SONGS AND DITTIES

This section is reserved in particular to songs written and marketed for the purpose of entertaining, creating a moment of escape, encouraging dreams about the future, and much more. It is the largest section of the archive, and although it partly overlaps with other sections it does not contain music clearly connected with dance, propaganda, patriotic rhetoric and war themes. It is also separate from the two regional sections (Dialect and Folklore; Naples Sings) in that it privileges the national language repertory. The term “ditties”, alongside that of “songs” means that in the first half of the twentieth century these products of the entertainment industry in its infancy were considered ‘minor’ for the function they held. Songs acted as pastimes, as they were able to provide a fleeting distraction without having or being willing to have much of an impact on reality. Such was not, in fact, their purpose, nor at least until the late fifties was there ever any mention of “art” or “poetry” in defining the Italian songbook, with the exception of the Neapolitan song. However, it is on this vast repertoire that the great performers and the most important authors of the first half of the century exercised their creativity, emphasizing on the one hand an indigenous tradition of singable melodies (a significant legacy of melodrama and romance); on the other, introducing foreign rhythms and sounds linked to the advance – however gradual – of globalization that was also promoted by cinema and other mass media of the time (magazines, radio, photography). Thus the first fifty years of the 1900s passed under the banner of the “sing it away” spirit, an Italian proverbial phrase that has long characterized songs and confined them to a role limited in terms of their potential but extraordinarily varied in terms of the places and situations in which songs took centre stage, marking unequivocally every moment of history: cafe-chantants, tabarin (cabarets) variety shows, avanspettacolo, revues, operettas, dance halls, radio and film.

Playlists (18)
Jula De Palma in francese 1 playlist
Jula De Palma in French 1 Jula De Palma began recording at a very young age...
Mario Ruccione playlist
Mario Ruccione Mario Ruccione (Palermo 1908 - Rome 1969) was a giant of the p...
Nostalgia d’Italia playlist
Nostalgia for Italy La nostalgia per la propria terra natia è un tema ...
Portami tante rose playlist
Bring me lots of roses. Songs by Michele Galdieri Michele Galdieri (1902-1965...
De Sica al cinema playlist
De Sica in the movies The 1930s were very important for the development of Vi...
La geografia di Claudio Villa playlist
The Geography of Claudio Villa Claudio Villa (1926-87) recorded roughly 3,200...
Quando canta Rabagliati…playlist
Quando canta Rabagliati… His was the voice of wartime, the voice that ...
Nino D’Aurelio playlist
Nino D’Aurelio Genetics are mysterious and one cannot fail to be amazed...
Bambole e Bamboli playlist
Guys and Dolls A fine roundup of "fatal" men and women. These are the guys an...
Era il 1938 playlist
It was 1938 Starting with Agata, a well-known piece by two of the inventors o...
Beniamino al cinema playlist
Beniamino on the big screen Tenors have always met with success among followe...
Meme Bianchi playlist
Meme Bianchi Meme Bianchi (1907-2000) was one of the most popular voices in I...
Andra’ tutto bene playlist
It will all be okay Here’s a collection of old songs amidst the outland...
Un saluto al sole playlist
A tribute to the sun Like other manifestations in nature such as rain, the mo...
Treno popolare playlist
Treno popolare Treno popolare segna l’esordio di Nino Rota nel mondo de...
Cani, gatti e altri animali playlist
Cats, dogs and other animals Animals have always been found in songs, often a...
Anni ruggenti playlist
The roaring twenties It is no coincidence that the most tumultuous and innova...
Andiam a lavorar playlist
It's off to work we go  This selection of songs dedicated to work takes ...