A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has transmuted through different eras of popular music. Traditionally, these musicians would write and sing songs personal to them. Singer-songwriters often provide the sole musical accompaniment to an entire song. The piano is also an instrument of choice.
The music of Brazil encompasses various regional musical styles influenced by European, American, African and Amerindian forms. Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as forró, repente, coco de roda, axé, sertanejo, samba, bossa nova, MPB, gaucho music, pagode, tropicália, choro, maracatu, embolada, frevo, brega, modinha and Brazilian versions of foreign musical styles, such as rock, pop music, soul, hip-hop, disco music, country music, ambient, industrial and psychedelic music, rap, classical music, fado, and gospel.
Romania has a multicultural music environment which includes active ethnic music scenes. Traditional Romanian folk music remains popular, and some folk musicians have come to national fame.
The music of Mexico is highly diverse, featuring a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, primarily deriving from Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. Music became an expression of Mexican nationalism starting in the nineteenth century.
The music of the Philippines includes the musical performance arts in the Philippines and the music of Filipinos composed in various local and international genres and styles. Philippine musical compositions are often a mixture of Indigenous styles, and various Asian styles, as well as Spanish/Latin American and (US) American influences through foreign rule from those countries.
Switzerland has long had a distinct cultural identity, despite its diversity of German, French, Italian, Romansh and other ethnicities. Religious and folk music dominated the country until the 17th century, with growth in production of other kinds of music occurring slowly.
In Italy, music has traditionally been one of the cultural markers of Italian national and ethnic identity and holds an important position in society and in politics. Italian music innovation – in musical scale, harmony, notation, and theatre – enabled the development of opera, in the late 16th century, and much of modern European classical music – such as the symphony and concerto – ranges across a broad spectrum of opera and instrumental classical music and popular music drawn from both native and imported sources.
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience. This can be seen, for example, when a song appears on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical styles or genres. If the second chart combines genres, such as a "Hot 100" list, the work is not a crossover.
Latin rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featuring Spanish or Portuguese vocals. This has led to controversy about the scope of the terminology.
Mina Anna Maria Mazzini or Mina Anna Quaini, known mononymously as Mina, is an Italian singer and actress. She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an emancipated woman.
Italian rock is a form of rock music produced primarily in Italy. The music genre has roots in the country as it spread in the early 1960s from the United States with the earliest versions of rock and roll during this period being cover versions or interpretative covers of already existing songs.
Brazilian rock refers to rock music produced in Brazil and usually sung in Portuguese. In the 1960s, it was known as iê-iê-iê, the Portuguese transcription of the line "Yeah, yeah, yeah" from the Beatles song "She Loves You".
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group recorded five albums with English lyrics between 1973 and 1977. During this period they entered both the British and American charts. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on The Midnight Special, a popular national television program in the United States.
Canzone napoletana, sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song, is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, although well represented by female soloists as well, and expressed in familiar genres such as the love song and serenade. Many of the songs are about the nostalgic longing for Naples as it once was. The genre consists of a large body of composed popular music—such songs as "'O sole mio"; "Torna a Surriento"; "Funiculì, Funiculà"; "Santa Lucia" and others.
Eugenio Finardi is an Italian rock singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist.
Ragazzi del Juke-Box is a 1959 Italian "musicarello" film directed by Lucio Fulci and starring Mario Carotenuto, Elke Sommer and Anthony Steffen. Lucio Fulci has a cameo in the film as a festival organizer.
Ezio Leoni was one of the pioneering forces behind the Italian music scene of the "anni d'oro" of Italy's "musica leggera". A composer, arranger, orchestra conductor, producer and A&R executive, "Maestro" Leoni's contributions span from helping lay the foundation for Italian pop music in the 1950s and 1960s to opening the Southern European markets for some of the most influential American artists of the time. As a composer, he wrote the music of iconic Italian songs such as "24.000 Baci", "Si e' Spento il Sole", and "Il Tuo Bacio e' Come un Rock", while as arranger/conductor, producer, and A&R executive he collaborated with Italian music personalities such as Adriano Celentano, Tony Dallara, Fausto Leali, Luigi Tenco, Franco Simone, Iva Zanicchi and Fausto Papetti, among many others.
