I first discovered Claudio Rocchi through my father’s vinyl collection, which featured his Il Volo Magico N. 1 LP as one of his most prized possession. As a small-town hippy and prog enthusiast teenager in the early 70s, my father…
In his collection of music writings Quasi una Fantasia Adorno describes the melancholic radiance of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana by comparing it to the dazzlingly white villas of the Italian southern coast: Migrants who go to the Argentine from Southern Italy…
Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo [The Wet Meadows Of Mount Analogue] by Lovisoni & Messina is the record that inspired me to start Mediterranean Minimalism. For me, minimalism a là Mediterranea describes a gentler version of American repetitive music, less…
Virtually unknown outside of Italy and a small circle of avant-garde aficionados, violinist and composer Giusto Pio revolutionised Italian pop together with Franco Battiato and wrote beautiful pages of experimental music in his solo works, from his essential take on…
In Italy Franco Battiato (1945-2021) enjoys the status of a secular icon. More than a musician, he is considered by many as a guru of sorts and nicknamed “il Maestro” [The Master]. He was half shaman, half robot; contemplating Eastern…