ABSTRACT
Not all writing about Italian popular music from the early 1960s focuses on the canzone d'autore; in fact, very few publications deal with the genre at all, due to the fact that it was only created in 1960. Generally, this writing focuses on: the mass cultural tensions which popular music in Italy embodies; the 'artistic' hopes that the canzone d'autore is seen to represent for Italian popular music; and the place of folk traditions in the Italian popular music context. In Jona's opinion, popular music in general has a role to play in society, which is reflected in the Cantacronache's mission statement outlined in the first section of his chapter: song should be socially and/or politically engaged, and should enable the further education of its listeners. Within the context of the 'art-folk-commerce' structure at work within popular music discourses according to Frith, the notion of French popular music as legitimising Italian popular music which surrounds this ge
