''Oro Incenso & Birra'' (Gold, Frankincense & Beer) is the fifth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released by the Italian singer-songwriter

Zucchero Fornaciari 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 ...

on 13 June 1989. As with his previous album ''Blue's'', the album is credited to "Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari". Its title represents a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on "''oro incenso e mirra''", the Italian for "

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, frankincense and

myrrh Myrrh (; from Semitic, but see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus ''Commiphora''. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. Myrrh mi ...

", with ''mirra'' being replaced by ''birra'', meaning

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

. It has sold an estimated 1.84 million copies in Italy and 2.5 million copies in Europe up to 1995, becoming the best-selling album internationally by an Italian until it was overtaken by

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 ...

's album ''

Romanza ''Romanza'' is the first compilation album by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, released internationally in 1997. Although a compilation, ''Romanza'' is considered Bocelli's breakthrough album and remains his most commercially successful to date, ...

'' in 1997. As of 2015 it has reported sales of over 8 million copies. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

Italia'' included the album in its list of "the 100 best Italian music albums of all time".

Composition

This was the last Zucchero album to be sung entirely in Italian: subsequent albums have been released in international versions with English lyrics on some tracks. The guitar solo in "A Wonderful World" was written and performed by

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

, a close friend of Zucchero's. The Italian singer-songwriter

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 ...

wrote the lyrics for the song "Diamante", one of Zucchero's biggest hits to date. On the album credits "Diamante" is dedicated to Diamante Arduini Fornaciari, Zucchero's grandmother (''nonna''). The song was included in the ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, ...

'' episode "Tequila Bay" in Season 3. The song "Libera L'Amore" was composed by

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 ...

. The album also features guest performances by

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

Rufus Thomas Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Rec ...

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

and Jimmy Smith.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes. Band *Zucchero – vocals,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

on "Diavolo in Me" *

Corrado Rustici Corrado Rustici (born 1957) is an Italian musician, songwriter and producer. Recording career Rustici was a founder member of the Naples-based progressive rock group Cervello. The band recorded the album '' Melos'' in 1973, with Rustici on guitar ...

– guitars,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

, computer programming, additional keyboards, effects *

David Sancious David Sancious (born November 30, 1953) is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on ''Human Touch'' (1992), '' Trac ...

– keyboards *Giorgio Francis – drums *Polo Jones – bass Additional musicians *Amelia Monari – "Nonna" on "Diamante" *Ardent Gospel Choir – vocals on "Madre Dolcissima", "Diamante" * Arthur Miles – backing vocals on "Nice (Nietzsche) Che Dice", sermon on "Diavolo in Me" *

– saxophone on "Il Mare Impetuoso..." *

– music and arrangement on "Libera l'Amore" *

– guitar on "A Wonderful World" *Fanta Toure – Swahili choir on "Il Mare Impetuoso..." *

– Hammond organ on "Nice (Nietzsche) Che Dice", "Il Mare Impetuoso..." *James Thompson – backing vocals on "Nice (Nietzsche) Che Dice" *Jay Blackfoot – vocals on "Madre Dolcissima" * Jimmy Smith – Hammond organ on "Overdose (d'Amore)" *

Lisa Hunt Lisa Hunt is an American Byron Bay-based soul singer. Hunt rose to fame in Italy as an associated act and backup singer of Zucchero Fornaciari, touring with him from the late 1980s until the 2000s. She has been particularly praised for her coll ...

– backing vocals on "Overdose (d'Amore)" and "Diavolo in Me"; backing vocals and solo in "Madre Dolcissima" *

The Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...

(Wayne Jackson – trumpet, trombone; Andrew Love – saxophone) on "Overdose (d'Amore)", "Madre Dolcissima", "Diavolo in Me" *Mory Thioune – Swahili choir on "Il Mare Impetuoso..." *Rosario Jermano – percussion on "Overdose (d'Amore)", "Il Mare Impetuoso...", "Madre Dolcissima", "Diavolo in Me", "Iruben Me", "A Wonderful World" *Ruby Wilson – vocals on "Madre Dolcissima" *

– vocal introduction on "Overdose (d'Amore)" *Simone Pirone – backing vocals on "Overdose (d'Amore)", "Madre Dolcissima", "Diavolo in Me", "Il Mare Impetuoso..." *Il Coro delle Voci della Chiesa Avventista del Settimo Giorno – vocals on "Il Mare Impetuoso..."

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oro Incenso E Birra 1989 albums Zucchero Fornaciari albums Italian-language albums

Composition

Track listing

Personnel

Certifications

See also

References