Renato Carosone, one hundred years after his birth. Many tributes to the maestro who played for soldiers at war

Tomorrow, one hundred years since the birth of the great Renato Carosone, one of the greatest authors and performers of Neapolitan song and Italian pop music of the twentieth century.
Born in Naples on January 3, 1920, he cultivated his passion for music since he was a child, starting to play an old piano belonging to his mother, who died prematurely in 1927.
Encouraged by his father, a theatre manager and amateur mandolin player, Carosone began studying under the guidance of a teacher and at the age of 14 he created his first composition: “Triki-trak” for piano.
In 1935, at the age of 15, he was hired as a composer for the music of the Opera dei Pupi shows of Don Ciro Perna. Two years later, in 1937, he graduated in piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella. He then worked in Africa, where he held concerts to entertain the soldiers. At the end of the war, in 1946, he returned to Italy and founded the “Trio Carosone” with the Dutch guitarist Peter Van Wood and the Neapolitan drummer Gegè di Giacomo. A small group that immediately enjoyed great popularity.
In 1950, the recording debut arrived.
Among his greatest hits are: Torero, Caravan petrol, Tu vuò fà l'americano, 'O sarracino, Maruzzella and Pigliate 'na pastiglia. Carosone was also one of two Italian singers (the other was Domenico Modugno) to have sold records in the United States without recording them in English.