Although library music has always had the purpose of accompanying TV and radio shows, documentaries and TV news, it is difficult to track down most of these masterpieces composed by some of the greatest composers of those years. Anonymity is one of the distinctive traits of this music genre, being in most cases difficult, if not impossible, to find out where these tracks had been used. The liner notes of these works often spark the reader’s curiosity: the notes are in fact detailed descriptions of the instruments used and the atmospheres the music aimed to reproduce. Fonit’s “B 85”, part of the legendary Serie Usignolo, which bears the signatures of the mysterious Coscia (perhaps a moniker of accordionist Gianni?) and Formini, makes no difference in that sense.

It is absolutely brilliant to read how these tracks are highly recommended to accompany ‘viewings of vast parks, footage of agriculture, ads, moving crowds and congested traffic jams, American working-class districts’ with hilarious titles such as “Dayda”, “Schizzo”, “Palmas”, “Murlak” (which casts an incredible fuzz guitar), “Bronx” and “Ciresa Facaud” (the latter a probable homage to Piedmont’s dialect that potentially translates in “Cherry, it’s hot!”). The music can be labelled as ‘orchestral pop’, to use terms that made Italian Library music worldwide famous. No hints of ‘country’ as the title seemed to suggest…

Stefano Gilardino