Brodo di carne

An Italian parody version of the famous 'Chili con carne' by The Real Group. Andrea Rizzi of Bologna's Blue Penguin took care of the vocal arrangement and wrote a very funny lyric that, instead of the recipe for chilli, presents the recipe for the meat broth typical of tortellini alla Bolognese. Italian a cappella music for several years after 1995, the year of Neri per Caso's success at the Sanremo Festival, lived on the foreign reflex of formations such as Take6, Swingle Singers, King Singers, Rockapella, and The Real Group. The latter released the album Nothing But in 1989, including a song, Chili con carne, that would soon tour the world studied and performed by choirs and vocal groups. Written for the five a cappella voices of The Real Group, three men and two women, the harmonisation lent itself very well to being tackled by mixed choirs as well, through the doubling of the soprano voice (SSATB). In recent years, several Italian vocal groups, partly out of maturity, partly by choice, have realised the importance of freeing themselves from the professionals from beyond the Alps by proposing their own elaborations or original pieces. The vocal group Blue Penguin of Bologna had the merit of risking the conception, study and public performance of their own songs without questioning the real commercial value, but rather taking an interest in the artistic and creative aspects, which would make each proposal unique, not by chance contaminated by a vein of healthy and smug irony. In this process of growth, the Blue Penguin began the journey towards building their own identity and style, also thanks to Chili con carne by The Real Group, but with Italian lyrics. The original recipe for Chili Tex-Mex thus becomes the traditional recipe for Emilian tortellini: while there is no doubt as to whether real meat broth should be preferred to the artificial stock cube, the question of the origin of the name nutmeg remains unanswered! Thus was born Brodo di carne, taken from the album Pengeris (2007 Preludio), a score that can be tackled by any Italian choir or vocal ensemble. It traces almost the entirety of The Real Group's original, except for a few rhythmic corrections, necessary for the correct spelling in Italian. A fun, harmonically rich piece that is very impressive in concert. The publisher and Blue Penguin wish to thank Anders Edenroth of The Real Group, author of Chili con carne, for authorising its publication in Italian on text by Andrea Rizzi.