Gilda Mignonette | Nuova edizione

Why you gonna complain when I'm gonna reuppa for you, here?

Found in an Italian CD and curio shop on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn, Arcobaleno Italiano. I don't remember too much about my conversation with the woman behind the counter, other than her lamenting the steady erosion over the years of Brooklyn's Little Italy. I'm surprised, frankly, that the neighborhood can still support this store, though it was still there the last time I visited, maybe four years ago.



Brooklyn's Little Italy, which runs along 18th Avenue from about 65th Street or so to 80th, has a number of places worth stopping into, including the Villabate Bakery and Gino's Focacceria, though sadly, it looks like Trunzo Brothers Meat Market has closed.

Gilda Mignonette was born in Naples in 1890, though she spent nearly two decades in Brooklyn, moving there in 1926. In 1953, her health failing, she got on a steamer to return to her birthplace. She died the day before the ship landed, reportedly staring at an old postcard of Naples.

Read more about this amazing singer here.

Another great song, here:

Mina | Brava

Get it here.

This was not something I found in a Bodega or immigrant run media store, although I certainly could have, as Brooklyn has at least one well-stocked place on 18th Ave in Bensonhurst where I've picked up more than one similar treasure from the former Roman Empire. 

This particular CD was a gift, to my now ex-wife and I, from the poet Benjamin Friedlander, whose wife, scholar and translator, Carla Billitteri, is from Sicily, where they've spent most of their summers over the last several years. Ben knew we'd love Mina's hyper-emotionality -- she is, I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark -- Italy's most famous living diva. (Someone once called her the greatest white singer in the world.) I don't remember how many languages Ben said she sings in, but I'm guessing it runs in the double digits.

I've been meaning to post this for some time now, but the European section of my CDs is aaaaaalllll the way at the bottom of my shelf, and I, frankly, hardly ever look there. Shame on me. I think you're going to love this. Here's a live vid of Mina singing the title song on Italian TV, ca. 1968: