Zecchino d’Oro - Day 2

Wow… FINALLY… a song about pizza by the people who actually invented it!

Not only does it rock like a motherfucker, but it’s as catchy as shit. What more do you need?! I mean, just try not muttering “Discopizza DJ!” as you wander around your home aimlessly later on today as your life slips away one second at a time.

And, yes, my use of strong language as I discuss children’s music is meant as a bit of dark humour. I’m not that much of a dick. Mostly.

I’m learning a bit more about this… erm… thing as I go along. First of all, I have obtained some clarity over the confusing use of two names for it. I believe Zecchino d’Oro is the overall name for the annual TV event, whilst Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano refers simply to the musical component or its chorus of backing singers. I think. I’ve decided to go with what Wikipedia and Spotify refer to it as. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this is very much like Kinderen voor Kinderen, with the latter possibly even having been inspired by Zecchino d’Oro.

Right, we need to shorten that name down, so I’m gonna go ahead with “ZdO”. Okay? No? Tough.

Anyway, Italy has an annual singing contest for young vocalists with songs written by professional musicians. Sound familiar? The two main differences between ZdO and KvK is that, firstly, the Dutch just does theirs for fun. As the British wrongly use baking to tear people apart, the Dutch rightly use their annual kiddy music event to bring people together.

The second difference is that ZdO has been going since the motherloving 1950s, which is crazy. Their Spotify channel is something of a mess, with loose compilations of earlier stuff mixed randomly with the newer albums. I’m getting to grips with it all very gradually, with my being an incredibly slow learner posing an additional hurdle.

There’s very much a mix of tones within the songs too. Some are irritatingly infantile, while some being more mature. I’m curious to find out how the sound has evolved over the decades, just like I have been with KvK, so perhaps I will have more to say on it all. Saying that, it all feels slightly more disposable than KvK’s meaningful repertoire, so I doubt any deep analysis of ZdO’s oeuvre is on the cards.

For now, I’m just enjoying having found another power-pop group that puts a smile on my world-weary face, as honestly not much does these days.

I hope it does the same for you.

Do stay in touch, darlings.

Ciao!