Organetto

You might recognize this young man from the Bare Feet™ Italy Video Trailer giving me a quick lesson in Organetto 101. Raffaele Romano, 2009 World Champion Organetto Player, showed off his fast fingers tonight on Canale 5 of Italian Mediaset (the gigantic media company owned by Silvio Berlusconi).  Not much older than most Italian pop stars, Raffaele  is not only a virtuoso on his instrument (you hear him request "velocissimo" to the band conductor in the Mediaset clip - literally translates to "the fastest"), he is also the exception to the rule - most organetto players are his grandfather's age!  But Raffaele's goal is not only to share his music with others, but to pass down the tradition of this style of music to the younger generations through his music school in Castelforte, Italy.  Bravo, Raffaele!!