[ARSCLIST] R: [ARSCLIST] Laughing Records

[Anita Pesce <anita.pesce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I can tell you a little Neapolitan (Italian) story.
Naples, 1895, sept. A couple of local performers is walking into the Galleria 
Umberto I (a beautiful place, in front of the lyric "San Carlo" Theatre). 
Neapolitan people is celebrating Piedigrotta, a religious (and more other) 
festivity. There is a shop, into the Galleria Umberto I, that shows a wonderful 
novelty: the Edison's phonographs! Our two performers (Berardo Cantalamessa e 
Nicola Maldacea) listen to a cylinder that proposes a "Laughing song". Berardo 
Cantalamessa is enthusiastic! He listen to this piece a lot of times. Then he 
"invents" the Neapolitan comic song "'A risa" (in Italian: "La risata" - "The 
laugh"). "'A risa" is a big succes (recorded on cylinder and disc, too); it was 
performed and recorded by a lot of singers (also in our times). That's all. 
(And sorry for my English).
Anita Pesce