Italian music abroad is often reduced to old Neapolitan songs and the great lyrical tradition embodied by famous singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and, more recently, Andrea Bocelli. What many don’t know about is how rich and varied Italian music is today. Italy also has a long history of creative singer-songwriters who have shaped the country’s music industry and continue to do so.

A certain group of singer-songwriters (cantautori in Italian) have brought poetry and continuous innovation to Italian music, adding not only modern style to their music, but a more socially conscious awareness to it, as well. The origin of it all was a hit second only to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas in popularity, entitled Nel blu, dipinto di blu.  With this song, the young singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno stormed onto the Italian music scene in 1958, doing away with an entire songbook of previous generations’ lovey- dovey rhymes and sappy songs.