For Italian learners, listening to Italian music on a regular basis is a good way to improve and keep up your skills.One of the problems here is that most people will not know where to begin, as they may not be familiar with any names beyond Bocelli and Pavarotti. Popular music is actually better for this purpose, as operatic Italian is not current Italian.
I admit that I myself am not up on the more recent popular music, as I think that it has declined enormously in the last couple of decades. Everywhere.
The two biggest names in Italian pop of the last forty years are Mina and Lucio Battisti (he's my personal favorite). Others you can explore are Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti, Edoardo Bennato, Jovanotti, Eugenio Finardi, Gino Paoli, Marco Masini, Fabrizio De Andre', Paolo Conte, Pino Daniele, Francesco Guccini, Sergio Endrigo, Vasco Rossi, Zucchero, Giorgio Gaber, Franco Battiato, Umberto Tozzi (in the photo, back in the day), Adriano Celentano, Claudio Baglioni, and others too numerous to mention.
Overwhelmed? Start off by perusing this popular site by an Italian oldster who emigrated to Brazil, Italia Sempre. There are nearly 1300 songs, all of them oldies, lyrics included. Then you can go to the last.fm site, which has a vast collection and will suggest other artists based on those you already like. Catch video on Youtube, which also leads you to other similar videos. Finally, you can access Rai Radio and find other Italian radio stations on your own, based on your preferences.
