THE NEAPOLITAN SONG

In the second half of the century, the Neapolitan song continued its path of renewal by drawing new lifeblood from foreign influences, which it assimilated and integrated in both its own soundscape and lyrics. Rock 'n' roll and Latin rhythms like cha-cha-cha were the first influences in a restyling that was partly due to the American presence in and around Naples even in peace time: many emerging interpreters gained experience in local clubs that were frequented by army men and tourists alike, mixing English, Italian and dialect, and thus giving rise to fruitful exchanges that placed the new repertoire in the cosmopolitan trends of the 1950s. If the classic Neapolitan song expressed its utmost brilliance between the two wars, it is true that many internationally-recognized standards arose out of these new creations. As a result of the same expansive strategy, the Naples Festival – whose first edition was in 1952, one year after Sanremo – saw the participation of both local and non-local artists and revived the status of Neapolitan music at the national level. The festival ended in 1970 (and was never resurrected despite a few short-lived attempts), just when a new generation of musicians finally ditched what was by then an old-fashioned idea of the song, promoting the Neapolitan Power, a sound that best reflected its time and opened up to the influence of rock, blues and soul. It was the beginning of the pop festivals season, which stretched the boundaries of a repertoire whose only common denominator was Neapolitan language. In those same years, other musicians rediscovered a music heritage that preceded the very birth of the song and was rooted in the oral and written folk tradition of the region Campania, frequently connected with theatre and high culture production. From there came a style that nourished the folk revival, while at another end of the spectrum contaminations with pop, disco music and rap emerged. The end of the millennium saw the birth of neo-melodic music, which would gain widespread popularity in the South of Italy.
Playlists (14)
Il Napoletano, prima lingua della canzone
Il Napoletano, prima lingua della canzone L’Italia è l’u...
Salvatore Di Giacomo playlist
Salvatore Di Giacomo Salvatore Di Giacomo became a journalist after being mad...
Renato Carosone playlist
Renato Carosone One hundred years after his birth, we remember Renato Caroson...
Napoli piange playlist
Naples is crying  In this playlist, tears are generated by the torments ...
era de maggio playlist
The month of may A ‘seasonal’ playlist that exalts the month most...
Gilda Mignonette 2 playlist
Gilda Mignonette - The queen of migrants 2 If Caruso had affirmed the re...
Napoli nell’anima e nel cuore playlist
Naples in the hearts and in the souls - Neapolitan songs from the first p...
Gilda Mignonette 1 playlist
Gilda Mignonette - The Queen of immigrants 1 Nicknamed the Queen of immi...
Elvira Donnarumma playlist
Elvira Donnarumma - The vamp An extraordinarily talented performer with ...
Cartoline dal Golfo playlist
Postcard from naples The extraordinary gems of the Gulf of Naples have always...
Enrico Caruso playlist
The first recording star was a Neapolitan tenor who was launched to celebrity...
Reginella playlist
Songs by Libero Bovio – vol. 1 Considered “the poet of the Neapolitan song”,...
Napoli ride playlist
Humoristic songs – vol.1 Humour is among the most widely used ingredients in...
‘O sole mio playlist
The flower of Naples – vol. 1 This first anthology of Neapolitan songs highli...
Songs (221)
Almamegretta
Almamegretta
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno
Mario Merola
Mario Merola