Carlotta Centanni ‘Napoli, Resta Cu’ Mme’ Album Design

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Napoli, Resta Cu’ Mme

Graphic design and marketing for an album of Neapolitan music recorded by Carlotta Centanni and band in Rome.

Some projects we do for love. This one is for Carlotta Centanni and her love of Neapolitan music. We explore our inner Neapolitan with “Napoli, Resta Cu’ Mme (Naples, Stay With Me)”; the fourth studio album by Italian jazz singer songwriter, Carlotta Centanni.

Neapolitan music is full of romance and drama. It is a reflection of the people of Naples who, even by Italian standards, are passionate, highly animated people. The title of the album is derived from the famous 1957 song “Resta Cu’ Mme” by Domenico Modugno and Dino Verde, which in a Neapolitan dialect means “Stay With Me”. I wanted to suggest how Napoli has always stayed with Carlotta, even when she is travelling far from her native Italy and to reflect the expressive nature of Italian people.

See the case history at Propella®

For the love of Napoli

This is an album about love. Not only is it Carlotta’s unique take on some of Italy’s most beloved Neapolitan songs, they also hold a very special place in her heart as they were sung to her when she was little by her Grandfather Armandino Zingone. Armandino was a celebrated Neapolitan singer, songwriter who performed with the world famous Renato Carosone in the 1950s and ’60s during what is often regarded as the golden age of Italian music and culture. “Napoli, Resta Cu’ Mme” is Carlotta’s love song for Naples, representing a return to her roots and one of the reasons she became a singer.

Photographic style

Earlier in the year, I had taken many black and white photos from one of Carlotta’s concerts. By overlapping and colourising the images (in a pseudo-double exposure technique) I visualise ‘slices in time’ and the expression and passion of Carlotta when performing live. The overall style is a modern take on vintage Italian movie posters with typography and colour echoing the Blue Note jazz album designs of the 1960s.