Trio Lescano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since December 2007.

Trio Lescano - Lescano Trio - was a vocal trio extremely popular in Italy between 1930s and 1940s. It was an italian version of the Andrews Sisters. It was formed by three Dutch sisters Alexandra, Judith and Kitty Leschan, whose names were italianized into Alessandra, Giuditta and Caterinetta (Caterina) Lescano.

The three girls were born of an Hungarian contortionist and a Dutch operetta singer. They grew up in the Netherlands, where they worked as acrobats before forming a vocal trio.

They arrived in Italy in mid 1930s, and took up the name Trio Lescano. Directed by maestro Carlo Prato and thanks to the radio, they became immediately so famous that even Benito Mussolini, passing by their balcony one day, recognized them and stopped to greet them.

In 1939, the year of the hit song Se potessi avere mille lire al mese ("If only I had one thousand liras a month"), Trio Lescano made one thousand liras a day! In 1941 the Lescano sisters became Italian citizens. This made big news on the Italian papers, who had invented for them such definitions as "the three graces of the microphone", "the century's sensation", "the sisters who materialize the mystery of the heavenly trinity".

But just two years later, their golden period tragically ended: because of their mother's Jewish origins, they were first cancelled from all radio programs, then arrested and imprisoned on allegations of espionage. The accusation was their songs contained encoded messages for the enemy.

Once the war was over, after a two years' silence, Trio Lescano wanted to bid farewell to their Italian audience with a final performance broadcast live by the radio on 1 September 1945. The three sisters then moved to South America, where their artistic career continued.

The Trio Lescano's style was based on sophisticated vocal virtuosisms - a technique called vocalese - on swing and jazz harmonizations. Their greatest hits include Signorine Grandi Firme, Maramao perché sei morto, Ma le gambe, Pippo non lo sa, Camminando sotto la pioggia, La famiglia canterina, C’è un’orchestra sincopata, Tulipan, Il pinguino innamorato.