{"product_id":"mondo-exotica-sounds-visions-obsessions-of-the-cocktail-generation-9780822341567","title":"Mondo Exotica: Sounds, Visions, Obsessions of the Cocktail Generation","description":"Tiki torches, cocktails, \u003ci\u003ela dolce vita\u003c\/i\u003e, and the music that popularized them-\u003ci\u003eMondo Exotica\u003c\/i\u003e offers a behind-the-scenes look at the sounds and obsessions of the Space Age and Cold War period as well as the renewed interest in them evident in contemporary music and design. The music journalist and radio host Francesco Adinolfi provides extraordinary detail about artists, songs, albums, and soundtracks, while also presenting an incisive analysis of the ethnic and cultural stereotypes embodied in exotica and related genres. In this encyclopedic account of films, books, TV programs, mixed drinks, and above all music, he balances a respect for exotica's artistic innovations with a critical assessment of what its popularity says about postwar society in the United States and Europe, and what its revival implies today.\u003cp\u003eAdinolfi interviewed a number of exotica greats, and \u003ci\u003eMondo Exotica\u003c\/i\u003e incorporates material from his interviews with Martin Denny, Esquivel, the Italian film composers Piero Piccioni and Piero Umiliani, and others. It begins with an extended look at the postwar popularity of exotica in the United States. Adinolfi describes how American bachelors and suburbanites embraced the Polynesian god Tiki as a symbol of escape and sexual liberation; how Les Baxter's album \u003ci\u003eRitual of the Savage\u003c\/i\u003e (1951) ushered in the exotica music craze; and how Martin Denny's \u003ci\u003eExotica\u003c\/i\u003e built on that craze, hitting number one in 1957. Adinolfi chronicles the popularity of performers from Yma Sumac, \"the Peruvian Nightingale,\" to Esquivel, who was described by \u003ci\u003eVariety\u003c\/i\u003e as \"the Mexican Duke Ellington,\" to the chanteuses Eartha Kitt, Julie London, and Ann-Margret. He explores exotica's many sub-genres, including mood music, crime jazz, and spy music. Turning to Italy, he reconstructs the postwar years of la dolce vita, explaining how budget spy films, spaghetti westerns, soft-core porn movies, and other genres demonstrated an attraction to the foreign. \u003ci\u003eMondo Exotica\u003c\/i\u003e includes a discography of albums, compilations, and remixes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrancesco Adinolfi is an Italian journalist and radio host. He oversees the production of \"Ultrasuoni,\" a weekly music supplement in \u003ci\u003eIl Manifesto\u003c\/i\u003e, one of Italy's daily newspapers, and he hosts the radio show \u003ci\u003ePopcorner\u003c\/i\u003e, a mix of electro lounge, funk, and ultrabossa. Previously, he hosted \u003ci\u003eUltrasuoni Cocktail\u003c\/i\u003e, a cult hit program on Rai Radio 2, Italy's national station. The author of the book \u003ci\u003eSuoni dal ghetto: La musica rap dalla strada alle hit-parade\u003c\/i\u003e, he has written for magazines including \u003ci\u003eMelody Maker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSounds\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e Record Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e (Great Britain); \u003ci\u003eRevoluciones Por Minuto \u003c\/i\u003e(Spain), \u003ci\u003eMusic Express\u003c\/i\u003e (Canada), \u003ci\u003eJuke\u003c\/i\u003e (Australia); and \u003ci\u003eCrossbeat\u003c\/i\u003e (Japan). Karen Pinkus is Professor of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Montesi Scandal: The Death of Wilma Montesi\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eand the Birth of the Paparazzi in Fellini's Rome\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBodily Regimes: Italian Advertising under Fascism\u003c\/i\u003e. Jason Vivrette is a graduate student in comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50901688647954,"sku":"9780822341567","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_07556add-aeef-4a0e-92fd-7186dd902207.jpg?v=1738435381","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/mondo-exotica-sounds-visions-obsessions-of-the-cocktail-generation-9780822341567","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}