Beat At Cinecittà

Between 1967 and 1973, during Cinecittà’s golden age, any film shot in Rome’s legendary studios was bound to include at least one sequence set in a disco or some other kind of nightclub. To score these scenes, Italian composers invented a particularly groovy and danceable sound, strictly instrumental, occasionally embellished by catchy vocal interludes, often provided by Alessandroni’s ubiquitous vocal group Cantoni Moderni.

The main source for this sound was the youthful rhythm that was all the rage in clubs like Rome’s Piper Club, where people danced the shake, an infectious and energetic blend of soul, beat, and rhythm and blues that our composers, in turn, injected with elements from jazz, a genre they had enthusiastically embraced after the war.

The result is something unique. An irresistible mixture of blazing Hammond organs and fuzz electric guitars. A sound that perfectly embodies the lounge and cocktail aesthetic of a certain Italian cinema, an atmosphere oozing style and dolce vita vibes, characterized by soft, colored lights, designer objects, sports cars, cigarettes, and J&B whisky as if there were no tomorrow.

Ready to be carried away by the rhythm of swinging Rome?