In popular culture song constantly accompanies people’s lives, marking the most significant moments, personal and communal. One sings about the passing of the seasons, love that is born and that ends. One sings to celebrate the divine and the everyday, life and death. Today CGS sings its own Canzoniere: its new captivating Songbook. CGS comes from Puglia, the heel of the Italian boot in Southern Italy. A land surrounded by the sea, an historic crossroads of sounds, colors and languages. Its uniqueness was born out of its capacity to synthesize many diverse cultures. Here even the iconic Coke bottle was transformed, becoming a container for home made tomato sauce. CGS’ music is like that sauce: unique, timeless, profoundly contemporary. . Canzoniere is a collection of 13 songs (11 original and 2 traditional), which consecrate the international dimension of the group. Mauro Durante conceived an innovative and ambitious album, salentino in lyrics, sound and heart, but with a global calling. With his exceptional traveling companions (Giulio Bianco, Emanuele Licci, Massimiliano Morabito, Giancarlo Paglialunga, Silvia Perrone and Alessia Tondo) different musical styles are confronted without ever losing CGS' own unmistakable style and originality. In Canzoniere, Pizzica meets the world, with strength and maturity. A project born and developed between Lecce and New York, where Mauro spent several months, composing some of the songs with the likes of Joe Mardin (Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Jewel, Bette Midler), Michael Leonhart (Bruno Mars, Steely Dan, James Brown, Lenny Kravitz, Mark Ronson), Rasmus Bille Bahncke (Backstreet Boys, CeCe Winans, Sting, Blue, Miley Cyrus), Steve Skinner (Arif Mardin, Celin Dion, Diana Ross, R Kelly), Scott Jacoby (Coldplay, John Legend, Vampire Weekend, Sia, Rachel Platten). Among the guests stand out Justin Adams on Aiora, English guitarist and long time collaborator of Robert Plant, and the English-French singer songwriter Piers Faccini on Subbra Sutta, who also co-wrote the song. The album also features the cello of Marco Decimo. The producer and mixing engineer is Joe Mardin, son of the legendary Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin, The Bee Gees, Chaka Khan). The mastering engineer is Joe LaPorta (Grammy-winning engineer for David Bowie’s Blackstar), of Sterling Sound in NYC
