Ferdinando Arnò

Ferdinando Arnò
Background information
Born Manduria, Italy
Origin Apulia and Veneto, Italy
Genres Indie pop, Electronic music, Jazz, Jingles
Instruments guitar, piano
Years active 2001–present
Labels quiet, please!
Associated acts Common Mama, Malika Ayane, Jessica Brando

Ferdinando Arnò is an Italian musician, composer, record producer, arranger, and entrepreneur based in Milan, Italy. Arnò is known for his production work with singers Malika Ayane, Jessica Brando, and Francesco Tricarico as well as for his current project Common Mama. Arnò is also well known for his extensive work with music in advertising, and he is the founder of music production and consulting company quiet, please!.[1]

Early life and education

Arnò was born in the city of Manduria, in the southeastern Italian Province of Taranto. He spent time growing up split between his father's residence in Apulia and his mother's residence in Veneto, two distinct regions in Italy. At age 18, Arnò enrolled in a law program at the University of Padua in an attempt to continue a family tradition, but soon realized that he was far more interested in performing music, specifically mentioning jazz pianist Keith Jarrett as an influence. At age 21, Arnò moved to the United States and enrolled in the jazz improvisation program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Berklee, Arnò studied with vibraphonist Gary Burton, clarinetist and saxophonist John LaPorta, and trombonist Phil Wilson. His classmates included Canadian jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall.[2]

Career

After leaving Berklee College, Arnò moved to Milan, Italy, where he started his professional career composing and arranging music for television and theatre, including music for works by playwright Dario Fo and theatre director Jérôme Savary.[3] His music has been featured in the soundtracks of films including Gary Winick's Letters to Juliet and Paolo Virzì's The First Beautiful Thing (La prima cosa bella).[4][5]

Arnò has collaborated with the Italian singer Andrea Bocelli.[3]

quiet, please!

In the 1990s, Arnò began a prolific career working in music for advertising, which led to his 1999 formation of the music consultation and production company "quiet, please!.[3] Arnò has composed and produced jingles and other music for companies including Saab, Kellogg's, Jeep, Barilla, Telecom Italia, Sky, Vodafone, Volkswagen, BMW Allianz, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz and Citroën.[6]

Malika Ayane

In 2006, while working on music for a commercial spot for the diamond mining and trading company De Beers, Arnò met the Milanese singer Malika Ayane. Arnò and Ayane worked together on music for a Saab commercial called "Soul Waver." The jingle was a success and remains one of Arnò's most popular pieces of commercial music. Ayane and Arnò continued to work together, and Arnò has composed and produced many of Ayane's solo songs, including her eponymous debut album and her second album Grovigli, both of which went platinum and were critically very well received.[7] In particular, Allmusic critic Mariano Prunes praised Arnò's "tight" and "stylish" production on Grovigli.[2][8]

Ayane's song "Ricomincio da Qui, " composed and produced by Arnò and featured on Grovigli, was considered a favorite at the 2010 Sanremo Music Festival, where it won the Critic's Prize in the Big Artists section.[8][9]

Jessica Brando

Arnò has also produced music for Italian singer Jessica Brando. In 2010, he produced Brando's single "Dimmi Cosa Sogni" as well as "Ricordati," which featured Italian singer Andrea Bocelli.[10] He most recently produced her 2012 single "Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)", a cover of the classic Italian song of the same name. This single was released on Arnò's label quiet, please!.[11]

Francesco Tricarico

Arnò produced the 2011 album L'imbarazzo by Italian singer Francesco Tricarico. Additionally, at the 2011 Sanremo Music Festival, Arnò conducted an orchestral performance of L'imbarazzo song "Tre Colori."[12]

Common Mama

While traveling in England, Arnò came upon singer Jon Kenzie busking in a London Underground station. Arnò, impressed by Kenzie's singing ability, approached him and asked him to come to his studio in Milan to record music together. Arnò wrote a new song called "A New Kind of Something" specifically for Kenzie's voice, and the collaborative project Common Mama was formed.[13] The song was mixed at Metropolis Studios by producer and engineer Tom Elmhirst, known for working with artists including Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Cee Lo Green.[14] The song was featured by electronics company Acer in a television advertisement for their Iconia Tab A500 tablet computer, getting the song and the project international recognition.[13] Based on its success, an official music video was produced for the song.[14]

In 2013, an official music video was released for the Common Mama song "Possibly Mine." The video was directed by Leone Balduzzi and produced for 55DSL.[15]

In 2014 Common Mama’s song “Meant from the start” gained 3rd place at the prestigious International Songwriting Competition in the “Unsigned Only” category, being judged by famous artists such as Tom Waits, Nas, Robert Smith, Imagine Dragons among the others, obtaining worldwide visibility and recognition.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Ferdinando Arnò: Fondatore e Partner Quiet Please!" [Ferdinando Arnò: Founder and Partner of Quiet Please!] (in Italian). Mediastars. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 Moscardino, Paola (21 June 2010). ""La Puglia non è solo pizzica" Parola di Ferdinando Arnò" ["Not Just a Pinch of Apulia": Words of Ferdinando Arnò]. IL PERSONAGGIO (in Italian). Corriere del Mezzogiorno. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Carnevali, Alessandra (16 July 2011). "COMMON MAMA "A NEW KIND OF SOMETHING": il progetto internazionale di Ferdinando Arno' fa il giro del mondo" [COMMON MAMA "A NEW KIND OF SOMETHING": the international project of Ferdinand Arno goes around the world] (in Italian). Festival. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Winick, Gary (Director) (May 14, 2010). Letters to Juilet (Motion picture). United States, Italy: Summit Entertainment.
  5. ↑ Virzì, Paolo (Director) (January 15, 2010). La prima cosa bella [The First Beautiful Thing] (Motion picture). Italy: Palisades Tartan.
  6. ↑ 'Commercial’ music (Media notes). Various artists. quiet, please!. 2007.
  7. ↑ "Certificazioni album fisici e digitali" (PDF) (in Italian). Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  8. 1 2 Prunes, Mariano. "Grovigli". Allmusic. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Valerio Scanu è il vincitore di Sanremo Pubblico in rivolta per gli eliminati" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. 20 February 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Dimmi Cosa Sogni (CD insert notes) (in Italian). Brando, Jessica. EMI. 2010.
  11. ↑ Carnevali, Alessandra (1 March 2012). "Jessica Brando: "Volare" per Barilla" (in Italian). Festival. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  12. ↑ L'imbarazzo (CD insert notes). Tricarico, Francesco. New York City: Sony Music Entertainment. 2011.
  13. 1 2 "Common Mama, A Busker And A TV Ad: You Just Couldn't Write It". Glasswerk.ie. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2013. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  14. 1 2 "COMMON MAMA". Nerdy Frames. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  15. ↑ "L'amore è una sala da ballo". Vanity Fair. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  16. ↑ "International Songwriting Competition". 7 May 2014.
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