About Roberto Murolo

The son of poet Ernesto Murolo and Lia Cavalli, Roberto was born in Naples on 23 January 1912. At an early age he had already attracted attention for his big passion for music, singing and the guitar. A passion that led him to form the "MIDA" Quartet with which he toured all of Europe from 1939 to 1946. Murolo became virtually a cultural ambassador of Naples to the world, and it was because of his recordings and performances that Neapolitan song was spread across five other continents. He was very conscious of the history of music in Naples, and his own repertoire came to encompass songs from across several centuries of Neapolitan music, going back to 16th century comic opera and even further, to the end of the Middle Ages. His initial recording career culminated in 1963 with a 12-LP survey of Neapolitan song covering the period from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. He continued to concertize into the 1990s and resumed recording in his late seventies -- in 1990 -- with a pair of albums entitled 'Na Voce 'Na Chitarra, Vols. 1 & 2; he followed this two years later with an album released for his 80th birthday, L'Italia è Bella. This heralded an Indian Summer of recording work for Murolo, including a collaboration with Portuguese singer Amália Rodrigues. In 1995, he was honored by Italy's president, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, with the republic's highest civilian honor. He was given a life achievement award at the San Remo Festival in 2000 as well. Murolo passed away in 2003 at age 91, one of the most beloved singers in Italy and a cultural hero without peer in Naples.