Musica Leggera

The expression Italian popular music refers to the musical output which is not usually considered academic or Classical music but rather has its roots in the popular traditions, and it may be defined in two ways: it can either be defined in terms of the current geographical location of the Italian Republic with the exceptions of the Germanic South Tyrol and the eastern portion of Friuli Venezia Giulia; alternatively, it can be defined as the music produced by all those people who consider themselves as Italians and openly or implicitly refer to this belief. Both these two definitions are very loose: due to the complex political history 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 and independent cultural inheritances began to be slowly eradicated through the school system and the advent of the mass media 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, Adriano Celentano, Mina, Mia Martini

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