The Roggio family from generation to generation continues to be involved in musical endeavors. From classical to rock you will find them today sharing their talents with family and friends. It is our hope that you may enjoy this collection reproduced from the original vinyl. We offer them to you in loving memory of one of our family's greatest musicians...Victor Roggio.

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This is an amazing album...a collector's piece. The music of Victor Roggio captures the mood of an evening in Italy. The songs are plaintive as a moon drenched balcony scene, as delicate as a first kiss, as sprightly as a folk dance. Here are the sensitive notes of two mandolins and two guitars, the quiver of the mandola, the deeper beat of mandocello and mandobass. This is the sound of seven instruments as if played by seventy talented fingers. It is a collector's piece of rare artistic achievement. It is an amazing album because every note has been played and recorded by one man...

The love of music and this talent to produce it comes naturally to Victor Roggio. He was one of eight boys born to Sicilian-American parents. His father played the mandolin, which had been considered the "family instrument" throughout Sicily, and also played the clarinet. Victor was taught to play the mandolin at the age of five. He became such an enthusiastic student that he frequently practiced long hours and sometimes refused to stop for meals. At twelve he performed professionally with three of his older brothers as part of an orchestra on the Italian Hour radio station in Philadelphia. The low salaries of musicians during the middle thirties forced Victor to search for means of income along non-musical lines. But whenever there were free moments, he filled them with his beloved music. Vic served in the Army from 1941 to 1945, taking his mandolin with him wherever he went. He was discharged a First Lieutenant and went on to success in the business world. But, once again, there was always music. He studied harmony and arranging at the Philadelphia Music Academy. In 1956 he cut his first record with a well known combo. He was an active member of the Munier Mandolin and Guitar Society and its orchestra. Munier was one of the greatest composers for mandolin. Vic chose one of the favorites of the Munier Orchestra's repertoire as his classic selection, "Souvenir de Catane", a fantaisie by Salvador Leonardi.

In "Vic Serenading" the artist presents the authentic mandolin orchestra sound. The title comes from a romantic old Italian custom in which the groom brings to his loved one a serenade on the evening prior to their wedding. Vic chose the selections from actual experience over two decades in serenading "brides-to-be". The arrangements and unique styling of many of the songs are a direct expression of Vic's interpretation of music from the Isle of Sicily.

Throughout this collection Vic has been his own recording engineer using the finest modern Ampex equipment. There is no doubt that the artist put a great deal of talent, creativity and unfailing effort into the preparation of this remarkable album.

Note: Vic dedicated this album in loving memory of his father, Salvatore Roggio and his brother Vincent.

Victor Roggio
1918 - 1969

"Vic Serenading"...
A Lifetime of Listening Pleasure for only $9.95.

Instant download. MP3 (26MB Zip file)

"Vic Serenading" a Lifetime of Listening Pleasure for only $9.95.

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