Suggestions from the Bruton Town (Yahoo Groups) Newslist :
*li troubaires de coumboscuro - a toun soulei
very good provençal folk, with brilliant female voice. this album (the only one in print) features fabrizio de andrè, alan stivell, tazenda, gabriel yacoub, franco mussida among the others. some keyboard and bass sound is too much "modern", but the songs (only few are trad) are all worth it. Listen to them:
* elena ledda - sonos
e.ledda is sort of "eretical" singer, she decided to give up classical career to sing sardinian folk. the eight acoustic trads in this album are quite good, thanks to the guitar of mauro palmas and the voice of elena. melodeonist riccardo tesi (i suggest "thapsos" too, more in a songwriter
style) is also featured. the latest album, maremannu, is said to have more modern sounds.
http://www.felmay.it/ (a good label, they also have tre martelli, bev, la piva del carner, banda ionica, tenores di bitti, birkin tree, etc.)
* fabrizio de andrè.
i only have volume 3, canzoni, in concerto 1&2 (with PFM) and anime salve. they're all excellent. though not (only) a straight folk artist, his roots are in italian and french medieval/renaissance troubadours (and in french chansonniers). his masterpiece is (vox populi)
"creuza de ma". » D.P.
and
"One of the most interesting new band are GALINVERNA, they did one CD, "Ladri Arditi" (AICSOUND 50103), very medieval syle. Talking about italian folk, the north italia is more celtic-oriented, the south more interested to mediterranean style. Galinverna surely are more "celtic" (if the word now can have some meaning). Something interesting is also from RICCARDO TESI, listen to "Thapsos" (Il Manifesto CD 063). On CNI I have heard CALICANTO, they sing often not in Italian but in Venice dialect, as a full appropriation of their roots. I see this trend very intriguing, a more "regionalism" in Italy also in arts, not only in music, as opposed to awful globalism that erase traditions and true "european" heritage. The problem perhaps is that some of these bands have a too much modern sound, that can be heard opposed to a rough traditional experience. All these records maybe aren't "wyrd", but certainly are good played and "popular", in some way connected spiritually with that kind of "total music" music that in 70s were searched from people like Musicanova, Jenny Sorrenti, sort of that."
and
"Nakaira, they are from Sicily,they make world music from mediterain.
It is Something like a Psych Folk-Funk-Jazz
Lot Lorien and Radicanto played together on European festival in Ankara/Turkey before two weeks. "
Progressive releases with folk references suggested by Bruton Town newsletter :
* "How about the 2 albums released by Reale Accademia Di Musica? Their first self-titled album sounds very pastoral, and a bit on the prog side. Their second album, a collaboration with folk musician Adriano Monteduro, is a pretty good prog folk album."
Answer : I know this first album. Most of it is progressive and song-based. I never heard the second one. I'll remember it.
* "I suggest all who search strange Italian stuff to find and hear the *second* Analogy record. It is named "The Suite" (Ohrwaschl CD OW 1980), included also in the Akarma CD reissue of the first album) and is mostly composed of acoustic music, some of it really good. The track "Ventadorn" is made for violoncello, as a sort of Fuchsia more fondly medieval: the female Jutta Nienhaus soprano-like voice seems here a cross between Sonja Kristina, Julie Felix and Donella del Monaco. The 'viola da gamba' was used for the recording in an attempt to reconstruct the world of music of many century ago, with lines written by a Provencal troubadour, Bernardt de Ventadorn (1145-1195). A good record, if in passages in proggish style (read 'rock')"
Answer : I have that album. It's very good. I did not think about that album, because it's progressive. But it's indeed worth to mention too.
Bernard de Ventadorn is one of my favorite medieval troubadours. He had a much more "rough" and straight from the heart style. He was a singer from the the people, learned some of his playing in North Africa, if I all remember well.
Compared with my of my other medieval favourites, Guilaume De Machaut, this is very different : bringing refined court music all about love and "courting".
About my remark :
"I have some prog s/sw items from Claudio Rocchi that are very progressive folk." :
* "Rocchi is certainly one of the more subtle Italian folksinger, expecially in his best record, the Vuh-esque "Volo Magico II". If you want to remain in 70s (best period for my taste) you surely must find out ACID GROUP, a second-league band (reissued on Giallo records) that seemed an italian cross between Amon Duul I and Hapshash & Coloured Coat. They were connected with another italian band, more progressive, called PERDIO. Another interesting group tendentially folky were COME LE FOGLIE, a sort of branduard-esque crossed with singer/songwriter style."
Answer : "I do have vole magivo I & II from Rocchi. I personally like Viaggio at most. I'll try to locate the items you told me about."
About canzone-(singer-songwriter) related artists :
* "Then there is Angelo Branduardi and Lucio Battisti. I don't if you could consider them as folk, as they sound very Canzone, but they are still mainly acoustic music."
An answer to that :
"I heard to Lucio Battisti till the age of 9, so I can't really stand it :-) I found his music extremely predictable if not just at the level of the infamous "Sanremo Festival" (a sort of italic eurofestival syle event). I believe that he can be considered a sort of italian Elton John, very intelligent popular music for the masses, but *for the masses*. Angelo Branduardi is a totally another cup of tea, a sort of medieval ministrel out of time, many of his records are really tasteful, such as the first made with Third Ear Band's Buckmaster, but all his 70s and early 80s career. Records such as "Alla Fiera dell'Est" or "Cogli la Prima Mela" put him out just like a Gabriel Jacoub or an Alan Stivell, and songs like "L'Uomo e la Nuvola" seems to came from a Nick Drake record!! At the end of 80s he did a Daniel Lanois inspired record, titled "Il Ladro", that use a sort of "ambient sound" just like on "Acadie". If one want to explore this record would not be disappointed."
My answer :
From Lucio Battisto I did not hear anything interesting yet myself. Branduardi I heard also when I was too young, and it began to remind me as being part of the Simon and Garfunkel softness. So I never searched for it again. However it was indeed worth it I can imagine listening again to his albums after all these years I might apreciate it again ? Next time in a shop I'll give it a try again. His records are not very rare.
Matteo Salvatore : Chants de mendiants en Italie (Apulia,I,1973)***°°
