Angelo Branduardi

Angelo Branduardi (born February 12, 1950), is an Italian folk singer and composer who scored relevant success in Italy and European countries such as France and Germany. 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, still one of his finest songs.

He is married to Luisa Zappa, who wrote the lyrics for many of his songs. Luisa and Angelo have two daughters, Sarah and Maddalena, both musicians. Angelo'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.

La Luna ("The Moon"), including "Hooligan's Confessions" and the fine, delicate song giving the LP its name, is a prelude to the success of the following works. Alla Fiera dell'Est (English edition: Highdown Fair, 1976) was Angelo's first vastly popular album, followed by La Pulce d'Acqua ("The Water Flea", 1978) and Cogli la Prima Mela (English edition, Life is the Only Teacher, 1979). In those albums Branduardi exploits 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.

Lyrics have 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. Subsequent albums are mark by an increasing desire towards experimentation and differentiation. Branduardi (1981) has a more intimate tone, Cercando l'oro ("Searching for Gold", 1983), has very sophisticated and delicate arrangements (starts with a String Quartet), Branduardi canta Yeats (1985) is a tribute to William Butler Yeats.

Pane e rose ("Bread and Roses", 1988) is a still inspired, but increasingly dark picture of life and death. Though similar in style to the early ones, 1980s Branduardi's songs seemed to have lost the strong, rythmical energy that backed masterpieces like "Ballo in Fa Diesis Minore" or "Cogli la prima mela". Il Ladro (1991) marks 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 brings back Branduardi to normality, but the artist is now struggling to evade the minstrel character which is now too strict for him.

In 1994 he publishes Domenica e Lunedì ("Sunday and Monday"), dedicated to Franco Fortini. In 1996, during the celebrations for the restoration of the Duomo of Spilimbergo after the catastrophic 1976 earthquake, he records the extraordinary 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. In 1998 Branduardi teams with Italian stand-up comedian and writer Giorgio Faletti for Il Dito e la Luna ("The Finger and the Moon").

He reworks earlier musical themes with writings of and about St. Francis to produce L'Infinitamente Piccolo; he writes 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, brings together (mainly) love stories from several cultures. Discography * 1974 Angelo Branduardi * 1975 la luna(France: Confession d'un malandrin, 1981) * 1976 Alla fiera dell'est (France: A la foire de l'est - UK: Highdown Fair, 1978) * 1977 La pulce d'acqua (UK: Fables and fantasies, 1980) * 1979 Cogli la prima mela (France: Le demoiselle) * 1980 Gulliver, la luna e altri disegni * 1980 Concerto * 1981 Branduardi '81 * 1983 Cercando l'oro (France: Tout l'or du monde) * 1983 State buoni se potete (Soundtrack for the movie with the same name) * 1986 Branduardi canta Yeats * 1988 Pane e rose (France: Du pain et des roses) * 1990 Il ladro * 1992 Musiche da film * 1992 Si può fare France: Ça se fait) * 1994 Domenica e lunedì (France: La menace, 1995) * 1996 Camminando camminando (Live collection) * 1996 Futuro antico I * 1998 Il dito e la luna (Lyrics by Giorgio Faletti) * 1998 Studio Collection (Collection) * 1999 Futuro antico II * 2000 L'infinitamente piccolo * 2002 Futuro antico III * 2003 Altro ed altrove * 2005 The Platinum collection (Collection) ==LINKS== *http://www.angelobranduardi.it/ *[http://www.branduardi.info Branduardi.info *[http://guide.supereva.com/angelo_branduardi/ Guida di Angelo Branduardi *[http://www.angelo-branduardi.com ABcom - Il sito internazionale di Angelo Branduardi *[http://www.europamici.com EuropAMICI di Angelo Branduardi *[http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/branduardi-ans/ Branduardi-ans -Mailing List Ufficiale- Gruppo di discussione su Angelo Branduardi e la sua musica.