Some musical notes from our honeymoon trip. A longwinded and boring trip report will be written eventually, and posted in Agora.8 responses total.
On our first morning in Rome, the pop radio station played a very charming song. All I could really pick out was that it was a male/female duet. Leslie, who speaks a little Italian, picked out that the DJ said that he liked the song a lot, but we couldn't get any identifying information. On our second morning in Rome, the station played the song again. This time I was able to file the melody in my head. Later we went to the train station for other business; as there was a CD shop in the station I figured I might as well try my luck. Leslie explained to the clerk, a middle-aged woman, that the song was a duet, and I sang -- weakly -- the bit of the melody I could remember. The woman came back with an album with a cartoon of two ducks on it, labeled MINA CELENTANO. I was skeptical -- the cartoon of the two ducks didn't seem in the spirit of the song -- but the woman explained that this was a duo album from two Italian pop singers, Mina, and A_______ Celentano, and that it was *very* hot. So I decided to gamble with my 39,000 lira -- about $26? We didn't have a CD player with us, but I became more and more convinced that we had the right album when every CD shop we passed in Italy had lots of material promoting this album. We must have heard the song another four or five times during our Italian visit. The hit single turns out to be the song "Acqua e Vale," Water and Salt. I could really develop a taste for Italian pop music.
RE #1 Any possibility of us hearing that song once you get back to the States?
Bruin: oh, something will work out. Our second attempt at tracking down an Italian pop song from the radio was not successful; maybe Luca can identify the song for us. It's a chirpy pop song, seems to be by a band with a male singer. Each verse starts out "I am happy" in English, and then goes into Italian describing what makes him happy. One of the things which makes him happy is eating lots of chocolate. The clerk at the CD shop in the Rome train station, with our sketchy description, sold us an album by Giorgia called MANGIO TROPPA CIOCCOLATA (Eating Too Much Chocolate). It seems odd that we have two current Italian pop songs about chocolate, but Giorgia is a woman singer, not a band, and the album is sort of a jazz-pop style, similar to Basia. So, Luca, do you have any leads on that song with English words at the beginning of each verse? You probably don't listen to such frothy pop music... :)
Well, is since friday i'm trying to listen this damned song on the radio !!! I've got no idea about this song, i've never heard it. Anyway I've said to some friends to pay attention for it :-) Giorgia has what i call a *wonderful* voice (her name came for father's admiration of "Georgia's on my mind") even if some lyrics are a bit weak. It's difficult to identify it because many italian singers and band use to mix italian with english, often with the local languages, some of these with remarkable quality. Pino Daniele does this very good (put together english with italian with napoletano in blues). Also Zucchero 'sugar' Fornaciari does this. (one time he wrote for Sting and sometimes sings with Pavarotti) that's all for now from your italian reporter :-) luca_ (the underscore came from irc some years ago)
Thanks for the help, luca! One of the things I loved most about Italy, and in particular about Rome, was the piazza: english "plaza". The piazzas are (usually) car-free, and they are often lined with sidewalk cafes. I think we ate 2/3rds of our Italy meals outdoors. In Rome, while dining, one is serenaded by street singer/guitarists. Mostly they are performing American pop standards, sung in Italian, and the ones we heard ranged from good to very good. We always threw in a few thousand lira when the singer passed the hat around. Piazza Navona, in Italy, is famous for its size and long oval shape: it was built on the site of a stadium erected by the Roman Emperor Domitian. In this Piazza, near a fountain near the entrance, a street musician was playing guitar, and some folks gathered around him were singing in Italian. I didn't recognize the songs; I suspect they were either real folk songs, or venerable Italian pop standards. I do regret that I didn't buy the CD the musician had for sale. The worst street musician we heard was playing & singing in the courtyard of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. He was covering Simon & Garfunkel songs, and similar singer- songwriter stuff; he also had a CD for sale, and a sign in Italian and English informing us that he had toured the USA. Maybe he'd driven around and done some busking; it was hard to imagine this guy had ever been booked for a professional gig. Leslie and I have been trying to figure out what we can demolish to make room for a piazza in Ann Arbor.
I'd volunteer Briarwood but it's not really within convenient walking distance of anything..
Hey, there's that UM stadium we could use.
If Main Street ever gets turned into a pedestrian mall, that would do the trick piazza-wise.
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