thumb
Angelo Branduardi
(born February 12, 1950), is an Italian pop singer and composer who scored relevant success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
|
ANGELO BRANDUARDI TICKETS
|
Biography
Branduardi was born in
Cuggiono, a small town in the
province of Milan, but early moved with the family to
Genoa. He was educated as a classical
violinist in the local school of music. At the age of 18 he composed the music for the
Confessioni di un malandrino
(
Hooligan's Confession
) by
Sergei Yesenin.
He is married to
Luisa Zappa, who wrote the lyrics for many of his songs. They have two daughters, Sarah and Maddalena, both musicians.
Works
The beginnings
Branduardi's first album was never released, and resulted from a co-operation with
Maurizio Fabrizio, composer and gifted performer. The first released album,
Angelo Branduardi '74
was arranged with
Paul Buckmaster.
The minstrel
La Luna
("The Moon"), including "Hoolingan's Confessions" and the fine, delicate song giving the LP its name, was a prelude to the success of the following works.
Alla fiera dell'Est
(English edition:
Highdown Fair
, 1976) was Branduardi's first vastly popular album, followed by
La Pulce d'Acqua
(English version,
Fables and Fantasies
1978) and
Cogli la prima mela
(English edition,
Life is the Only Teacher
, 1979). Lyrics for the English versions of Branduardi's albums were written by
Peter Sinfield, also lyricist for
King Crimson and
Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
In those albums Branduardi exploited themes and patterns from ancient music, mostly
Renaissance and early
Baroque. The very song "Alla fiera dell'Est" ("At the Eastern Fair") is still popular among Italians of every age, who test themselves to send in memory all the fable-like, repetition-based lyrics. It is based on an old Jewish song in Aramaic (
"Chad Gadya" - One Kid Goat) sung at the end of the
Passover Seder night service. In 2007 "Alla fiera dell'Est" was covered by Israeli singer
Shlomi Shabat for a for cellphone company
Pelephone.
Lyrics had a broad spectrum of inspiration: a
Danse macabre, the theme of Satan's mistress,
Chinese,
Native American and
Druidic tradition, the apocryphal
Gospels. Concertation owes much to the talents of
Maurizio Fabrizio, and exploits unusual instruments for pop music:
dulcimer,
Pan flute,
lute,
clarinet, among others - mixed with more standard guitar-bass-and-drums.
Experimentation and crisis
Subsequent albums showed an increasing desire towards experimentation and differentiation.
Branduardi
(1981) had a more intimate tone,
Cercando l'oro
("Searching for Gold", 1983) had very sophisticated and delicate
arrangements (starts with a
String Quartet),
Branduardi canta Yeats
(1985) was a tribute to
William Butler Yeats.
Pane e rose
("Bread and Roses", 1988) was a still inspired, but increasingly dark picture of life and death.
Il Ladro
(1991) marked a very delicate point of Branduardi's life, edging on depression, echoed in a dark, almost cemeterial, style of singing.
The album
Si puó fare
1993 brought back Branduardi to normality, but the artist is now struggling to evade the
minstrel
character which was now too strict for him. In 1994 he published
Domenica e Lunedì
("Sunday and Monday"), dedicated to
Franco Fortini.
New directions
In 1996, during the celebrations for the restoration of the Duomo of
Spilimbergo after the catastrophic 1976 earthquake, he recorded the album
Futuro antico
, in which he poses as an early
Baroque musician, reusing, mixing, wording pre-existing material along with his own. This experience, together with musicians and musicologists, will continue with
Futuro antico II
and
Futuro antico III
. The same year he performed "Te vojo 'bbene assaje" ("I love you so much" in
Neapolitan) with Italian pop singer
Eugenio Finardi.
In 1998 Branduardi teamed up with Italian stand-up comedian and writer
Giorgio Faletti for
Il Dito e la Luna
("The Finger and the Moon").
He subsequently reworked earlier musical themes with writings of and about
St. Francis to produce
L'infinitamente piccolo
; he wrote a musical on the same topic (
Francesco
).
In 2003 a new album,
Altro ed altrove
("Other and Elsewhere"), in a time period marked by a rise of racism and intolerance, brought together (mainly) love stories from several cultures.
thumb, 2005.
Discography
- Angelo Branduardi
(1974)
- La luna
(1975 - French edition: Confession d'un malandrin
, 1981)
- Alla fiera dell'est
(1976, Italian Music Critics's Award - French edition: A la foire de l'est
- English edition: Highdown Fair
, 1978)
- La pulce d'acqua
(1977 - English edition: Fables and fantasies
, 1980), including the english language christmas single Merry We Will Be
[1]
- Cogli la prima mela
(1979 - French Edition: Le demoiselle
)
- Gulliver,la luna e altri disegni
(1980)
- Branduardi '81
(1981)
- Cercando l'oro
(1983 - French edition: Tout l'or du monde
)
- State buoni se potete
(1983, soundtrack for the movie with the same name)
- Branduardi canta Yeats
(1986)
- Pane e rose
(1988 - French edition: Du pain et des roses
)
- Il ladro
(1990)
- Musiche da film
(1992)
- Si può fare
(1992 - French edition: Ça se fait
)
- Domenica e lunedì
(1994 - French edition: La menace
, 1995)
- Camminando camminando
(1996, live collection)
- Futuro antico I
(1996)
- Il dito e la luna
(1998, lyrics by Giorgio Faletti)
- Studio Collection
(1998, collection)
- Futuro antico II
(1999)
- L'infinitamente piccolo
(2000)
- Futuro antico III
(2002)
- Altro ed altrove
(2003)
- The Platinum Collection
(2005, collection)
- Futuro antico IV
(2007)
- Senza Spina
(2009)
References
- http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f5T-IwwesG8