed with his friend and lyricist Nisa. The two were looking for one last song for the album they were finishing, and Carosone asked Nisa to translate Perry Como's song Espana into Italian, but the result did not convince him. After a long process of comparison between the two, the lyrics of Torero with the rhymes we know today were finally born and it was immediately a great worldwide success. The Spanish did not grasp its irony about the figure of the bullfighter, and in the United States it topped the sales charts.
Caravan Petrol
Characterized by arabesque rhythms, Caravan Petrol is introduced by Gegè Di Giacomo's recited phrase, and in the 1958 text there is irony about the oil exploration which the protagonist carries out near Naples riding a camel and wearing a colorful turban on his head, but finding nothing. The song later inspired director Mario Amendola, who made a film in 1960 in which Carosone plays himself.
'O Sarracino
Published in 1958, 'O sarracino is about a charming man of exotic colors who lands in town and enchants all women with his irresistible charm. The term sarracino stood for saraceno, which in Italy in the past indicated Muslims and Arabs. So in the beginning Carosone wanted to give the idea of the handsome, bewitching oriental young man, but then the ironic line prevails and 'o sarracino becomes the waterfront Gascon to be made fun of. This is one of Carosone's most covered and reinterpreted songs.
You want to be an American
Recorded in 1956, the music was composed by Carosone, while the lyrics are by the trusty Nisa. The song in particular mixes jazz and swing music and is a kind of boogie woogie. The song is about a young Italian boy who wants to imitate the American lifestyle (whiskey and soda, baseball, rock and roll, Camel cigarettes) but is always dependent then on his parents. As admitted by the singer himself, Tu vuò fà l'americano is a parody of the Americanization process experienced in Italy in the early postwar years.
Maruzzella
Maruzzella was composed in 1954 and musically is based on a beguine rhythm reminiscent of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern sounds. The name maruzzella in Neapolitan is a vezzeggiative of the names Maria or Marisa, and it seems that for the song Carosone was inspired by his wife Italy Levidi to create a poignant love song. Today Maruzzella is a timeless Neapolitan classic and has also been interpreted by other artists such as Claudio Villa, Renzo Arbore, Nicola Arigliano, Mina, Gigi D'Alessio and many others.
Take a pill
Pigliate 'na pastiglia is a 1957 hit, and in the text the author questions whether one pill is enough to cure the lovesickness Of a lover who has not slept for three months. In fact, the night is never too small if you walk around Naples in the grip of insomnia and see a kitten eating a sardine in a corner. In fact, the song has great topical features and reflects on the use of modern concoctions and gimmicks to catch sleep.
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