In the pantheon of Italian cantautori (singer-songwriters) Fabrizio De André could be compared to Prometheus, who gave humankind the gift of fire – a gift that ultimately enabled mankind to make art. Many cantautori since the 1960s have taken a spark from De André’s flame, as he had previously borrowed from Georges Brassens, Leonard Cohen, and other songwriters and poets, always innovating and producing, from their textual or melodic cells, new and original songs. His native port city of Genoa had a very active musical scene in the 1960s, and one could say that the Italian canzone d’autore was born there, in the filthy alleys behind this industrial port, almost a gate to the …
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Citation: Ciabattoni, Francesco. "Fabrizio De André". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 March 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14134, accessed 21 November 2024.]