Nakaira: Onde sonore dal Mediterraneo (self-produced, 2003)

"Mediterranean culture" is an invention. The musical traditions of the people are perhaps more different than they're similar, and though they've always been quite interconnected, they don't share any common origin or grammar.
Even if it is just a fantasy, though, the concept does have its appeal and, starting from the Seventies, many bands begun to explore the idea, making it more and more real as their music evolved and got richer. Born in 1999 and hailing from Sicily - the center of the Mediterranean Sea - Nakaira embody a very mature stage of this "new" panMediterranean musical folklore. Their repertoire doesn't just encompass Balkan tunes (Greece, Bulgaria) and an even more Southern/Arabic style (Sicily), but also touches more "Northern" sounds: Eastern-European klezmer, and Asturian/Breton celtic dances.

How do they manage to combine all of these traditions without sounding too confused and "touristic"? First of all, they don't mix them to the point that they're not recognizable anymore. Every track can be placed in a specific cultural heritage and is played with its musical values very clear in mind. At the same time, though, any song is slightly influenced by the traits of the other ones, and shares its instrumentation with them so that the sound's feeling is uniform despite the great geographic and musical variety. Their timbric palette is almost entirely acoustic (electric bass being the sole exception on this album) and extremely rich (look at the credits!); the most unique feature of the resulting style is its amazing levity: you would never expect it from such a wrapping sonic cocoon!

"Onde sonore dal Mediterraneo" is Nakaira's second full-length release: originally self-produced, it was re-recorded and reprinted in 2006 with the cooperation of Alfa Music and RAI Trade. The cover displayed here is the one of this second edition, but the tracklist lacks the additional tunes that were integrated into it (I couldn't find them).

Tracklist:

1. Gibli
2. Voria
   
3. Diserti
4. Muiñeira de Tormaleo
5. Breton gavottes
   
6. Krata ghia to telos
7. Klezmedley
8. Antelia
9. Dimitroula
10. Sema keimonos
11. Flavia's Air + El garrotin

Credits:

• Antonio Curiale: violin, viola, oud, castanets
• Franco Barbanera: clarinets, Galician bagpipes, whistles, bombards
• Mario Gulisano: darbouka, snare & frame drums, dzarb, bendhir, cymbals, voice
• Nektarios Galanis: Greek bouzouki, oud, voice, violin, mandolin, guitar, percussion
• Angelo Liotta: Irish bouzouki, bodhràn
• Gianpiero Cannata: cass, voice, cittern

Download (128 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Ritmia: Forse il mare (New Tone, 1986)
Zeit: Un giorno in una piazza del Mediterraneo (Materiali sonori, 1979)

Mauro Pagani: Self-Titled (Ascolto, 1978)

The late Seventies are one of the most overlooked periods in the history of Italian rock music. Just while our mediocre "punk" scene was slowly mutating into a florid post-punk milieu, the last remnants of the progressive era were evolving into something new and really unique. Some artists would undertake a "new wave" metamorphosis (think of Franco Battiato), some would hybridate with disco music (Goblin's Claudio Simonetti for example), some would delve into the fascinating musical traditions of the Mediterranean, getting closer and closer to the musical resarch of the "Canzonieri" movement.
P.F.M.'s Mauro Pagani's one of the key figures for this latter trend. After quitting P.F.M. in 1976, he ventured in a dense series of projects aimed at a new fusion of jazz-rock, ancient and traditional folk music, avantgarde experimentation. His first solo lp is perhaps the most mature fruit of his new interests and vision. The recording of the album involved three of the most proficient units around at the time in those fields: Area, P.F.M. and Canzoniere del Lazio, which cooperated in many tracks. It also features guest appearances of outstanding musicians such as former Musicanova singer Teresa De Sio and the amazing acoustic trad-folk guitarist Luca Balbo.

The music is outstanding and extremely varied. A mix of Middle-Eastern flavours, Southern Italian melodies, Sardinian dances; all coupled with refinate arrangements blending chamber music, jazz-rock and captivating avantgarde dilatations in a surprisingly light style.
To make it short: this is one of the best Italian albums ever published. Get it.

Tracklist:

1. Europa minor
2. Argiento
3. Violer d'amores
4. La città aromatica
5. L'albero di canto (Parte 1)
6. Choron
7. Il blu comincia davvero
8. L'albero di canto (Parte 2)

Credits:

• Mauro Pagani: violin, viola, mandolin, bouzouki, flute, composer, arranger (all tracks except 7)
• Mario Arcari: oboe (tracks 1, 2)
• Luca Balbo: guitar (track 7)
• Walter Calloni: percussion (tracks 1, 6)
• Teresa De Sio: vocals (track 2)
• Roberto Colombo: polymoog (track 4)
• Area:
  Demetrio Stratos: vocals (tracks 5, 8)
  Patrizio Fariselli: piano (tracks 1, 5)
  Giulio Capiozzo: drums (tracks 1,5)
  Ares Tavolazzi: bass, double bass (track 5)
• P.F.M.:
  Franz Di Cioccio: drums (track 4)
  Patrick Djivas: bass (track 4)
  Franco Mussida: guitar (track 4)
• Canzoniere del Lazio:
  Giorgio Vivaldi: percussion, talking drum (tracks 1, 6)
  Pasquale Minieri: percussion (track 1)
• Allan Goldberg: engineer (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 8)
• Carlo Martenet: engineer (tracks 4, 7)
• Marco Inzadi: engineer (track 6)
• Piero Bravin: mix (tracks 4, 7)

Download (224 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Premiata Forneria Marconi: Passpartù (Zoo Records, 1978)
Area: Maledetti (Cramps, 1976)

Premiata Forneria Marconi: Passpartù (Zoo Records, 1978)

P.F.M. are the giants of Italian prog-rock. Despite their celebrity, their records always showed some consistent flaws: the lack of a gifted singer; the poorness of the lyrics; the substantial unoriginality of their musical themes. "Passpartù" isn't generally regarded as their peak, but unquestionably solves two of the three problems above.
Though the singer - Bernardo Lanzetti from Acqua Fragile - doesn't have a versatile voice, the lyrics are brilliant and imaginative: they are a work by singer/songwriter Gianfranco Manfredi, who privileged levity above his usual causticity for the occasion. What's more, the music makes a resolved step towards the incorporation of folkloric material: the resulting sound is a hybrid of jazz-rock fusion in the vein of Weather Report and Mediterranean suggestions which remind of Area (compound meters in profusion!) but show a very personal acoustic edge.
Everything converges to a surprisingly breezy album, where the instrumental skill of the musicians doesn't suffocate the pop appeal of the music, but weaves smart woofs which enhance it with class and moderation .

"Passpartù" ninth studio release from P.F.M., and the second without their well-known violinist Mauro Pagani.  Many tracks feature Roberto Colombo on keyboards - later a key producer of Italian new wave.

Tracklist:

1. Viene il santo
2. Svita la vita
3. Se fossi cosa
4. Le trame blu
5. Passpartù
6. I cavalieri del tavolo cubico
7. Su una mosca e sui dolci
8. Fantalità

Download (128 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
Gianfranco Manfredi: Zombie di tutto il mondo unitevi (Ultima spiaggia, 1977)
Alberto Fortis: omonimo (1979)

Zeit: Un giorno in una piazza del Mediterraneo (Materiali sonori, 1979)

The progressive-folk field can be split in two veins: one came (almost) directly from traditional music, and tried to revive the "folkloric" spirit updating it to the era of pop music and electric guitars; the other came from the most experimental and non-rock sides of the psychedelic galaxy, and looked to the traditional sounds as a new lexicon for their avantgardish jams.
The albums by Aktuala, Third Ear Band, Älgarnas Trädgård surely belonged to this latter wave, and so does "Un giorno in una piazza del Mediterraneo" (A day in a Mediterranean square). Compared to the work of the aforementioned bands, it seems to be a bit more orthodox in the treatment of the folkloric material, and more rhythmically challenging. Instead of stagnant ragas, the compositions have the pace of circle dances, and the melodic patterns show some attention to real traditional figures.
The album is entirely acoustic and instrumental; a crucible of Eastern-Mediterranean vapours, Italian shepherd pipes, tinkling sounds, and wavering violin improvisations. Daring, fascinating, and hypnotic.

Zeit were a quintet, from Florence. They recorded just another album, "Il cerchio degli antichi colori", in 1981.



Tracklist:

1. Ruz
2. Circus
3. Echi d'acqua
4. Ritmo berbero
5. Il mosaico
6. Vetri e canne
7. Tema oscuro
8. Sintesi

Download (192 kbps)
First posted on Mutant Sounds.


Similar albums on the blog:
Spirale: omonimo (King, 1974)
Marcello Capra: Aria mediterranea (Mu records, 1978)

Sinenomine: Spartenza (Incipit Records, 2009)

Will Italian music ever have a counterpart for Pentangle and their magical blend of floklore, jazzy fragrances and instrumental panache? Maybe not, but take Pentangle, bring in tango and fado and take out the blues, trade Celtic for Southern Italian and you get an idea of the wonderful "Spartenza".

Based on a perfectly coalescence of very polished, wonderfully orchestrated counterpoints, the album may fail to appeal to the lovers of coarse, impulsive, bristly music. It might find it a bit too clean, even unpersonal and soulless. I don't envy them: "Spartenza" is just one of the most charming, passionate and classy Italian folk albums I've ever chanced into.
Its most striking element is the subtle play of silences, pauses and rarefaction: accordion cirrus clouds, restrained acoustic guitar weavings, delicate cello caresses and double bass rustles never owerwhelm the listener, but lull him gently together with the sensuos recitation of a very mediterranean, but effervescently jazz-tinged female voice.
The album merges centuries, styles and sound-worlds, creating its unique out-of-time cocoon: comfortable, entangling and glowing in velvety crayon colours.

Sinenomine are an acoustic quintet from Rome. This is their first album.

Tracklist:

1. Vulumbrella
2. LeMetamorfosi
3. Perduto
4. Luistania
5. Camminante
6. Soliloquia
7. Solaria
8. A lu bene mie
9. Tango de esperanza
10. Rua de saudade
11. Canto delle lavandaie del vomero
12. Riturnella
13. Spartenza

Download (320 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Calicanto: Venexia (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1997)

Ritmia: Forse il mare (New Tone, 1986)

La lionetta: Il gioco del diavolo (Shirak, 1981)

Traditional folk, encompassing the whole heritage of Northern Italy, with a special attention to the folklore of Occitanian valleys. Somehow akin to Planxty's celtic revisitations, "Il gioco del diavolo" merges themes and styles, crafting warm sounds and sophisticated embroideries which astonish with their richness and fullness.

The album probably isn't faithful to traditional patterns, techniques and instrumentation (hurdy-gurdy, French bagbipes, bombardes and dulcimeres are everywhere), but actually reinvents the tradition, enriching it, polishing and casting a (wonderful) counterfeit "ancient times" allure. The starting point is traditional material, but the arrival is surely something that never got so intricate, delicate and refinate for a folk band.

Though well-mannered and studied, the album never sounds austere: its breeziness and light-paced folk-dance rhythms are actually the elements that really make it stand out.

La lionetta are a traditional folk ensemble from Piedmont, born in 1977 around reed/pipe player Roberto Aversa, a longtime collaborator of Dario Fo's theatre company. This is their second record, and last one for a long time.

Tracklist:

1. Il matto, il diavolo e il bagatto/La fiera
2. Cecilia/Il sogno fi Cecilia
3. Rocastalda
4. La lionetta
5. Muran dell'Inghilterra/Canzone della bella
6. La monferrina di Napoleone
7. Leandra
8. Bourrée d'Auvergne/Valzer della montagna
9. Povra mi/Tema della madre

Download (192 kbps) [re-up]

Similar albums on the blog:

Calicanto: Venexia (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1997)

Musicanova: omonimo (Philips, 1978)

Calicanto: Venexia (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1997)

Listening to "Venexia" is being thrown in the maze of calles, scents, voices and sounds which were the soul of Venice, the melting-pot of the Mediterranean Sea. A concept album dedicated to the bicentenary of the fall of the Serenissima, "Venexia" is a deeply charming progressive folk work, almost astonishing, even moving. Entirely acoustic, extremely rich and layered, it's as firmly rooted in the Mediterranean traditions as it is projected towards a very modern and focose attitude, close to the one of the most courageous European trad-folk ensembles (Blowzabella and Bellowhead to name a few). The music is a merger of sounds and traditions: different languages and dialects; accordions, winds, psaltery and fiery hornpipes; Italian, Arabic and Balkan rhythms and melodies meet and entwine just as they probably used to meet and entwine along the channels of Venice a few centuries ago.

Calicanto are a Venetian ensemble born in 1981 and devotely committed to an ethnomusicological approach. "Venexia" is their eighth album, conceived with the cooperation of the Venice University and the Conservatory of Rovigo.

Thanks to the Italian Folk Music blog for having published this album first.


Tracklist:

1. Canson roversa
2. Bealaguna
3. Sulla via dei battipali
4. Correnti del sud
5. Lepanto
6. Te speto / La croxe
7. Oci sensa mar
8. Corcal
9. Adriatica
10. Rivasse Carlo Scarpa
11. Venessia dai

Download (192 kbps)

Marcello Capra: Aria mediterranea (Mu records, 1978)

"Aria mediterranea" is a lighter-than-air instrumental masterpiece, fusing European folklore, jazz and improvisation, progressive, minimalist and baroque nuances. The center of the music is a sparkling and very rich acoustic guitar style encompassing interwaved arpeggios, three-string strumming and skipping solo lines; breezy, elegant and free, it creates a sense of suspension which is unpredictably close to the unique feeling of Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks". John Fahey might be another ponderous but fitting comparison.
Vibes, flute, bass, percussion and very rare electric guitar interventions are the other few elements completing the palette for this unparalleled revisitation of the folk heritage.

Marcello Capra is a guitarist from Turin, active in the local beat/progressive rock scene since the late Sixties. "Aria mediterranea" is his first solo LP, with collaborations from some members of Arti & Mestieri and Procession (the band Capra was playing with at the time).


Tracklist:

1. Aria mediterranea
2. Biosfera
3. Il ballo degli gnomi
4. Danza russa
5. Il sole sulla palude
6. Merligen
7. Dedicato ad irio
8. Canto di mare

Download (256 kbps)

La famiglia degli Ortega: self-titled (Carosello, 1973)

A wonderful, west-coast sounding progressive folk album, simple, light and optimist. The atmosphere is rather dreamy than lysergic: the songs are open to many influences (busker blues, jazz, classical music, medioeval stuff) but preserve a linear and concise structure, while the mood is gentle, pure and positive without ever sounding freaked out.

The music is based mainly on acoustic guitars, elegant piano passages and alternated male/female vocals, but there's a very strong "choral" element which adds a collective, if not subtly epic, dimension. Rainy synth carpets, percussions and some narrative intermissions contribute creating a framework for the songs - an imaginary insular setting which surprisingly doesn't weigh down the whole album.
Though the songs have a distinct utopian shade, they are never really politically concerned. They rather seem a bit disillusioned, maybe unconsciously: the choice of talking about fantasized worlds would suggest a renounciation to direct engagement in the real world.

Some infos about the band can be found on the site italianprog.
Many thanks to the female vocals blog, where the album was posted first.


Tracklist:

1. Arcipelago
2. John Barleycorn: John Barleycorn/Due aquile
3. Guida la mia lancia
4. Merryon
5. Una vecchia corriera chiamata "Happy Way"
   
6. Inversione dei fattori
7. Sogno Parigi
8. Awamalaia

Downaload (160 kbps)

Grosso autunno: Almanacco (EMI, 1977)

A bucolic folk album with delicate hippie sediments, "Almanacco" portraits the intimization of Utopias, political battles and disillusionment. Music for a turning-point era, which deals with the same old themes and clichés of post-68 Italy but unknowingly gives up any social connotation, replacing it with light-hearted introversion, everyday reflections about the passing of time and dreamy atmospheres.
The songs are wordy, hilarious and somehow even touching in the ingenuous intellectualism of their lyrics. Elegant and placid acoustic arpeggios become warmly melancholic when maudlin synthetizers meander in the background giving the music a feeble progressive allure, just occasionaly enhanced by faraway flute meddlings. Some songs may remind Claudio Lolli's style for the sincerity of the voice and the resigned suspension of the melodic lines.

Grosso autunno were a singer/songwriter quintet founded in Rome; they were active during the second half of the Seventies. "Almanacco" is their second and last studio album.


Tracklist:

1. Lontani
2. Fiori
3. Questione
4. Da bambini
5. Solo una storia
6. Anonima S.P.A.
7. Qualche ritratto
8. Ancora
9. Bar Edelweiss
10. Jekyll
11. Frutta secca

Download (~195 kbps)

Yu Kung: Pietre della mia gente (I dischi dello zodiaco, 1976)

Milanese band Yu Kung didn't go down in the history of Italian folk-rock, but their music is surely one of the most mature and representative exemples of the left-wing branch of 70s folk revival.
Relying strongly on acoustic instrumentation (double acoustic guitar, flute, percussions) and bringing in the discreet energy of the electric bass, their style couples country dance motifs from all the Italian peninsula and hieratic vocals singing about the themes of emigration, protest, antifascism, rediscovery of traditions and the discomfort of the weaker classes.
The songs are often lively and choral, with "Piazza Fontana" strongly condemning both the terrorist attack of 1969 and the state reaction to it. Most of them sound perfect for arousing people during strikes and many a passage distinctly remind of Stalingrado-era Stormy Six. As a matter of fact, the album was first published by Stormy Six's own label "L'orchestra", and reprinted one year later by I dischi dello zodiaco.


Tracklist:

1. Povera gente/Piccolo paese
2. La mia gente
3. Valigie di cartone
4. Il popolo è forte
5. Mineros
6. Festa in paese
7. L'emigrato
8. Zip e zip
9. Piazza Fontana

Download (224 kbps)

Musicanova: omonimo (Philips, 1978)

This is the first time I post two albums by the same band. I won't dwell on the presentation on the band therefore, having already talked about Musicanova for the album "Festa festa".
The album I'm posting today is Musicanova's second album, an almost miraculous collection of songs composed to renew the traditional music of Campania. The vocals are all in Neapolitan language and their interpretation is stunnigly keen and lively. The arrangements are complex, layered but always focused on the traditional styles: many tracks feature flute, violin and refinate rhythm guitar figures, and the overall sound is some sort of very cultured, inspired and ancient-sounding folk music. The presence of odd meters directly links to baroque music conceived for the dance, giving the songs a very astir and physical temper.
"Pizzica minore" opens on an impetuous zampogna-violin blast followed by an impressive vocal performance by Teresa Di Sio. "A la muntagna" is an apology of brigandage. It juxtaposes a tense, pastoral metaphore about sheep, wolves, hunters and robbers with a trampling, choral 15/8+9/8 strophe which recites:

Se n'è fujuto 'o rre Burbone
e n'è venuto n'ato cchiù putente:
cagna 'o guverno, cagna 'o padrone,
sulo pe' chi stà 'a sotto nun cagna niente.

The Borbone king fled away
Another one came, more powerful:
The government changes, the master changes,
Only for the lower ones nothing changes.

Tracklist:

1. Pizzica minore
2. Riturnella
3. A la muntagna
4. Siento mò che t'aggia dì
5. A' morte 'e Zì Frungillo
6. Tempo di carnevale
7. Ninna nanna per voce e mandoloncello
8. Canto allo scugnizzo
9. Tarantella finale

Download (~230 kbps)

Musicanova: Festa Festa (Fonit Cetra, 1981)

Eugenio Bennato and Carlo D'Angiò created Musicanova in 1976 after leaving Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare, the Neapolitan band which settled the trend of folklore revival which would lately give rise to Il Canzoniere Del Lazio, Carnascialia and so on.
The purpose of Musicanova was to step aside from pure revisitation and move towards a (slightly) more rock direction and new compositions, faithful to the traditional style, which would enrich and make revive the local repertoire. Their style could be compared to the one of contemporary English and French "electric folk" bands such as Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Malicorne. Musicanova have a distinct Southern-Italian feeling and strong Mediterranean inflections which are reflected by Arabian-influenced minor harmonic scales and Teresa Di Sio extraordinary vocals. Their music focused much on the use of mixed compound meters but never fails to be tuneful and lively, thus confirming its refinement.
"Festa festa" is their last album and surely not their best. It's still good and pleasurable, though the absence of Teresa Di Sio is a notable defect. Its sound is more up-to-date than the one of their previous albums: atmospheric synths give many songs a rather "rainy" feeling and the overall mood's much more melancholic and minimal than usual. Some production elements foreshadow the stereotypical "Eighties" sound (sluggish basslines, reverberations, saxophone).
Their two masterpieces, the self-titled 1978 album and "Quando turnammo a nascere" (1979), can be download from the blog Italian Folk Music.



Tracklist:

1. Vento del sud
2. Canzone della fortuna
3. Ex voto
4. Canzone per Iuzzella
5. Te saluto Milano
6. L'acqua e la rosa
7. M'è venuta 'na voglia
8. A la festa
9. Nannaré

Download (320 kbps)

Addamanera: Nella tasca de il zio (Trovarobato/Lizard, 2005)

Addamanera are a band from Messina. Mariposa may be considered their closer relatives: besides recording from the same label, they both advocate they play "compoundable music".
In fact their style is some sort of Canterbury/folk/pop hybrid with a strong nonsensical element. They bear resemblances to Franco Battiato, Ivan Graziani, Picchio dal Pozzo, but the explicit influences would be many more. All of them are fused in a very playful and brisk musical pot pourri which never sounds daffy, pretentious or out of focus. "Nella tasca de il zio" is a very refined and carefully structured album, reflecting a definite progressive spirit and skillful musicianship.

Tracklist:

1. Neurogenesi
2. Gli altri non sapevano niente
3. (Qualcosa a qualcuno) bla bla
4. Il piromane
5. La barca
6. Libellule
7. Lemonjelly
8. La reale forma del vaso
9. Il vaso
10. Viandante
11. Langue

Download