Calcutta in concert from Via Asagio in Rome and broadcast live by RAI Radio 2 on November 3, 2023.
Lest you think: “what? Italian Pop? Mainstream?” – it’s part of the Bigger Plan. There’s music happening all over the world, every minute of every hour of the day. Some of it is baffling – a lot of it is new and exciting – half of it is wildly independent and the other half is blatantly commercial.
But all of it benefits from at least one listening – because with Music; keeping an open mind and digging, sampling and absorbing is critical if you are serious about loving Music as a form or making music as a craft. You gotta know what’s out there.
And that brings me to this morning’s concert and Calcutta (real name: Edoardo D’Erme), a singer-songwriter who vacillates between Pop and Indie but who has an enormous following in Italy and it pretty well known throughout Europe.
Wikipedia has a few words to say, which shed some light:
Calcutta debuted with the album Forse… (Maybe…), released by Geograph Records in 2012. Its follow-up, Mainstream, was released by Bomba Dischi on 30 November 2015, preceded by the single “Cosa mi manchi a fare”. Initially ignored by Italian media, the album started to achieve success after a few months, when its lead single received airplay by Italian radio networks. The song “Oroscopo”, produced by Takagi & Ketra, was released as a stand-alone single in May 2016. Since its release, Calcutta considered the song as something which did not represent himself; despite this, it became his first commercial success and his first single to be certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.
In 2018, Calcutta’s third studio album, Evergreen, became his first number-one on the Italian Albums Chart. The album spawned singles including “Orgasmo”, “Paracetamolo” and “Pesto”. The album was re-released in 2019, with the singles “Punto” and “Sorriso (Milano Dateo)”.
In 2019, Calcutta recorded the single “La luna e la gatta” with producers Takagi & Ketra and fellow singer-songwriters Jovanotti and Tommaso Paradiso. During his career, he also appeared as a featured artist on the singles “Se piovesse il tuo nome”, released in 2018 with Elisa, and “Blue Jeans” (2020), recorded as a duet with Franco126. He also penned songs for other Italian recording artists, including Francesca Michielin’s “Io non abito al mare”, Fabri Fibra’s “Come mai”, Emma’s “Latina”, Nina Zilli’s “Mi hai fatto fare tardi” and Luca Carboni’s “Io non voglio”.
In 2021, Marracash and Calcutta released the song “Laurea ad honorem” by Marracash, from the album Noi, loro, gli altri. The song was certified Gold by FIMI.
In May 2023, Calcutta announced his new album “Relax” on his Instagram account, also promoting an 8 date tour in Italy (one of those performances from that tour is what’s on this morning). It came out in October 2023, the fourth record in his discography.
You may embrace Calcutta with open arms or you may cringe. There is nothing wrong with musical taste that accepts one genre and rejects another; it’s part of our DNA.
I found Calcutta upbeat and enjoyable and put on my radar for future listenings. Is he my go-to Music that I will request be played at my Memorial? No. But I’m grateful he’s out there.
I’m grateful there’s music; period.
Press Play and give it an audition and make a discovery in the process.
