Carosello Carosone tells the story of the rise to the top of international music charts of Renato Carosone, the most famous Italian musician in the world. A colorful and adventurous journey filled with music, fun, and experimentation. A lively and rhythmic story, a sharp portrait of the era, and a reflection on how passion, love for one’s art, and determination can make the whole world dance.
Carosello Carosone is a TV film directed by Lucio Pellegrini, produced by Groenlandia in collaboration with Rai Fiction, produced by Matteo Rovere and Sydney Sibilia.
NOTES BY STEFANO BOLLANI
I was a child when Renato Carosone entered my life, illuminating it. I wrote him a letter which I sent together with a cassette where I had recorded his songs played and sung by me, a young budding pianist. It was 1983, and his completely unexpected reply opened up a new world for me: “Whatever you want to do in music, study the Blues, because it is the foundation of everything.” And so I did, and I immersed myself in it.
This spiritual and epistolary encounter with Carosone was a true revelation for me.
With the music I created for this film, I wanted to pay tribute to that world of his that is so dear to me, to the cultural ferment of his Naples in the 1950s, with those colors and scents that, in some way, I have always carried with me.
The creation of the soundtrack that accompanies and supports Carosello Carosone was, for me, a journey where improvisation arises from memories of a world I feel I know well through Carosone’s unique musical storytelling.
But while creating the soundtrack we allowed ourselves the freedom to reinterpret a world and its atmospheres, within the narrative we deliberately remained faithful to the scores because Carosone’s pieces, his arrangements, are for me and for everyone like small jewels. Nothing needs to be added; they must be played exactly as they are.