The expression Italian popular music refers to the

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

al output which is not usually considered academic or

Classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

but rather has its roots in the popular

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

s, and it may be defined in two ways: it can either be defined in terms of the current geographical location of the

Italian Republic Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

with the exceptions of the Germanic

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

and the eastern portion of

Friuli Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

; alternatively, it can be defined as the music produced by all those people who consider themselves as

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

and openly or implicitly refer to this belief. Both these two definitions are very loose: due to the complex

political history Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, social ...

of the Italian Peninsula and the different independent political states, cultural and linguistic traditions which sprang within them, it is rather difficult to define what may be considered to be truly ''Italian''. Since before the formation of a unified educational system and the spread of information through the radio and the press during the 1920s, all the different cultural and linguistic groups within the country were independent of one another, and a unified Italian country was still only a political or ideological concept far from the daily life.

The Fascist period: Affirmation of a national Italian culture

Music and the artistic production of this period reflected the need of the political class to affirm its ideological statement of a united and strong Italian identity on both the political as well as cultural basis.

Regional languages * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Lan ...

and independent cultural inheritances began to be slowly eradicated through the school system and the advent of the

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

which, at the time, were entirely controlled by the Italian government. The slow process of the industrialization which begun during the fascist period had strong effects on the lower classes; it helped in forming the contemporary Italian society, in particular in the economical separation between the north and the south, which is reflected in the different references to the traditional background in the contemporary popular music. Emigration contributed to the exportation of the Italian musical background to other countries such as Argentina, Australia, and the United States.

1948 to the late 1980s: Slow evolution to new forms

During the second half of the twentieth century, Italian popular music has seen a strong shift as a result of the influences foreign music had on the Italian musicians brought by the technological advances such as television, tapes vinyl. In particular, the protests of 1968 helped to form a new group of musicians in contrast with the stereotypes of the ''musica leggera'' (light music) and opened to new musical forms. * Foundation of ''musica leggera'' during the fifties and early sixties, e.g.

Domenico Modugno Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song), Nel blu dipinto di blu", ...

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian musician, singer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is dubbed "''il Molleggiato''" (the springy one) because of his dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both commercial and ...

, Mina,

Mia Martini Mia Martini (; born Domenica Rita Adriana Bertè ; 20 September 1947 – 12 May 1995) was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician.James Christopher MongerMia Martini allmusic.com Gino Paoli Gino Paoli (; born 23 September 1934 in Monfalcone) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He is a seminal figure who has written a number of songs widely regarded as classics in Italian popular music, including: " Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa ...

Sanremo Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian culture, Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longes ...

* Music of the '68 and the Modern Italian troubadours e.g.

Fabrizio De André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pro ...

Francesco Guccini Francesco Guccini (, born 14 June 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter, considered one of the most important '' cantautori'' of his time. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live a ...

Francesco De Gregori Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics. He is of ...

Giorgio Gaber Giorgio Gaber (), byname of Giorgio Gaberscik (25 January 1939 – 1 January 2003), was an Italian singer, composer, actor, and playwright. He was also an accomplished guitar player and author of one of the first rock songs in Italian ("Ciao ti ...

* Opposition with the traditional ''musica leggera'', e.g. Celentano, Mina,

Toto Cutugno Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (; born 7 July 1943) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Conte ...

Gianni Morandi Gianni Morandi (; born 11 December 1944) is an Italian pop singer, actor and entertainer. Early life Gian Luigi Morandi was born in a little village called Monghidoro on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. His father Renato was active within the I ...

* New direction of the late 1970s, e.g.

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

Franco Battiato Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, a ...

Le Orme Le Orme (Italian: "The Footprints") is an Italian progressive rock band formed in 1966 in Marghera, a ''frazione'' of Venice. The band was one of the major groups of the Italian progressive rock scene in the 1970s. They are one of few Italian r ...

Lucio Dalla Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards. Dalla was the composer of " Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso, and ...

* ''Rock leggero'' of the 1980s and 1990s, e.g.

Vasco Rossi Vasco Rossi (born 7 February 1952), also known mononymously as Vasco or with the nickname Il Blasco, is an Italian singer-songwriter and poet. During his career, he has published 30 albums (not including unofficial releases) and has written over ...

Piero Pelù Pietro "Piero" Pelù (born 10 February 1962) is an Italian singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the Italian band Litfiba. He was born in Florence. In July 1999, Pelù quit Litfiba. In 2000, he released his first solo album ''Né ...

Contemporary music

Rock and pop

Italian pop and rock has produced many stars including:

Laura Pausini Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an internat ...

Eros Ramazzotti Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti (; born 28 October 1963) is an Italian pop singer, musician and songwriter. He is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in bo ...

Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

Max Pezzali Massimo Pezzali (born 14 November 1967 in Pavia), commonly known as Max Pezzali, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He was the principal singer and songwriter of the pop rock group 883. In 2004, he released his first solo album ''Il Mondo Insieme ...

Biagio Antonacci Biagio Antonacci (; born 9 November 1963) is an Italian singer-songwriter from Milan. Biography Early life Biagio Antonacci was born in Milan and was raised in one of its suburbs (Rozzano). Despite learning how to play the drums at a young a ...

Antonello Venditti Antonio "Antonello" Venditti (born 8 March 1949) is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who became famous in the 1970s for the social themes of his songs. Biography Antonello Venditti was born in Rome, the son of Vincenzino Italo Venditti f ...

Lara Fabian Lara Sophie Katy Crokaert (born January 9, 1970), better known as Lara Fabian, is a Belgian-Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide as of 2021Broadway World (2017)"Lara Fabian annule finalement sa tourn ...

Tiziano Ferro Tiziano Ferro (; born 21 February 1980) is an Italian singer, songwriter, producer and author. He broke through in 2001 with his international hit single "Perdono" and has remained commercially successful since then, in several countries. Ferro h ...

Anna Tatangelo Anna Tatangelo (born 9 January 1987) is an Italian pop singer and television personality. At the age of 15, she became the youngest person to win the Newcomer's Award at the prestigious Sanremo Music Festival singing contest. Her repertoire con ...

, partially

Salvatore Adamo Salvatore Adamo (born November 1, 1943) is a Belgian-Italian musician, singer and composer, who is known for his romantic ballads. Adamo was born in Comiso, Sicily, Italy, and has lived in Belgium since the age of three, which is why he has dual ...

and

Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Winn ...

, Mina,

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

and

Elisa The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

. Additionally, a popular singer is

Viola Valentino Virginia Minnetti (born July 1, 1949 in Canzo), best known by her stage name Viola Valentino, is an Italian singer. Biography Minnetti started her career as a singer in 1968 under the name Virginia and later began to sing with her then husband ...

. The modern style of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

tends toward sentimental ballads with a

crooning Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

vocal style, though it previously had a blend of Mediterranean folk rhythms fused with pop forms. These folkier pop artists included

Lucio Battisti Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 – 9 September 1998) was an influential Italian singer-songwriter and composer. He is widely recognized for songs that defined the late 1960s and 1970s era of Italian songwriting. Battisti released 18 studio albums ...

and

Pino Daniele Giuseppe Daniele (19 March 1955 – 4 January 2015), known as Pino Daniele, was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician. His influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music. Biograp ...

. Modern and young emerging artists falling within this genre who have acquired public success for their voices include

Alessandra Amoroso Alessandra Amoroso (; born 12 August 1986 in Galatina, Province of Lecce) is an Italian pop/soul singer, songwriter, producer and TV personality. She was the winner of the 2009 edition of the Italian talent show ''Amici di Maria De Filippi''. S ...

Malika Ayane Malika Ayane (; born 31 January 1984) is an Italian pop singer. Early life Malika Ayane was born in Milan, Italy, on 31 January 1984, to a Moroccan father, Ahmed, and an Italian mother. She grew up in the Zone 2 of Milan, the most multi-ethn ...

, Emma,

Arisa Rosalba Pippa (born 20 August 1982), better known by her stage name Arisa, is an Italian singer and actress. Early life Arisa was born in Genoa, Italy. A week after her birth, her family moved back to their original hometown, Pignola, a villag ...

and Noemi to name a few. During the 1960s and 1970s, Italian popular music changed by incorporating Latin American and Anglo musical traditions, especially

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

, American and British

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

and even

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. The same period saw diversification in the

cinema of Italy The cinema of Italy (, ) comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and the stylistic aspect of film ...

, and

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

films included complex scores by composers including

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

Armando Trovaioli Armando Trovajoli (also Trovaioli, 2 September 1917 – 28 February 2013) was an Italian film composer and pianist with over 300 credits as composer and/or conductor, many of them jazz scores for exploitation films of the Commedia all'italiana ...

Piero Piccioni Piero Piccioni (; December 6, 1921 – July 23, 2004) was an Italian film score composer and lawyer. A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on ...

and

Piero Umiliani Piero Umiliani (17 July 1926 – 14 February 2001) was an Italian composer of film scores. Biography Umiliani was born in Florence, Tuscany. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed the scores for many exploitation fil ...

. This film music remained popular in the 1970s, and then underwent a revival in the 1990s. Italy was one of the leading nations of the progressive rock movement of the 1970s (the others being

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

), and its progressive scene was big, united and lively. The main Italian style of progressive rock was

symphonic rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initi ...

mixed with Italian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

influences, e.g.

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (English: ''Bank of Mutual Relief'') is an Italian rock band. A popular progressive rock band in the 1970s, they continued making music in the 1980s and 1990s. Recently, they were still active, playing live in 2001 and ...

Premiata Forneria Marconi Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: ''Award-winning Marconi Bakery'') is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group ...

, Il Balletto di Bronzo. There were also some

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

bands around, such as

Area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

. Progressive rock concerts were usually political events with an energetic atmosphere: Area's songs had mainly

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political lyrics. Beginning in the 1980s, pop grew more heterogeneous and more in line with international sounds. Italian

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

spawned

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

, whose first single "

Ride on Time Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a 1998 comedy by Millicent ...

" was an international hit, making the Top 10 in many countries and no 1 in the UK, becoming the UK's best-selling single of 1989.

Zucchero Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...

is a leading Italian rock musician along with

Luciano Ligabue Luciano Riccardo Ligabue (born 13 March 1960), commonly known as Ligabue or Liga, is an Italian singer-songwriter, film director and writer. Biography Ligabue was born in Correggio, in the province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna egl, Emig ...

and

, whilst

Jovanotti Lorenzo Cherubini (; born 27 September 1966), better known as Jovanotti (), is an Italian singer-songwriter, rapper and disc jockey. The name Jovanotti derives from ''giovanotti'', the plural form of the Italian word ''giovanotto'' ("young man") ...

is a widely popular singer mixing elements of

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

with Italian popular music and

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. Other prominent rock bands include

Litfiba Litfiba was an Italian Rock music, rock musical band, band formed in Florence, Italy, in early 1980. The band evolved from British-influenced new wave rock to a more personal rock sound influenced by Mediterranean vibes; their songs are mostly ...

. In the 2000s,

group DB Boulevard with vocalist

Moony Monica "Moony" Bragato (born 27 September 1980) is an Italian singer. She is best known as the vocalist on DB Boulevard's hit single " Point of View", as well as for her own single " Dove (I'll Be Loving You)". Raised in Venice, Moony was firs ...

, charted at number 3 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 2001, with their song "

Point of View Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the prono ...

". The video accompanying the song featured a computer-animated cardboard woman driving a cardboard car through a cardboard city. The song earned DB Boulevard the distinction of being the first Italian music group to be nominated at the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Europe Music Awards.

Electronic and dance music

Techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

, and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

are all popular forms of electronic dance music in Italy. The country is home to genres such as

Italodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. Thi ...

Italo house Italo house (often simply referred to as "Italian" or "Italian house" in the UK) is a form of house music originating in Italy. Typically popular in Italy, Britain, and United States since the late 1980s, it fuses house music and Italo disco. Th ...

and

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

, and the Swiss-born but Italy-raised

Robert Miles Roberto Concina (3 November 1969 – 9 May 2017), known professionally as Robert Miles, was an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ. His 1995 composition "Children (composition), Children" sold more than 5 million copies and topp ...

was one of the seminal artists of the

dream trance Dream trance is an early subgenre of trance music that peaked prominently on the international dance scene between 1995 and 1998 (colliding with the first time for trance to reach mainstream). The "dream" term has been known to largely influence h ...

genre. *

Baltimora Baltimora was an Italian music project from Milan, active from 1984 to 1987. They are best known for their 1985 single "Tarzan Boy" and are often considered a one-hit wonder in the United Kingdom and the United States. In other European countri ...

* Barrio Jazz Gang *

Benny Benassi Marco "Benny" Benassi (; born 13 July 1967) is an Italian DJ, record producer and remixer. He is widely seen as a pioneer of electro house, a genre brought into the mainstream by his 2002 summer club hit " Satisfaction". He started his career ...

East Side Beat East Side Beat were an Italian music group, which achieved success in Europe in the early 1990s. Fronted by a line up of Italian-American vocalist Carl Fanini and Italian keyboardist Francesco Petrocchi, the act was masterminded by producers Giova ...

Eiffel 65 Eiffel 65 is an Italian music group that was formed in 1997 in the studios of the Turin record company Bliss Corporation, consisting of Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina and Gabry Ponte. They gained global popularity with their singles " Blue (Da Ba ...

Gabry Ponte Gabriele Ponte (; born 20 April 1973) is an Italian DJ, remixer, record producer, and radio personality, best known for his membership in the Italian dance band Eiffel 65. With Eiffel 65's rise to fame in the late 1990s, his celebrity status w ...

Gigi D'Agostino Luigino Celestino di Agostino (; born 17 December 1967), known professionally as Gigi D'Agostino (), is an Italian DJ, remixer, singer and record producer. In 1986, he started his career as a DJ spinning Italo disco. His biggest chart successes ...

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

Koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...

Livin' Joy Livin' Joy are an Italian Eurodance group who released various successful hits during the mid-1990s, including " Dreamer", " Don't Stop Movin'" and "Follow the Rules". The group consists of singer Tameko Star, and Italian brothers Paolo and Gia ...

* Montefiori Cocktail *

Nicola Conte Nicola Conte is an Italian DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader, known initially for introducing an innovative style of acid jazz that incorporates bossa nova themes, melodies drawn from Italian film scores of the 1960s, easy listening theme ...

Raf The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

* Scotch

Hip hop

The Italian hip hop scene began in the early 1990s with

Articolo 31 Articolo 31 is a band from Milan, Italy, formed in 1990 by J-Ax and DJ Jad, combining hip hop, funk, pop and traditional Italian musical forms. They are one of the most popular Italian hip hop groups. Band history Articolo 31 were formed by rappe ...

from

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Their style was mainly influenced by the

East Coast rap East Coast hip hop is a regional subgenre of hip hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx, New York City. In contrast to other styles, East Coast hip ...

. Other early rap groups are typically politically oriented acts like

99 Posse 99 Posse is an Italian hip hop/reggae group from Naples. It raps both in Italian and in the local Neapolitan language. Most of 99 Posse's songs deal with political or social issues, and the group members are considered left-wing hardliners. As ...

(who later became influenced by British

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

). More recent artists of the genre include

Fabri Fibra Fabrizio Tarducci (born 17 October 1976), better known as Fabri Fibra, is an Italian rapper. In his career he has sold more than 2.3 millions of certified copies. Biography Tarducci was born in Senigallia, Marche. He became interested in mus ...

and

Club Dogo Club Dogo was an Italian rap group from Milan (Lombardy) that consists of Guè Pequeno and Jake La Furia, and beatmaker Don Joe. The group was born in 1999 from the friendship between rappers Gué Pequeno (whose stage name was Lucky Luciano) and ...

Return to tradition: Patchanka

Following De André, many artists are rediscovering the forms of traditional music abandoned since the fascist period as a sort of traditional revival, including

Tazenda Tazenda is a Sardinian ethnic pop- rock band. The group was formed in Sardinia in 1988 by Andrea Parodi, Gigi Camedda and Gino Marielli. The group's music is characterized by the influence from traditional Sardinian music; the lyrics of most ...

and

Teresa De Sio Teresa De Sio (born 3 November 1952) is an Italian pop-folk singer and songwriter. She is the elder sister of actress Giuliana De Sio. Biography and career Teresa De Sio was born in Naples and grew up in Cava de' Tirreni, where her family was ori ...

. There are bands in Italy that play patchanka music, characterized by a mixture of traditional music, punk, reggae, rock, and political lyrics.

Modena City Ramblers Modena City Ramblers (also known as M.C.R.) is an Italian folk rock band founded in 1991. Their music is heavily influenced by Celtic themes, and can be compared to folk rock music. The band has sold over 500,000 albums. Known for their left-wing ...

are one of the more popular bands; they mix Irish, Italian, punk, reggae and many other forms of music. Other bands include Casa del Vento, Mau Mau,

Banda Bassotti Banda Bassotti is an Italian ska-punk band formed in 1987 in Rome, Italy. Their songs are generally political in nature, focusing on Communist and anti-fascist issues. Many are about also politics of Ireland and Latin America. The band was insp ...

and Talco.

Jazz

The most important

scenes are in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

, however many Italian jazz musicians are resident in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Italian instrumentalists include: saxophonists Stefano di Battista and

Francesco Cafiso Francesco Cafiso (born 24 May 1989) is an Italian jazz alto saxophonist. Cafiso was born in Sicily on 24 May 1989. He was successful musically from a young age: he played duets with pianist Franco D'Andrea at the 2002 Umbria Jazz Festival, toure ...

, pianists

Danilo Rea Danilo Rea (born 9 August 1957) is an Italian jazz pianist. He is a graduate of the Santa Cecilia music conservatory in Rome. He made his debut with the "Trio di Roma" (with Roberto Gatto and Enzo Pietropaoli) in 1975.Riccardo Giagni. "Danilo R ...

and Stefano Bollani, trumpet players

Paolo Fresu Paolo Fresu ( sc, Pàulu; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music. Career Born in Berchidda, Sardinia, he picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the ban ...

and

Enrico Rava Enrico Rava (born 20 August 1939), is an Italian jazz trumpeter. He started on trombone, then changed to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis. Career He was born in Trieste, Italy. His first commercial work was as a member of Gato Barbieri's ...

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

also has a lively jazz scene, including Enzo Rao, who have added native Sicilian influences to

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

jazz.

References

*Marcello Sorce Keller, "American Influences in Italian Popular Music between the Two World Wars", Orbis Musicae, no. 11, 1993–94, pp. 124– 136. *Marcello Sorce Keller, "Popular Music in the Mediterranean: Some Remarks Concerning Forms of Culture Contact", Revista de Musicologia, XVI(1993), no. 4, pp. 1– 7. {{Popular music in Europe

Popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

Popular music by country