Description
The canto a fronne ‘e limone, so called because of the use of the verbal expression of the same name in the lyrics, is a form of singing still practised in some areas of the provinces of Naples, Caserta and Salerno. The oldest audio recordings referring to this form of singing are those made in Naples in the early 1900s by the German company Favorite and the local company Phonotype, and those made in New York by Victor and Columbia for the market of Italian emigrants who were arriving in the Americas at that time.
In this work, Giuliana Fugazzotto focuses her attention on the canti a fronne “e limone produced in the United States during the years of great emigration: a ‘niche” production within the so-called “ethnic” production, which raises several questions about the motivations, not always and only commercial, that prompted American record companies to invest in this type of repertoire.
The canti a fronna ‘e limone that the author has identified within American production are reproduced here thanks to the digitisation of 78 rpm records from her personal collection. They are accompanied by an exhaustive analytical-musicological study based on an impressive collection of documentary and iconographic sources. These include important manuscripts relating to the lyrics and music preserved at the Library of Congress in Washington.
Giuliana Fugazzotto, ethnomusicologist, PhD in “Audiovisual Studies: Cinema, Music and Communication”, former contract lecturer in Music Informatics and Ethnomusicology at the Universities of Bologna (DAMS) and Udine-Gorizia, currently collaborates with the Master’s Degree in Music Production and Promotion at the University of Bologna.
Her research on Italian-American 78 rpm record production, of which she owns one of the most important private collections in the world, is cited in the most important ethnomusicological works.
He is President of SOFOS, the Italian Society for the Study of Historical Sound Reproduction.
Among his most important publications are: Sta terra nun fa pi mia. 78 rpm records and the life of Italian emigrants in America in the early 20th century (Book + CD, Udine: Nota); I quattro siciliani. La straordinaria vicenda di Rosario Catalano e del suo quartetto nell’America degli anni Venti (Book + CD, Udine: Nota); Ethnic Italian Records. Analisi, conservazione e restauro del repertorio dell’emigrazione italo-americana su dischi a 78 giri (Cargeghe: Documenta).
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