Quando canta Rabagliati…playlist
Quando canta Rabagliati…
His was the voice of wartime, the voice that imported the vogue of syncopated singing from America. Alberto Rabagliati (1909-74), known to everyone as “Raba”, was a case of “fleeing talent”, someone who was only successful in Italy after being discovered abroad: photogenic and handsome, he won a competition announced by Fox to find Rudolph Valentino's replacement and fly to Hollywood. But his career did not take off and he was forced to pack his bags. However, he had time to assimilate the dances and music of the Jazz Age.
He then decided to study the violin and in 1931, was hired by Pippo Barzizza's orchestra. But not long after, he abandoned it to pursue his dream of becoming a singer, and fled to Paris. There he met the conductor Ernesto Lecuona who hired him for his Italian tour, and then took him with him to Cuba.
That was the turning point. He made records in Spanish and English and returned to Italy again as the singer for the Lecuona Cuban Boys.The person who convinced him to stay was fellow citizen Giovanni D'Anzi, a successful composer, who introduced him to the Eiar and Cetra circles. His career instantly took off and Rabagliati became the first star of song also thanks to the radio and conductors who could really bring out his sense of rhythm.
The public - especially women - found him charming and fascinating - and this also opened the doors of cinema and musical theatre to him. Although the regime did not look kindly on xenophile trends, thanks to him, Italian song assimilated rhythms and styles from across the ocean, helping to make it less provincial.
