La Cucina

La Cucina was an English roots style band of the 1990s, that went under the tagline of "accordion-driven funky neapolitan rockers". Although they were based in the south of England, their music was an amalgam of Southern Italian folk songs and disco and salsa beats. They were famed at the time for their wild concerts, and lack of wild living - on arrival in a new town, two members of the band would head for the local library.

They brought out a series of cassettes, in which they explored Neapolitan music. Later, they produced 3 CDs in which the instrumentation and production is of a much more contemporary nature, with influences such as Tom Waits and Madness. They played throughout the United Kingdom, as well as France, Spain, Germany and Italy.

In 1996 they visited Jordan to play at the wedding of one of the granddaughters of King Hussein. This featured the new band members on the CD Bloom.

Their third CD, Bloom, completed after the departure of Owain Clarke and the introduction of the songwriting partnership of Paul Goodall and Tom Hazell also contained several collaborations with Najma Akhtar.

La Cucina (film)

La Cucina is a 2007 romantic drama written by A. W. Gryphon. The film stars Christina Hendricks, Joaquim de Almeida, Leisha Hailey, & Rachel Hunter. It was directed by first time directors Allison Hebble & Zed B. Starkovich. The film was scored by Ian Ball from the band Gomez. Although Ball had contributed songs to other films such as the Academy Award winning film American Beauty, this was his first attempt at scoring an entire film.

The film premiered at the Hollywood Film Festival on October 19, 2007. It won Best Feature at the Beloit International Film Festival& the Los Angeles Backlot Film Festival, and Best Screenplay at the Bragacine International Film Festival in Portugal. A Best Actor nod went to Joaquim de Almeida and a Producers Award to Executive Producer Starlotte Smith at the Bragacine International Film Festival. It was an Official Selection of the La Femme Film Festival and the Portocine International Film Festival, as well as a Special Screening at the Cinema Film Festival. It premiered on Showtime on December 4, 2009. Anthem Pictures released La Cucina on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12, 2010.