Lopez Blogs

As you know this blog has been going for just over four years and I just realised I'd never done an Italian charts update. So what better time than now, as I prepare to head off to Pisa in a couple of days?

I decided to take a look at the Italian iTunes chart to see what was floating the boat of record buyers in Italia....apart from this summer's holiday-song-in-waiting "Mr Saxobeat" by Alexandra Stan at no.1, we have the usual suspects: Jennifer Lopez, Adele, the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Jessie J, Lady Gaga etc etc (yawn) so let's focus on the Italian acts shall we!
It feels like Jovanotti's been around for ever, and this week he's the highest placed Italian artist with his piano ballad "Le Tasche Piene di Sassi". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wrbTYDZoxA

Old meets new with Bob Sinclar's remake of "Far L'Amore" with Raffaella Carra. Those of a certain age will remember an English version of this in the British charts in the 1970s - "Do It Do It Again". Unfortunately this song is now stuck in my brain and will need to be surgically removed. Formaggio overload at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YWdDDpT4I

It would appear that Italian music fans continue to love gravelly-voiced old rocker Vasco Rossi who also remains very popular, with "Eh...Gia" in the top 10 and his latest album also doing very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CydZtP_XlA He also co-wrote the next song...

Did a bit of research and found out that Noemi is a former X Factor contestant but we won't hold that against her - "Vuoto a Perdere" is her latest hit single and it's a rather good pop/rock song, and she's got the same hair colour as me so that's pretty cool :)) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyCwZNcAMb4

"Arriverà" by Modà featuring Emma is a good old fashioned Italian swaying ballad (and a 2011 San Remo song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1vveTJN8Do

I rather liked Zero Assoluto's slice of electropop on "Questa Estate Strana" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LpDCtqmb7Y

Over in the album chart, this year's Eurovision representative Raphael Gualazzi is doing rather well with "Reality and Fantasy". His left-field modern jazz style may not be to everyone's taste, but it'a distinctive and original and worth checking out if you are a jazz fan. Most of this album's in the English language, obviously with an eye to his international breakthrough.