Luciano Tajoli
A few years ago my nucular family and I visited Cabo San Lucas at the bottom of Baja California, and dined one night at the Italian restaurant in our hotel. The food was so-so, and the décor was generic fancy by Mexican standards. At one point I began feeling unrelaxed and realized that it was because of the Italian opera arias coming out of the speakers and because the playlist was now repeating itself. When I asked the waiter in my fumbling Spanish what we were listening to and if we could hear something different and at a lower volume, his face brightened, and he said it was Luciano Pavarotti and that I should fill out a form.
This reminded me of fifteen years earlier when my wife had complained about something to the front desk of a hotel south of Cancun, and they had told her to fill out a form, which had led me to imagine a scenario in which the highest-ups paid attention only to documented evidence about a ne’er-do-well scion mismanaging their hotel.
This memory now helped me realize that that the restaurant staff had no authority to change the music without written customer complaints, and that the waiters were depending on me to finally end their audio torture. This sudden power they thrust at me gave me a blissful intoxication and licence to name-drop what few Italian vocalists I knew of on the form. I remember remembering at least the names Luciano Tajoli, Carlo Buti and a couple of others as guys who could evoke Italy better and more soothingly than Pavarotti doing opera, and could sing popular songs about Naples which are in some ways melodically superior even to famous arias. (Tajoli and Buti’s ilk of course includes countless singers whose oleaginous pipes spout fake emotion.) With opera, you have to give it its full attention and relate it to the storyline and the set, whereas Neopolitan songs make better background music. The line between classical music and traditional popular music is blurrier in Italy than in countries like the United States. Whoever had decided on Pavarotti had probably figured that the most famous of the Three Tenors singing Italian opera would be the classiest way to go, and that should take care of it.
If we ever return to Cabo, my main goal will be to discover if it’s still an all-Pavarotti restaurant.
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What, no Dean Martin?
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mousetrap, if you know of a good Dean Martin track that would help the poor restaurant seem more Italian, lay it on us!
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Naaaah, I was trying to be cheeky and go as cliché as possible...something along the lines of "That's Amore," y'know?
BTW, my dad steadfastly believed that the greatest operatic tenor of all time was Jussi Björling, but I exercised restraint and didn't try to foist a Swede on your authentic Mexico-based Italian restaurant.
But wait! Here's Jussi singing a couple pieces from La Boheme with an Italian lady! (Renata Tebaldi)
...yeesh, why doesn't Charles Laughton have a couple more drinks before shooting his little intro piece?
...and if you feel like I've hijacked your post, well, you deserved it for saying "nucular."
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I'm still waiting to be more than respectful of Buti, but by God, Tajoli is a find! I could spread that voice on a cracker and eat it by the pound....
Amazing - middlebrow really is the universal language, isn't it? Hard to know when Pavarotti stopped being a singer and became a brand, but I suspect it happened at least two decades before he died. Not that, in the end, he had much control over it - in one of my magazine editor incarnations, I was once ordered by my editor to get a Pavarotti phone interview. After weeks of stonewalling, I was finally told by his manager, "He's very busy, but I've known him so long I know exactly what he would say. So ask me the questions and I'll answer them." Thus did I get my world exclusive Pavarotti interview....
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mousetrap, I keep hoping faintly that Dean Martin recorded early on some wonderfully Italian item. It doesn't keep me up nights. Does the fact that Bjorling's name doesn't ring a bell with me make me a non-elitist? I do seriously yearn for my posts to be hijacked by foisted videos or tunes as strong as your Bjorling-Tebaldi item. Related to this is something I once read that said that in a musical the focus is on the song, but in an opera the focus is on the voice.
ivylander, maybe I should reduce the treble scratchiness of Buti's tracks. His later recordings are just as good. Your gift of phraseology and metaphor provides additions to my repertoire. Has television made the word "middlebrow" less popular? Your Pavarotti anecdote is classic. I'm glad your ethics are resilient.
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"Related to this is something I once read that said that in a musical the focus is on the song, but in an opera the focus is on the voice."
Color me lowbrow, definitely. Were I ever to find myself attending an opera performance, I'm afraid my focus would be on my watch.
And speaking of lowbrow, and TV (though now we're just getting redundant), I would pay money just to hear Paula Abdul say to an American Idol contestant: "I could spread that voice on a cracker and eat it by the pound...."
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both the tajoli and butis are greatly appreciated. i'd like to hear buti with some manner of different orchestration behind him, though. the tajoli is grace. the phrasing is so fluid. thank you!!!:)
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mousetrap, I'm afraid my focus would be on my watch were I to attend performances of most genres of live music. I like how your mention of Paula Abdul contains just the subtlest suggestion about flirtation. I gather from your earlier comment that Charles Laughton had a drinking problem, but here he acquits himself well, in my humble opinion.
wassonni, I'm glad you enjoyed these. If I come across a good song with Buti and wind instruments, I'll upload it.
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That's great; I need to go get some of that music... it really is very evocative... turn my house into a big italian restaurant...
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The right music can do that. The wrong Italian music has a tendency to overdo it.
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I'm Italian and I can tell you people there's a great deal of music in this country beside Naples and Pavarotti, in any case I like opera Arias and would absolutely prefer listening to those than to Neapolitan popular music, Italy is not just Naples so I don't see why that music should be more representative of my country, if you're still stuck on that stereotype probably you should update your knowledge of this country and it's music before raising your self to the role of judge of what sounds more or less Italian.
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alchemy68, if I were to paraphrase you, you're saying: Neopolitan songs are good, but also check out these other wonderful recordings from other parts of Italy, and also these opera arias that would make good restaurant music.
I was hoping that my post would attract someone like you who knows more than I do about Italian music. I would love to hear some of your recommendations. You could make a post about them. I never claimed to be an expert; I'm just an enthusiast who has found a few records I want to share. Even a three-year-old can raise him- or herself to be the role of judge sometimes.