Review - Best of Irene Grandi

I first ‘noticed’ Irene Grandi this last summer (2007) whilst on holiday in Abruzzo, Italy when her monster hit ‘Bruci La Citta’ wormed its way into my head and took up residence there for a couple of months. On further exploration of this well-loved Italian artist I discovered that there more to this 37 year old Florence born singer/songwriter than catchy choruses. Coupling a great vocal range with diversity of different styles , from the acoustic, gravel-voiced, slow-build of ’Fuori’ to the bluesy pop of ’Bum Bum’ (please no smutty remarks) - Irene manages to traverse a wide range of appealing styles from ballads to rock. All the songs on this 'Best of' collection are eminently listenable. If you are in the process of tuning your ears into the Italian language then listening to Irene Grandi is certainly an enjoyable way of doing it.

Part of the Rough Guide to Music series, this seventeen track compilation provides a great introduction to the diversity of traditional Italian folk music. Each track takes you to a different region or island. Like all compilations the diversity of musical styles do not always add up to a coherent whole, but if you are looking for a flavour of Italian culture via some excellent aural input - then this sampler is a great place to start.