Spaghetti with Mango

La Voglia, La Pazzia, L'Incoscienza, L'Allegria
(Warner Brothers, 1976)
Ornella Vanoni, Vinícius de Moraes e Toquinho

In a perfect universe, every two or three years records like this one would come out creating magic out of crossing over music styles we never thought they would meet. In a perfect universe, Ornella Vanoni would be our mistress and Raffaella Carra our wife; but that's another story, and it's personal anyway :) .

A crazy idea in a completely outdated moment, impossible to happen. Whoever had this idea, please contact me because I want to interview you. A brazilian-italian fusion album in the middle of the seventies, full of poetry and sentimental vocals by Toquinho, Vinicius de Moraes and the great, adventurous Ornella Vanoni. A woman who's been in the spotlight for more than 45 years, creating beautiful standards of italian music. Capable of convince me that she's for a second the greatest singer ever and of posing nude for the Italian version of Playboy (I'm still looking for the pictures online!)

This 1976 album had everything to be a total flop, a failure, a confusing mixture of genres, but it stood up thanks to the legendary status of the three main characters. First, toquinho, a superb guitarist and singer, 10 years Ornella's junior, out of Sao Paulo. Then, Vinicius De Moraes, a Carioca poet and diplomat who was at that moment in the september of his years, but was about to give one of the last strikes of his genius penmanship and talent in this project. He would die four years later.

The record is a series of musicalized poems that feature smooth harmonics, catchy rhythms and hey, italian and portuguese lyrics that put you, the listener, in a place like this one:

I commented once that this must be one of the most beautiful products Warner Music ever released. It's up to you to discover it. A unique mixture of Italian and Brazilian rhythms and melodies, so passionate it hurts. The path is signaled.