Colours
Artists
Laura Pausini
Laura Pausini was born on 16 May 1974 at Solarolo (Ravenna).
She won her first major prizes at the Sanremo Festival event in the New Artists category with the song "La Solitudine" and in the Established Artists category, with the song Strani Amori. During her career she has not only sung in sports halls and arenas around the world, but has also taken part in the Christams at the Vatican concert and sung before Pope John Paul II. She sang "Seamisai" at Barbra Streisand's birthday party event and contributed to the soundtrack of the film Message in a bottle, starring Kevin Costner and Paul Newman with the song One more time. She has taken part in the Pavarotti & Friends concert performing One more time and Tu che m'hai preso il cor in a duet with Pavarotti.
She contributed to the soundtrack of the motion picture Pokemon 2000: The Power Of One with the song The extra mile written by Tina Arena and produced by the Christina Aguileraus production team.
She has performed at the Nobel prize awards ceremony in Oslo and in Los Angeles at a charity concert for the families of the fire fighters who died in New York on 9/11 with Kevin Spacey and Aljandro Sanz. In 2003, she sang, along with Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz and Shakira, Todo para ti, a song written and performed by Michael Jackson for families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York. She has received a letter of thanks from Kofi Annan for her contribution to aid initiatives endorsed by the United Nations. She was spokesperson in France for the "Femme face au sida" campaign against AIDS under the auspices of Princess Stephanie of Monaco. She has cut the album "Resta in Ascolto" which includes songs written for Laura by Biagio Antonacci, Vasco Rossi and Madonna.
(Top)
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena on 12 October 1935.
He gained his first musical experiences singing in the city choir. Pavarotti made an immediate impression on the Italian operatic scene and was soon engaged to sing in theatres throughout Italy. In a very short time, he was in international demand, and made his international operatic debut in La Traviata in Belgrade. During his career he has worked with the world's greatest opera stars: Josè Carreras, Placido Domingo, Riccardo Muti and others and has appeared on the world's most important opera stages, amongst them the Metropolitan Opera (New York), Bastille and Garnier (Paris), Deutsche Oper (Berlin), La Fenice (Venice), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (London), San Carlo (Naples), La Scala (Milan), Staatsoper (Vienna), Teatro Colon (Bueno Aires) and many other Opera Houses throughout the world. Not only has he performed in major international concert halls, but also at New York's Madison Square Garden, Central Park, London Wembley Stadium, The Olympic Stadiums of Berlin, London Hyde Park and The Eiffel Tower in Paris. Pavarotti will forever be identified with key tenor roles in operas such as Aida, La Boheme, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Rigoletto and Turandot.
Even today it is easy to discern the medieval foundations of the city; from the ancient city gates, although there remains only Porta Pieve, four roads stretch out to reach the main square, dedicated to Guercino. The square is overlooked by the Governor's Building which houses the Gallery of Modern Art "A. Bonzagni", and the XVII Century Municipal Hall. A short distance away, there are the Municipal Art Gallery, the Fortress, the Municipal Theatre, Casa Pannini, the San Lorenzo Auditorium, the San Biagio Collegiate, the Chiesa del Rosario and the Chiesa di San Pietro; just a few kilometres from the centre you come face to face with the Castello della Giovannina.
(Top)
Vasco Rossi
ASCO ROSSI was born at Zocca (Modena) in the Tuscany-Emilia Apennines. He began his career as a disc jockey and, in 1975, founded the first free radio station in Italy, Punto Radio.
The "revolution" begun by Vasco Rossi in the mid-80s, continues today, after he has become a legend, an authentic hero and the only singer able to win the complicity of extraordinary crowds of fans who flock to his concerts. Very much a non-conformist, Vasco erupted onto the music scene at a time when politically committed songs were the rage and turned it upside down, disrupting existing patterns by referring in his lyrics to private themes that are part of the social fabric and which strike hard, like a punch in the stomach. The first in Italy to replace the acoustic guitar with the electric guitar, his language is rock music and the band is his means of expression.
His big break came in 1990, when with just two concerts, he broke the record in terms of number of fans - over 110,000 (10/7 S. Siro -Milan and 11/7 Flaminio- Rome).
For the first time, an Italian rocker beat the competition of international artists, including the Rolling Stones and Madonna.
He does not often write songs for other artists, except with very few exceptions, among which the "divine" Patty Pravo for whom he wrote "E dimmi che non vuoi morire", for Irene Grandi "La tua ragazza sempre" which came in second at the Sanremo Festival in 1999 and "Prima di Partire", a song that tells of "travels and changes", one of the Tuscan rocker's big hits in the spring-summer of 2003. In 1998, he founded his motorcycle racing team, Vasco Rossi Racing, which took part in the World Motorcycling Championships of 1998, 125 cc class, official Aprilia bike ridden by Ivan Goi, the youngest rider to win a Grand Prix. The year after, team manager, Fiorenzo Caponera, engaged Roberto Locatelli, who won the world motorcycle championship, 125 cc class, on an Aprilia in 2000. Vasco Rossi Racing, world champion - a great achievement for a young team that made the top step of the podium in less than 3 years.
(Top)
Lucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla was born in Bologna on 4 March 1943.
He made his singing debut in 1964, thanks to Gino Paoli, who wanted to make Dalla Italy's first soul singer and directed him towards this music genre.
1970 saw his first success as a composer: Gianni Morandi recorded his "Occhi di ragazza" and took it to the top of the charts.
Between 1974 and 1977 we worked alongside Bologna poet Roberto Roversi.
In 1979 he went on a tour - event with Francesco De Gregori and in 1986 wrote his masterpiece "Caruso", unanimously acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful contemporary music songs ever written and which sold nine million copies throughout the world in dozens of different versions. The infinite greatness of this song was sealed by its being performed by Luciano Pavarotti.
Besides being a successful songwriter-singer, Lucio Dalla has often shown himself to be eclectic and ingenious in other fields as well, to the extent of launching out into what are truly parallel careers, such as composer of film music for Monicelli, Antonioni, Giannarelli, Verdone, Campiotti, Placido and others.
For many years now, he has also managed a contemporary art gallery in Bologna, the NO CODE, a venue for extra-musical events and happenings.
(Top)
Ligabue
Luciano Ligabue was born at Correggio on 13 March, 1960.
For several years he did various different jobs and only performed in public for the first time in 1987 with a group called Ligabue e Orazero.
In 1988, Pierangelo Bertoli recorded "Sogni di rock'n'roll", including it in his album "Tra me e me".
For Luciano, this was the first professional recording - he sings the counter-melody in the finale of the piece.
In 1989 came the recording of his first album - "Ligabue".
This was followed by a series of successes that made Ligabue a star of song.
In 1998, Luciano accepted to direct the film "Radiofreccia". On 13 September, Radiofreccia was presented out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it was widely acclaimed by the public and critics alike. The success of this film also continued outside the film theatres and it went on to win prestigious Italian film awards: three David di Donatello, two silver Ribbons, one golden Globe, three gold Ciaks.
In 1999, Luciano, together with Jovanotti and Pelù, wrote and published "Il mio nome è Mai Più", a song against the fifty-two conflicts under way in the world. Sales of the single CD (ten platinum records) amounted to several billion lire thanks to which, among other projects, the Emergency association opened a hospital in Afghanistan and started building another in Sierra Leone.
During his career, he has received many awards including the special Festivalbar prize for the tour of the year, the European platinum record during the third "I.F.P.I. Platinum Europe Awards" and various prizes at the Italian Music Awards.
(Top)
Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari
Adelmo Fornaciari was born at Roncocesi, province of Reggio Emilia, on 25 September 1955. Everyone calls him Zucchero, the nickname given to him by his elementary school teacher. Many were his music experiences until 1983, none of which however satisfied him. Consequently, in 1984, he decided to give his career a boost by flying out to California.
In 1986, COME IL SOLE ALL'IMPROVVISO/UNA RAGIONE PER VIVERE was published.
The profits from the record went to the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Association. The song "Come il sole all'improvviso" was performed together with Gino Paoli. Zucchero then went on to perform three concerts together with his idol, Joe Cocker: together they sang a fantastic version of "With a little help from my friend". His tours have taken him to France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Belgium and New York, where he cut a version of "Dune mosse" with Miles Davis. Some of his albums have been created with the collaboration of Eric Clapton, Clarence Clemmons, Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love, Jimmy Smith, Rufus Thomas, James Taylor Q. and Ennio Morricone. He has performed alongside world famous artists: Dee Dee Bridgewater, the great Ray Charles, Paul Young, Sting, Elton John and Brian May. His biggest hits, translated into English by Musker,
have spread his music throughout Europe, South America, Japan, the USA, Asia, Australia and South Africa. His tours touch cities throughout the world. He has also performed at the Kremlin. The concert, which was televised live, also starred:: Toni Childs, Randy Crawford, Jurij Kasparian and the Vivaldi orchestra of Moscow conducted by Peppe Vessicchio. He has actively taken part in the "Pavarotti International" with: "Miserere", "X colpa di chi?", "Va, pensiero" and other songs, and has performed "Così celeste" together with Pavarotti and the small Antoniano choir conducted by Mariele Ventre and "Muoio per te" with Sting. In 1996, he made a guest appearance at the Eric Clapton concert at the Royal Albert Hall, where he sang "Before you accuse me". Alberto Tomba and Maria Grazia Cucinotta presented him with the "1996 World Music Award" of the Monte Carlo Sporting Club, as the best-selling Italian artist in the world in 1995. In that same year, he was the only Italian to take part in the "Montreux Jazz Festival" where he performed after the legendary, Little Richard. A concert was organised in favour of the Rain Forest at the Carnegie Hall of New York, organised by Sting and his wife Trudy, with the participation of numerous leading artists; Zucchero performed the song "Va, pensiero (fly, thoughts)".
Gerard Depardieu took part in the recording of the video "Va, pensiero"
He has also sung "Va, pensiero" together with Sinéad O'Connor. As guest star at the "Michael Jackson & Friends" show in Munich, he performed: "Va, pensiero", "My love" and together with various other guests "What more can I give".
Invited by Bono of the U2 to take part in "Net-aid", a charity concert staged in London (Wembley Stadium), at Geneva (Palais des Nations) and in New Jersey (Giants Stadium), Zucchero performed "Il volo" and accompanied Bono on the guitar with the song "One" and also "New day", together with the other guest stars. Invited to Germany by Lothar Mattheus, a big fan of his, he performed before the great German player's goodbye-to-soccer match. He took part as a special guest in the famous event "Fifa football world player gala" in Zurich, where the golden football award is presented. He has performed on several occasions with the Manà, including at their concert at the Madison Square Garden of New York and in other stadiums around the USA. Invited by Brian May and Dave Stewart, he took part in the mega concert "46664 give 1 minute of your life to AIDS" organised by Dave Stewart and Queen to support Nelson Mandela's campaign. Here he sung: "Everybody's got to learn sometime" accompanied by Brian May, Roger Taylor and Sharon Corrs. He also took part in the famous medley of the Queen with "I want it all" and "We are the champions" together with Anastasia.
(Top)
Casadei
Raoul Casadei is one of the most important personalities in the history of Italian music and dance. His band, which was established in 1928 by his uncle Secondo Casadei, has been going strong for over 70 years. It has made many generations meet and dance while following its waltz, mazurka and polka rhythms. In 1970 Raoul, who started playing with the band when he was a young boy, took the Orchestra over completely. He renewed it by selecting young skilled musicians and showmen. He created "l'orchestra spettacolo" (show orchestra) and launched this all over Italy, reaching the top of the charts with the hit song "Ciao Mare". His is a popular, solar and, above all, danceable genre. Because no specific term existed to define this type of music, Casadei made up a new word which has become part of the Italian vocabulary: Liscio. Since then, a liscio-tour started that has never stopped. From the Alps to Sicily, Raoul Casadei, l'Orchestra Italiana travels with its show all over Italy, always finding ballrooms and squares crowded with people looking forward to dancing in pairs, to tradition, to relationship. Development has always been Raoul Casadei's main goal. The press calls him "the king of liscio", which he constantly studies, creates and experiments in order to make his Orchestra deservedly and officially represent Italian dancing. His greatest hits: Ciao Mare, Romagna Mia, Simpatia, La Mazurka di Periferia. In the 90's, he began working alongside great international celebrities, thus making the band renowned on a global scale: from the show with the inimitable Gloria Gaynor to a song composed with the late lamented Tito Puente, the king of mambo.
Raoul Casadei, who previously was always present on stage, no longer takes part in the performances of the Orchestra. He now manages the artistic and organisational side of the huge mechanism he has created around dancing. THE ORCHESTRA CASADEI, currently led by MIRKO CASADEI, was formed over 70 years ago (in 1928) in the farmyards of Romagna, a region in central Italy famous for its hospitality, good food and tourist resorts. The Orchestra Casadei promotes values such as family ties, tradition, love, friendship expressed with simple words and melodies that are easily understood by popular audiences. It is also however distinguished by high technical standards and good music, which also makes it much appreciated by a more attentive public. The one thing that never changes is the music itself which is always designed to make people want to dance. The Orchestra Casadei has also tried to win over youngsters or at least come closer to their tastes. That is why it created the slogan: Musica Solare [Solar Music], a new rhythm which does not forget waltz, polka and mazurka but is enriched by new instruments and sounds. The Italian tradition "refreshed" and closer to new generations, while maintaining its popular roots. The Orchestra Casadei has always performed strictly live.
(Top)
Giuseppe Verdi
Born at Le Roncole, near Busseto (Parma), on 10 October 1813. Giuseppe Verdi showed his music talent at a very early age. Because he was too old to attend the Conservatory, he studied counterpoint for three years under Vincenzo Lavigna, former "harpsichord master" of the Scala Theatre, while visits to the Milan theatres made him directly acquainted with the contemporary music repertoire.
Verdi's talent appeared in full however with the Nabucco, which premiered on 9 March 1842. By the time he was thirty-four, the composer was already world famous. His works were regularly staged in theatres all over the world and were commissioned by major Italian theatres.
With Rigoletto (Venice, La Fenice, 11 March 1851), Verdi's art achieved its greatest heights thanks to the perfect dramatic connection of events (which was also the result of faithfulness to Victor Hugo's model), and an equally perfect balance of the musical media used. La Traviata (Venice, La Fenice, 6 March 1853) also has an individual dimension. His works were not only staged in Italy, but also abroad, with Les Vêpres siciliennes performed at the Opéra of Paris on 13 June 1855 and La forza del destino at the Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg on 10 November 1862.
Verdi was elected as a Member in the first Italian Parliament and, at the request of Cavour, composed the Hymn of nations for the opening of the Universal Exposition of London in 1862.
When Rossini died (13 November 1868), he presented a Requiem Mass, a collective tribute of the Italian Maestros to the leading exponent of their art (1869). On 24 December 1871, the Aida was staged at the Cairo Opera Theatre. It had been commissioned by Ismail Pascià as a "National" Egyptian opera.
During his life, Verdi was not only engaged in writing music, but through music also addressed the social and political issues of his day, all of which were very dear to him. Verdi also established a rest home for elderly musicians in Milan. He referred to this as "his very best work". Verdi's death, on 27 January 1901, marked the end of an era in Italian life; his funeral on the other hand coincided with the start of the growing fortune of his works, which have never been more alive and current on the stages of the world than they are today.
top