GRAMIGNA

This was a large ensembe from North Italy with 8 musicians involved, which released one album for the Ultima Spiaggia label.Oboist Mario Arcari later played with Ensemble Havadià and singer/percussionist Umberto Calice was already a member of Yu Kung.Other members were bassist/guitarist Raul Scacchi, basoonist Dino Mariani, guitarist Maurizio Martelli, pianist Alberto Mompellio and singer/guitarist Francoise Godard.The album was titled ''Gran disordine sotto il cielo'', released in 1977.

This was one of the sporadic attempts from Italy on artistic Prog Folk with elements of Jazz and Chamber Music thrown in, highly acoustic, still with plenty of interesting moments and a good instrumental depth.It sounds like Italian Poetry mixed with soft Progressive Rock, offering subtle orchestrations with little rock content but with a nice generosity on varied instrumental themes with the display of oboe, violin and bassoon leading to some R.I.O.-flavored, emphatic and complex themes.I love the discreet bass work on this one along with Mompellio's great piano parts and atmospheric background organ.When the female vocals lead the music, the album has a slight Pop vibe, still keeping the artistic attitude quite high.Some sort of STORMY SIX meet PICCHIO DAL POZZO (yes, there is even a slight Canterbury aura on this one) meet PANGEA album.Am I the only one to hear some vibraphone on this one?Whatever, the music is extremely elegant, even if the lack of electric moments make it sound pretty delicate as a whole, but there is some serious beauty on this one, after the Mediterrenean atmosphere comes to meet the Chamber Jazz principles.Vocal tones and narrations are quite charming as well and parts of the album could have been easily used as soundtrack for a vintage Italian movie.

An honest and sincere attempt on a different king of Prog Folk.Quirky, intricate, poetic and theatrical music, largely based on acoustic and wind instruments.Nice stuff.

Gramigna was a very overlooked band heading from northern Italy in the late 70's, releasing just one album in 1977 before disbanding, Gran Disordine Sotto il Cielo. Apparently a concept album. A very dynamic effort with several influences, using chamber-rock oriented instrumentation combined with a traditional Italian Progressive Rock sound to them, not unlike PFM, Banco and others. Shadows of early Henry Cow is also notable under the more experimental moments, as well as the addition of female vocals (provided by Françoise Godard), but it is a fairly melodic and pleasant album overall, although it does have a prominent RIO element throughout. Sadly, this album, while quite original, is not really that memorable and strike me as a slightly uneven effort. It might not be essential, but it does have strong musical qualities nevertheless, though.

Overall, this is a very interesting band. Unfortunately, this album never got reissued since it's first release back in 1977 and is horribly rare these days (unless you can grab it over the net though..) but they really do deserve a listen, not only from RIO fans. This album should appeal to any proghead, really. 3.5/5

no one reason to say "IT'S A MASTERPIECE". It's a nice album, but nothing more than that. If you looking for masterpiece in italian progressive rock, GRAMIGNA is not one of them. Consider at the same time group such DEDALUS (the best avantgarde-electronic italian group - materiale per tre musicisti e nastri magnetici 1973) or AKTUALA (ethno- avangarde-progressive - aktuala 1971- la terra 1972 - tappeto volante 1974) to discover something absolutely amazing. I listen very carefully the Gramigna's album, and I found their "progressive level" very similar to the group ARTI E MESTIERI, RUSTICHELLI E BORDINI, REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA, QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA, PHOLAS DACTYLUS etc. , Good albums between 1971-1976 italian scene.

I like this album! it is another good album from the many many records from the 70': full of suprising moments. it's similiar to opus avantra or pierrot lunaire. but a bit more melodic and with a very interesting instrumentation. also the sound seems like very clear and organized. if you like the italian stuff - give this record a try!!!

As mentioned in the band's description the used instruments on this album like bassoon,oboe and violin and the female vocals remind a little bit to the English band HENRY COW. But the music is not really similar, more in the tradition of Italian Symphonic Prog with SOME odd elements. Altogether less strange than the music of the mentioned band and actually quite nice to listen. It's one of the few Italian releases in this sub-genre and might be interesting for collectors of rare Italian albums from the 70's. For experts in RIO music who are used to more demanding strange stuff it might be a bit disappointing.Still a nice listen and worth 3 stars!