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A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.

Etymology[link]

The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to the sphere of authority of a magistrate; in particular, to a foreign territory.

A possible Latin etymology is from "pro-" ("on behalf of") and "vincere" ("to triumph" or "to take control of"). Thus a "province" was a territory or function that a Roman magistrate held control of on behalf of his government. This agrees with the Latin term's earlier usage as a generic term for a jurisdiction under Roman law.

Geology[link]

In geology, the term "province" refers to a specific physiogeographic area that comprises a grouping of like bathymetric or former bathymetric elements (now sedimentary strata above water) whose features are in obvious contrast to the surrounding regions, or other "provinces." The term usually refers to sections or regions of a craton recognized within a given time-stratigraphy, i.e., recognized within a major division of time within a geologic period.

History and culture[link]

In France, the expression "en province" still tends to mean "outside the Paris region." Equivalent expressions are used in Peru ("en provincias," "outside the city of Lima"), Mexico ("la provincia," "lands outside Mexico City"), Romania ("în provincie," "outside the Bucharest region"), Poland ("prowincjonalny," "provincial") and Bulgaria ("в провинцията," "v provintsiyata," "in the provinces"; "провинциален," "provintsialen," "provincial"). Similarly, in Australia "provincial" refers to parts of a state outside of the state capital.

Before the French Revolution, France comprised a variety of jurisdictions (e.g., Île-de-France, built around the early Capetian royal demesne), some being considered "provinces," though the term was also used colloquially for territories as small as a manor (châtellenie). Most commonly referred to as "provinces," however, were the Grands Gouvernements, generally former medieval feudal principalities, or agglomerations of such. Today the expression "province" is sometimes replaced by "en région," " région" now being the term officially used for the secondary level of government.

In Italy, "in provincia" generally means "outside the biggest regional capitals" (like Rome, Milan, Naples, etc.).

The historic European provinces—built up of many small regions, called "pays" by the French and "cantons" by the Swiss, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon a market town—have been depicted by Fernand Braudel as the optimum-size political unit in pre-industrial Early Modern Europe. He asks, "Was the province not its inhabitants' true 'fatherland'?"^[1] Even centrally-organized France, an early nation-state, could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, as during the sustained crisis of the French Wars of Religion (1562—98).

To 19th- and 20th-century historians, in Europe, centralized government was a sign of modernity and political maturity. In the late 20th century, as the European Union drew nation-states closer together, centripetal forces seemed simultaneously to move countries toward more flexible systems of more localized, provincial governing entities under the overall European Union umbrella. Spain after Francisco Franco has been a "State of Autonomies," formally unitary but in fact functioning as a federation of Autonomous Communities, each exercising different powers. (See Politics of Spain.)

While Serbia, the rump of former Yugoslavia, fought the separatists in the province of Kosovo, the United Kingdom, under the political principle of "devolution," produced (1998) local parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Strong local nationalisms have surfaced or developed in Britain's Cornwall, France's Brittany, Languedoc and Corsica, Spain's Catalonia and the Basque Country, Italy's Lombardy, Belgium's Flanders; and, east of Europe, in Abkhazia, Chechnya and Kurdistan.

Legal aspects[link]

In many federations and confederations, the province or state is not clearly subordinate to the national or central government. Rather, it is considered to be sovereign in regard to its particular set of constitutional functions. The central- and provincial-government functions, or areas of jurisdiction, are identified in a constitution. Those that are not specifically identified are called "residual powers." In a decentralized federal system (such as the United States and Australia) these residual powers lie at the provincial or state level, whereas in a centralized federal system (such as Canada) they are retained at the federal level. Some of the enumerated powers can be quite important. For example, Canadian provinces are sovereign in regard to such important matters as property, civil rights, education, social welfare and medical services.

The evolution of federations has created an inevitable tug-of-war between concepts of federal supremacy versus states' & provinces' rights. The historic division of responsibility in federal constitutions is inevitably subject to multiple overlaps. For example, when central governments, responsible for foreign affairs, enter into international agreements in areas where the state or province is sovereign, such as the environment or health standards, agreements made at the national level can create jurisdictional overlap and conflicting laws. This overlap creates the potential for internal disputes that lead to constitutional amendments and judicial decisions that alter the balance of powers.

Though foreign affairs do not usually fall under a province’s or a federal state’s competency, some states allow them to legally conduct international relations on their own in matters of their constitutional prerogative and essential interest. Sub-national authorities have a growing interest in paradiplomacy, be it performed under a legal framework or as a trend informally admitted as legitimate by the central authorities.

In unitary states such as France and China, provinces are subordinate to the national, central government. In theory, the central government can create or abolish provinces within its jurisdiction.

Current provinces[link]

Not all second-level political entities are termed "provinces." In Arab countries, the secondary level of government, called a muhfazah, is usually translated as a "governorate."

In Poland, the equivalent of "province" is "województwo," sometimes rendered in English as "voivodeship."^[2]

In Peru, provinces are tertiary units of government, as the country is divided into twenty-five regions, subdivided into 194 provinces. Chile follows a similar pattern, being divided into 15 regions, subdivided into 53 provinces, each run by a governor appointed by the president.

Historically, New Zealand was divided into provinces, each with its own Superintendent and Provincial Council, and with considerable responsibilities conferred on them. However, the colony (as it then was) never developed into a federation; instead, the provinces were abolished in 1876. The old provincial boundaries continue to be used to determine the application of certain public holidays. Over the years, when the central Government has created special-purpose agencies at a sub-national level, these have often tended to follow or approximate the old provincial boundaries. Current examples include the 16 Regions into which New Zealand is divided, and also the 21 District Health Boards. Sometimes the term the provinces is used to refer collectively to rural and regional parts of New Zealand, that is, those parts of the country lying outside some or all of the "main centres"—Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton and Dunedin.

Modern provinces[link]

In many countries, a province is a relatively small non-constituent level of sub-national government, varying in size from that of a UK county to that of a U.S. state – an autonomous level of government and a constituent element of a federation or confederation, often with a large territory. In China, a province is a sub-national region within a unitary state; this means that a province can be created or abolished by the central government.

A province is a distinct unit of government in the Philippines, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy; and a large constituent autonomous area in Canada, Congo and Argentina.

In Italy and Chile, a province is an administrative sub-division of a region, which is the first-order administrative sub-division of the state. Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative sub-divisions called comuni (communes). In Chile, they are referred to as comunas.

Five Canadian provinces – Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island – have "counties" as administrative sub-divisions. The Canadian province of British Columbia has "regional districts" which function as equivalents of the aforesaid counties.

The island of Ireland is divided into four historic provinces (see Provinces of Ireland), each of which is sub-divided into counties. These provinces are Connacht (in the west), Leinster (in the east), Munster (in the south) and, perhaps most famously (due to The Troubles), Ulster (in the north). Nowadays these provinces have little or no administrative function, though do have sporting significance.

Some overseas parts of the British Empire bore the colonial title of "province" (in a more Roman sense), such as the Province of Canada and the Province of South Australia (the latter, to distinguish it from the penal "colonies" elsewhere in Australia). Similarly, Mozambique was a "province" as a Portuguese colony.

Russia[link]

The term "province" is sometimes used to refer to the historic governorates (guberniyas) of Russia. This terms also refers to the provinces (провинции), which were introduced as the subdivisions of the governorates in 1719 and existed until 1775. In modern parlance, the term is commonly used to refer to the oblasts and krais of Russia.

Largest[link]

The world's most populous province is Uttar Pradesh, India, population 220,000,000.

The world's largest province by area is Quebec, Canada (1,500,000 km²).

Polities translated "province"[link]

Historic provinces[link]

Ancient, medieval and feudal[link]

• Caliphate and subsequent sultanates: see Emirate
• Khanate can also mean a province as well as an independent state, as either can be headed by a Khan
• Byzantine Empire: see exarchate, thema
• Pharaonic Egypt: see nome (Egypt)
• Frankish (Carolingian) 're-founded' Holy Roman Empire: see gau and county
• In the Habsburg territories, the traditional provinces are partly expressed in the Länder of 19th-century Austria-Hungary.
• Mughal Empire: subah
• The provinces of the Ottoman Empire had various types of governors (generally a pasha), but mostly styled vali, hence the predominant term vilayet, generally subdivided (often in beyliks or sanjaks), sometimes grouped under a governor-general (styled beylerbey).
• Achaemenid Persia (and probably before in Media, again after conquest and further extension by Alexander the Great, and in the larger Hellenistic successor states: see satrapy
• The Roman Empire was divided into provinces (provinciae).
• In the Tartar Khanate of Kazan: the five daruğa ('direction')

Colonial and Early Modern[link]

• Spanish empire, at several echelons:
  • viceroyalty above
  • intendencia

• British colonies:
  • Province of Canada (1840-1867)
  • Provinces of India
  • Provinces of New Zealand (1841-1876)
  • Provinces of Nigeria
  • Province of South Australia (now an Australian state)

• The former provinces of Brazil
• The former provinces of France
• The former provinces of Ireland
• The former provinces of Japan
• The provinces of Prussia, a former German kingdom/republic
• The former provinces of Sweden
• The former Republic of the Seven United Provinces (The Netherlands)
• The former United Provinces of Central America
• The former United Provinces of the Río de la Plata

See also[link]

• Governor
• Region
• Provincialism
• Regionalism (politics)
• Rise: The Vieneo Province

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Etymology OnLine
• WorldStatesmen

External links[link]

• Interactive China province map with city guides and more.

Carlos Vives
Carlos Vives at a concert in Boston.
Background information
Born	August 7, 1961 Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
Genres	Vallenato, cumbia, porro, champeta, rock, pop latino, bambuco
Occupations	Recording artist, composer and actor
Years active	1986–present
Associated acts	Rafael Escalona Juanes Hora Local Aterciopelados Bloque de Búsqueda (banda) Sidestepper
Website	www.carlosvives.com

Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born August 7, 1961 in Santa Marta, Magdalena) is a Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy Award winning-Colombian singer, composer and actor.

Biography[link]

Carlos Vives was born on August 7, 1961.^[1] in Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia, where he spent his first 12 years of life. At that age, he and his family moved to Bogotá in search of a better life. They lived with Diego Martinez and his family. In Bogota, he acquired a taste for rock, getting involved in the local music scene, and started playing in bars and cafés around the city.

1982-1989[link]

In 1982, Vives began acting in in a number of shows and telenovelas including "Pequeños Gigantes" (Little Giants - 1983) and "Tuyo es Mi Corazón" (Yours is My Heart - 1985). He finally found notoriety in 1986 by playing the title role of Gallito Ramírez (which told the story of a Colombian Caribbean coast boxer who falls in love with an uptight girl, who was portrayed by his first wife, Margarita Rosa de Francisco). (1986). That same year, he released his first album, Por Fuera y Por Dentro. The album, primarily made of ballads, failed to gain any success. In 1987, he released his second ballad album, No Podrás Escapar de Mí. Though the title track reached #30 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks, the album did not sell well. His next album, Al Centro de la Ciudad, would become his last album to feature synthesizer-romantic ballads. Some of the songs got some attention being featured in telenovelas, but the album, just as its predecessors, failed to gain success.

In 1989, he was offered an acting job in Puerto Rico, and upon moving, he took a break in his music career. There, he is remembered for his leading roles in the soaps La Otra and Aventurera.^[1] There he married Herlinda Gómez,^[1] his second wife (they have since divorced). Vives would spend his time between Colombia, Miami and the city of Mayagüez, Herlinda's hometown, during his marriage to her.

Since 1991[link]

Upon his return to Colombia in 1991, he was offered a TV role that would change his life forever. He was cast in the leading role of a fantasy series based in the life of vallenato composer Rafael Escalona called, not surprisingly, Escalona.^[1] He sang the composer's songs in the series, and that's when he retooled his career towards vallenato,^[2] gaining national success with the release of the Telenovela's two soundtrack albums, Escalona: Un Canto a la Vida and Escalona: Vol. 2.

In 1993, backed by the band "La Provincia", Vives released the album Clásicos de la Provincia in which he started fusing Vallenato with rock,^[1] pop and other Caribbean Colombian ethnic rhythms. This fusion scandalized Vallenato purists. This style of vallenato was a huge success not only in Colombia but all over Latin countries, and the albums' lead single, La Gota Fría, became a hit all over Latin America. Clásicos de la Provincia, won the Billboard Latin Music Awards Best Album and would become a timeless classic in Colombian and Latin American music, introducing Vallenato to both Colombia and the rest of the world.

The follow-up album, La Tierra del Olvido would mark a further step in Vives' desire to fusion rock, funk and pop music with traditional Colombian genres. The album gave Vives classic hits such as the title track, and the up-tempo opening track Pa' Mayte.

His subsequent releases, Tengo Fe (1997), El Amor de Mi Tierra (1999), Déjame Entrar (2001) and El Rock de Mi Pueblo (2004), were all commercially successful and were well-received by the critics. In 2001 Carlos Vives' album "Déjame Entrar" won him his first Grammy award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album.

In 2009 he released the album Clásicos de la Provincia II, which was sold exclusively in Colombian supermarket chain "Almacenes Éxito." The album saw Vives' return to covering famous Vallenato songs in his own style. It sold massively and the single Las Mujeres received wide radio airplay in all Colombia.

His hits include "Matilde Linda", "La Hamaca Grande", "La Gota Fría", "Alicia Adorada", "Pa' Mayte", "La Tierra del Olvido", "Tu Amor Eterno", "Fruta Fresca", "Déjame Entrar", "Luna Nueva", "Carito", "Papadio", "Como Tú" and "Décimas Del Parecido" (this last one a tribute to Guillermo Martínez, a Cuban-born radio host who resides in Mayagüez, and for whose program Vives was an occasional master control technician).

Personal life[link]

Vives was married to the famous Colombian actress Margarita Rosa de Francisco in a relation that was closely followed by the national media. Herlinda Gómez was his second wife.^[3] He's now married to former Miss Colombia Claudia Helena Vásquez and has 2 children,^[1] : Lucy Vives, his first daughter and his son from his marriage with Herlinda Gómez. He spends his time between Miami and Colombia, mainly Santa Marta and Bogotá.^[1]

Discography[link]

Carlos Vives

Ballads period

• Por Fuera y Por Dentro (1986)
• No Podrás Escapar de Mí (1987)
• Al Centro de la Ciudad (1989)

Vallenato/Ethnic fusion period

• Escalona - Un Canto A La Vida (1991)
• Escalona: Vol. 2 (1992)
• Clásicos de la Provincia (1993)
• La Tierra del Olvido (1995)
• Tengo Fe (1997)
• El Amor de Mi Tierra (1999)
• Déjame Entrar (2001)
• El Rock de Mi Pueblo (2004)
• Clásicos de la Provincia II (2009)

Melodic period

• Romántico (2005)

Filmography[link]

• La estrategia del caracol (José Antonio Samper Pupo), 1993
• Escalona (Rafael Escalona), 1992
• La Tele, 1995
• La mujer doble (Mateo Escontria), 1992
• LP loca pasión (Sammy), 1989
• Gallito Ramírez (Javier "Gallito" Ramírez), 1986
• Tuyo es mi corazón, 1985
• David Copperfield, 1983
• Pequeños gigantes, 1980's

Awards[link]

See also[link]

• List of singer-songwriters/Colombia
• Pop Latino

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carlos Vives

• (Spanish) Official site

v t e Vallenato Musicians Renowned vallenato musicians Alejo Durán • Alfredo Gutierrez • Diomedes Diaz • Fonseca • Colacho Mendoza • Rafael Escalona • Emiliano Zuleta • Jorge Oñate • Iván Villazón • Kaleth Morales • Silvestre Dangond • Carlos Vives • Juancho De la Espriella • The Children of Vallenato

Carmen Linares.

Carmen Linares is the stage name of Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez. Born in 1951 in Linares, Jaén Province, she is known as one of the finest flamenco singers in Spain.^{[citation needed]}

Performing in Warszawa during Cross Culture Festival in September 2011

She came to Madrid with her family in 1965. Her professional career began in the dance company of Carmen Mora, and she made her first recording in 1970.

She was awarded Spain's Premio Nacional de Música for interpretation in 2001.

Recent Discography[link]

• Un ramito de Locura (2002). Carmen Linares (vocals), Gerardo Núñez (guitar), Pablo Martín (double-bass), Cepillo (percussion).
• Antología de la mujer en el cante (1996). Carmen Linares (vocals), various guitarists.
• Canciones populares Antiguas (1995). Carmen Linares (vocals).
• Desde le Alma - Cante flamenco en vivo (1994). Carmen Linares (vocals), Paco Cortés & Miguel Angel Cortés (guitar), Jesús Heredia (percussion).
• La luna en el río (1991). Carmen Linares (vocals), Paco Cortés, Pedro Sierra (guitar), Carles Benavent (bass), Jesús Heredia (percussion), Javier Barón (dance).

External links[link]

• Foro Flamenco

Raúl Ernesto Ruiz Pino (25 July 1941 – 19 August 2011) was an award-winning experimental Chilean filmmaker, writer and teacher whose work is best known in France. He directed over 100 films.^[1]

Biography[link]

The son of a ship's captain and a schoolteacher in southern Chile, Raúl Ruiz abandoned his university studies in theology and law to write 100 plays with the support of a Rockefeller Foundation grant. He went on to learn his craft working in Chilean and Mexican television and studying at film school in Argentina (1964). Back in Chile, he made his feature debut Three Sad Tigers (1968), sharing the Golden Leopard at the 1969 Locarno Film Festival. He was something of an outsider among the politically oriented filmmakers of his generation such as Miguel Littín and Patricio Guzmán, his work being far more ironic, surrealistic and experimental. In 1973, shortly after the military coup d'état led by the dictator Augusto Pinochet, Ruiz and his wife (fellow director Valeria Sarmiento) fled Chile and settled in Paris, France.^[2]

Ruiz soon developed a reputation among European critics and cinephiles as an avant-garde film magician, writing and directing a remarkable number of amusingly eccentric though highly literary and complex low-to-no-budget films in the 1970s and 1980s (often for France's Institut national de l'audiovisuel and then for Portuguese producer Paulo Branco). The best known of these are Colloque de chiens (1977, a César Award-winning short which marked the start of Ruiz's long-term working relationship with Chilean composer Jorge Arriagada), The Suspended Vocation (1978), The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1979), On Top of the Whale (1982), Three Crowns of the Sailor (1983), City of Pirates (1983), Manoel's Destinies (1985), Treasure Island (1985) and Life is a Dream (1986).^[3] A special issue of Cahiers du cinéma was devoted to Ruiz in March 1983.^[4]

In the 1990s, Ruiz began working with larger budgets and "name" stars like John Hurt in Dark at Noon (1992) and Marcello Mastroianni in Three Lives and Only One Death (1996). The following year, he made Genealogies of a Crime starring Catherine Deneuve, winning the Silver Bear at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.^[5] A second major French actress, Isabelle Huppert, worked with Ruiz on Comedy of Innocence (2000), which was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The American John Malkovich acted in the star-studded Marcel Proust adaptation Time Regained (1999) and the somewhat less successful Savage Souls (2001) and Klimt (2006). That Day (2003) was the fourth and last Ruiz film to be shown in the main competition of the Cannes Film festival.^[6] He also made forays into the English-language mainstream with the thrillers Shattered Image (1998) and A Closed Book (2010). In the final decade of his life, Ruiz wrote and directed several low-budget productions in his native Chile, but his final international triumph was the Franco-Portuguese epic Mysteries of Lisbon (2010), which won the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and also France's prestigious Louis Delluc Prize.^[7]

Over the years, Ruiz taught his own particular brand of film theory, which he explained in his two books Poetics of Cinema 1: Miscellanies (1995) and Poetics of Cinema 2 (2007), and actively engaged in film and video projects with university and film school students in many countries, including the US, France, Colombia, Chile, Italy and Scotland.^[8]

Ruiz died in August 2011 as a result of complications from a lung infection, having successfully undergone a liver transplant in early 2010 after being diagnosed with a life-threatening tumour. The Presidents of France and Chile both praised him.^[9][10] The Church of Saint George-Paul in Paris held a memorial service which was attended by many notable friends, including Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Paulo Branco, Arielle Dombasle, Michel Piccoli and Jorge Edwards. Ruiz's body was then returned to Chile to be buried as specified in his will and a National Day of Mourning was declared in Chile.^[11]

Ruiz's final completed feature Night Across the Street (2012) was selected to be screened posthumously in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[12][13] His widow Valeria Sarmiento, who was also his collaborator and frequent editor for several decades, is completing The Lines of Wellington (2012), the Napoleonic epic that Ruiz was preparing when he died.^[14]

Filmography[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Raoul Ruiz (1995). Poétique du cinéma. Dis Voir. ISBN 2-906571-37-7.  (French).
• Raul Ruiz (1995). Poetics of Cinema 1: Miscellanies. Dis Voir. ISBN 2-906571-38-5.  Translated by Brian Holmes.
• Raoul Ruiz; Benoît Peeters (2002). Le Transpatagonien. Impressions nouvelles. ISBN 2-906131-55-5.  (French).
• Raoul Ruiz (2006). Poétique du cinéma 2. Dis Voir. ISBN 978-2-914563-27-7.  (French).
• Raul Ruiz (2007). Poetics of Cinema 2. Dis Voir. ISBN 978-2-914563-25-3.  Translated from the Spanish by Carlos Morreo.
• Raoul Ruiz (2008). A la poursuite de l'île au trésor. Dis Voir. ISBN 978-2-914563-39-0.  (French). Translated into English as: Raul Ruiz (2008). In Pursuit of Treasure Island. Dis Voir. ISBN 978-2-914563-41-3. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Raoul Ruiz at the Internet Movie Database
• MUBI's Ruiz page
• Annotated filmography (up to 2005) at Rouge online film magazine
• Raúl Ruiz photograph by photographer/filmmaker Clay Walker
• The rubicon and the rubik cube: Exile, paradox and Raúl Ruiz 1981/1982 article by Gilbert Adair
• Official online release of the TV short film "Lettre d'un cinéaste ou Le retour d'un amateur de bibliothèques" (1983)
• Mapping the Territory of Râúl Ruiz 1987/1990 article by Jonathan Rosenbaum
• BOMB interview (1991) by Carole Anne Klonarides
• Sight & Sound interview (2002) by Nick James
• Cinema Scope interview (2002) by Jonathan Rosenbaum
• Raúl Ruiz and the Poetics of Cinema (2006 interview) by Jonathan Marlow
• New York Times interview (2011) by A. O. Scott
• Time magazine obituary (2011) by Richard Corliss
• Sight & Sound obituary (2011) by Jonathan Romney
• 'A Ghost at Noon' (2011) tribute by Adrian Martin

Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 – 9 September 1998) was an Italian singer-songwriter (cantautore). He is considered to be one of the best-known and most influential musicians and authors in Italian pop/rock music history.^[1]

Battisti started his career in 1966 and from 1969 to 1994 he released 18 albums in his home country. A significant part of his production was translated into Spanish (various albums) and English (one album). He was renowned to be an extremely reserved artist: during his successful career he performed only a small number of live concerts, and in the early 1980s he announced he would communicate only through his studio albums, completely disappearing from the Italian public scene.

Biography[link]

Musician and composer[link]

Battisti was born in Poggio Bustone, a town in the province of Rieti (northern Lazio), and moved with his family to Rome in 1950. A self-taught guitarist, Battisti made his debut as musician in the 1960s, performing in local bands in Rome, Naples and later in Milan where he joined I Campioni (The Champions), the support band of then famous singer Tony Dallara. He also travelled abroad as a working musician, in Germany and England, where he absorbed the music of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, blues and soul - among others - which he later introduced into Italian Pop music.

In Milan he found the support of the French talent scout, Christine Leroux, who worked for the Ricordi music label. Under Leroux's wing Battisti penned three sizeable hits in 1966 for other artists ("Per una lira" for Ribelli, "Dolce di giorno" for Dik Dik, and "Uno in più" for Riki Maiocchi). Leroux also introduced Battisti to lyricist Giulio Rapetti, better known as Mogol: though not impressed at first by Battisti's music, Mogol later declared to have started the collaboration after recognizing Battisti's humble, though determined, desire to improve his work. Mogol also pushed Ricordi to allow Battisti to sing his own songs: Battisti's voice became the focal point of his strength and originality. As a singer, he made his debut with the song "Per una lira" in 1966: despite the song's poor success (only 520 copies sold throughout Italy!^[2]), it allowed him to begin building his career as a singer.

Battisti continued to write for others, in the late 1960s: the US rock group The Grass Roots scored a hit stateside with one of Battisti's compositions, "Balla Linda", translated as "Bella Linda". With the same song, Battisti classified fourth in the Cantagiro, a then popular Italian Pop music competition. 1969 saw another one of Battisti's compositions, "Il Paradiso", become a hit in the UK when it was covered by the group Amen Corner as "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice", hitting the number one spot on the singles chart. In the same period another English band, The Hollies - featuring Graham Nash - recorded a Battisti song in Italian, "Non prego per me".

Success as a solo singer in 1970s – The Mogol-Battisti duo[link]

	La luce dell'est noicon La luce dell'est (1972)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the same year Battisti took part in the Festival of Sanremo, with the song "Un'avventura", and his popularity began to increase. His first great hit was "Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara", which won the Festivalbar. The same year, Ricordi issued Battisti's self-titled debut album. During this successful year he met Grazia Letizia Veronese, who later married and lived with Battisti until his death.