The Italian canzone needed new input, but what kind? Gino Paoli found the answer by studying italianità closely and critically before he co-founded the «Genovese School» in the fifties, laying the foundation for today’s cantautori scene. Now, three decades later, after having rebelled in true hippie fashion, Luca Carboni gives us new answers. Today Paoli is the honoured godfather of all cantautori and Carboni is one of the masters of the art. These days, both of them play peaceful, melancholically beautiful songs that are carried by their sheer lightness. Italianità has been redefined.

Christian Hug