Giorgio Laneve: Accenti (Divergo, 1978)

Just like writer Gianni Rodari revolutionized children's literature between the Sixties and the Seventies, during the latter of these decades many songwriters impressed a definite shift in the style of children's music. Their songs were much closer than usual to children's kind of imagination and irony, and in the same time tried to explain much more complex concepts. War and peace, ecology, solitude, the way children are really born: these are some of the themes dealt by Giorgio Laneve's "Accenti". As many other works in the field, it's a very rare record, and definitely a poorly celebrated one.
It should be known much more, though. It's light and breezy, both musically and lyrically. Words and rhymes are esasy to understand, perfect for children, but totally lack the silly moralism and dogmatism which was typical of the genre just some years before. The vocals are sung by both Laneve and children from the vocal group "Le mele verdi", in tender call-and-response dynamics. The music is rich and skippy, mostly based on very clean chamber-music arrangements strengthened by unpretentious drums and bass figures; many a song, however, feature delightful funky accents - often quite ingenuous, but somehow perfectly fitting with the spirit of the songs.

Electronic engineer Giorgio Laneve debuted as a singer/songwriter in 1970, with a quite rhetoric style inspired by the likes of Fabrizio De André. After a few other lps, he entered the realm of children's music and published "Accenti" for Ricky Gianco's "Divergo" label.

Tracklist:

1. Accenti
2. Girandola
3. Amedeo Wolfango
4. Gi-O-Erre-Gio
5. Le formiche
6. Augurissimi
7. Bernardo l'eremita
8. Rocky Boom
9. L'uovo
10. I venti
11. C'era una volta

Download (224 kbps)

Similar music on the blog:
Musica per bambini: Nascondino coll'assassino (La mia cantina, 1998)
Angelo Branduardi: Cogli la prima mela (1979)