Music |
Zucchero & Co.
By
Published: Jan 01, 2005
Category:
World
One of my big ambitions for this site is that it will help you to discover — and then love — World Music. Not just for the excellence of the individual artists, though that always comes first. I’m also big on the idea of knocking down borders, of broadening consciousness by hearing what others hear — armchair travel with stereo speakers for wings.
You resist me. Oh, some of you popped for Mulatu Astatke’s funky Ethiopian organ on the Broken Flowers soundtrack . And, over time, a dozen intrepid souls have picked up Radio Tarife and Khaled . But at this rate, turning America on to World Music is definitely going to be an uphill swim.
Then I heard Zucchero’s CD of duets. I could have encountered him in Starbucks, where this CD has had the coffeehouse seal of approval: music that makes sense at any hour and yet is vastly superior to John Mayer. But that would have been too easy, too direct.
And so it is entirely possible that many of you have been listening to Zucchero for donkey’s years, and I am the last to know. If so, you have the small thrill of beating Butler to the Good Stuff. If not, there’s still time to be first on your block.
The thing about Zucchero is, first, that he’s a gifted writer. He comes out of two traditions — American blues and Italian opera — and he draws shrewdly on them. His songs sound at once familiar, even classic, and fresh.
Then too, he’s got a gift for picking great collaborators. On this CD. he partners with John Lee Hooker in a duet that sounds like a field recording, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, B.B. King, Solomon Burke, Cheb Mami, Paul Young and Andrea Bocelli, who he is said to have discovered. The songs are appropriately produced; they’re pop without being glossy. And they’re big; not for the Tuscan-born Zucchero the small emotions.
Zucchero is like Zelig in the Woody Allen movie; he’s everywhere and nowhere. He may sell two million CDs each time out in Europe, but he’s got his sights on America in this CD, and he takes care not to step on anyone else’s voice. Or blow his own horn — the co-author of ‘Blue,’ his duet with Sheryl Crow, is Bono, but the small print is the only way you find that out.
Yes, I know: Zucchero is not the sort of singer you expect to find praised by Butler. Through he sings often in Italian and likes a World Beat, he’s too pop, too contemporary, too….commercial. Well, life is full of surprises. And here’s one: Sometimes I eat up stuff that millions and millions also adore. And you? Sample the guy. Then, if he pleases you as much as he pleases me, join the mob.
To buy ‘Zucchero & Co.’ from Amazon.com, click here.
