Summer in the City. Dance to the Rhythm of Jovanotti's Funky Beat!

While Jovanotti easily sold out two popular New York venues when he made his US debut here earlier this year, he's looking to the city's incomparable small club scene as an incubator for new inspiration on a global level. Jovanotti will perform with a project called Soleluna NY Lab which combines musicians from his "Roma Colletivo" with New York-based musicians. The gigs will have the 'anything goes' attitude of experimental jam sessions and a surprising roster of international musicians will drop in for guest appearances.


Until now, American audiences have had to make do with mere glimpses of the brilliant career of one of Italy’s most famous contemporary artists, the Tuscan singer and songwriter Lorenzo Cherubini, professionally known as Jovanotti. Over the past twenty years his recorded collaborations with Michael Franti, Ben Harper, Carlinhos Brown, Sergio Mendes, and Bono, among other well-known names, have occasionally caught the ear of the adventurous listener. Delivering lyrics in a half-sung, half-spoken style that has something esthetically in common with a downtown reading by a Beat poet, Jovanotti uses the rhythm and the ricochet of consonants and catchy melodic hooks to create songs that are instantly accessible to an international audience.


i-Italy attended the first of his New York summer concerts on Monday, June 15 at the Zebulon Club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The place was literally packed and Lorenzo was just thrilled with the warm and vibrant welcome he received from his new American audience. “I was supposed to play for 40 minutes or so”, he said after an hour and a half exhibition. But he just could not stop singing and satisfied many of his fans’ requests. From “Serenata Rap”, “Mani Libere”, and “Ombelico del Mondo” to “A te”, “Safari” and “Punto”: he played some of his greatest hits, and not surprisingly most of the people present knew many of the pieces by heart.

i-Italy invites its American and Italian-American readers to follow Jovanotti in his New York performances. Enjoy his “global music”, that encompasses rhythms from all over the world, mixed with a typical Mediterranean sound.

A few notes on Jovanotti’s career, discography, and achievements…

Jovanotti launched his musical career in the late ‘eighties from a dj stint on Milan’s popular Radio Deejay network to become a commercially successful, if not critically regarded, pop rapper/dj. Throughout the ‘nineties, Jovanotti steeped himself in international influences which, not unlike Manu Chao, he synthesized into a uniquely modern version of the traditional Italian singer-songwriter. As his music evolved, so did his lyrics, as he began to use his songs to address philosophical, religious and political issues.


Jovanotti was the first Italian to work for MTV. The term ‘world beat’, used to describe foreign language music with a groove, had just come into vogue as the singer took to the role of Fellini-esque master of ceremonies on the early 1990’s MTV program “Earth to MTV”.

The song ‘Serenata Rap’ was the most frequently shown video on MTV Latino in 1994 and Jovanotti made two live concert appearances on MTV Europe.

In the late ‘nineties, Jovanotti made a direct leap into the arena of world music, recording a portion of his seventh album Lorenzo 1997 in South Africa with local musicians and guest stars. He also released a greatest hits album in Spanish with lyrics translated by Jarabe de Palo and Oscar-winner Jorge Drexler.


Jovanotti has recorded eleven studio albums; the four most recent releases have all gone to number one in Italy. His current album, the award-winning, multi-platinum Safari (March 2008) was recorded in Los Angeles, Tuscany, Rio de Janeiro, Hannover, Germany and Milan. The CD has been certified as Italy’s #1 selling album of 2008 with more than 500,000 copies sold.



Nublu
62 Avenue C (bet. 4th & 5th St.), New York, NY

Mondays, 9pm

June 22, 29 (set @ 11pm)

July 6, 13, 20, 27

Tickets for the Nublu sets will only be available at the door on the evening of show

Zebulon
258 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

June 24, 9 pm

Free Admittance
Info: (718) 218-6934

Joe's Pub
425 Lafayette Street (between Astor Pl and W. 4th St), New York, NY

Thursdays, 11:30pm

July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

Tickets are available online.

Info: (212) 967-7555

Santos Party House

96 Lafayette Street (Ground Floor South), New York, NY 10013

August 5, 7 pm

Info: (212) 584-5492

Visit i-Italy's page on Facebook:  you will find dozens of pictures of the concerts!