Italian Prog For Beginners - Reloaded

 

THE ITALIANPROG EXPLAINED TO MY LITTLE COUSINS DOWNUNDER

 

 

SUMMARY: 1) Foreword; 2) The origins of Italian Progressive Rock; 3) The Golden Age of Italian Progressive Rock; 3.1) Italian Progressive Rock and society; 3.2) Italian Progressive Rock and politics; 3.3) Italian Progressive Rock and public security; 4) The decline and the tunnel of the Eighties; 5) The come-back of the Nineties and the present scene.

 

 

1) Foreword

 

The first time I visited my relatives in Australia was in 2002. Many Italians who left their country in the fifties live there, so it was natural for some of them to ask me “How is it going in Italy?”. Very difficult question to answer, indeed... Well, in Italy... Let’s see... How can you tell those people about Italy, people who haven’t been there for more than forty years and whose grandchildren speak only in English knowing nothing about Italy but the soccer league (“la serie A”) and “pasta”? Well, as a music lover I will try to tell you about Italy speaking about progressive rock, a genre of music that was like the soundtrack of a determined period of modern Italian history and that is still present nowadays, kicking and alive. In Australia I went to many concerts and some festivals like the Qeenscliff Music Festival in Melbourne and the Homebake festival in Sydney... How can I explain to my little cousins the atmosphere of the concerts and of the “pop festivals” in Italy in the Seventies? How can I explain the differences between the present musical scene in Australia and in Italy? Often music reflects our times and becomes the voice of a generation... Sometimes talking about music can be a way of talking about other issues, like dreams, politics, history, social customs...  Well, this is just a way to try to answer the question “How is it going in Italy?”. To do that I’ve consulted some sources and, to avoid too pedantic and academic tone, I prefer to “let speak” some of the protagonists of the Italian progressive scene by choosing some passages from interviews already published in books or on the internet and inserting them in the text of this article... So, let’s start from the beginning...

 

 

2) The origins of Italian Progressive Rock

 

At the end of the Sixties in Italy, besides the classic Italian melodic songs, was in fashion, a kind of music, to say the least, derivative, where covers of songs already famous abroad use to prevail: “The Italian Beat”. It was an Italian version of the English musical genre called “Mersey Beat”, completely different from the American Beat Generation phenomenon... In Italy “Beat” means simple and thoughtless songs, with clear harmony vocals on “beating” rhythms to dance to, songs in their way revolutionary, inspired by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Animals and Hollies. To take inspiration here means to produce cover versions, transpose foreign songs to make new pieces [1]. Many Italian progressive rock bands of the first wave began their career as “Beat bands”, though sometimes with different names, like, for instance, Le Orme, Premiata Forneria Marconi (I Quelli), Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, New Trolls, Delirium (I Sagittari), I Giganti, Metamorfosi (Frammenti), Il Balletto di Bronzo and many others. “Pop music” at that time in Italy was completely separated from “cultured music”. There were no “modern music” schools and the formation of the musicians used to be classical oriented. Ivano Fossati, singer and multi instrumentist of Delirium: - In the Sixties there were just the “assassins” with the electric guitars and the ones who studied at the Conservatory. Two irreconcilable worlds [2]. Then the standard bearers of the new sounds of progressive rock came from Britain (with King Crimson, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Gentle Giant and Van Der Graaf Generator at the forefront) showing a new way, the possibility of blending rock and classical music producing albums full of meaning: progressive rock is the idea of a cultured music for a cultured people [3].

 

Franz Di Cioccio, drummer of Premiata Forneria Marconi: - There’s not a specific date that marks the beginning of the first wave of Italian Progressive Rock in the Seventies. Musical influences were coming from England, a country that traditionally has always been spreading important seeds for the music development, while Americans have always showed more skills in finding the “commercial key” [4]. However, critics usually affirm that the beginning of the “Italianprog” movement is the release of Le Orme’s album “Collage”, in the spring of 1971. Toni Pagliuca, keyboardist of Le Orme: - We wanted to put some improvisations between the singing parts and we had to make up our minds about the style to follow... After having been to the Isle of Wight festival, it was clear to all of us that we couldn’t keep on playing the usual songs with verses and refrains [5]. Le Orme’s album had an extraordinary and unexpected success and immediately many others bands followed with other albums in the same style, like Premiata Forneria Marconi with “Storia di un minuto”, New Trolls with “Concerto grosso per i New Trolls”, Delirium with “Dolce acqua” or Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, with the eponymous album. Vittorio Nocenzi, keyboardist of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso: - BMS’ project came to life when I was only eighteen, with the first line up and the will to find a bridge between the “Beat generation” and the need of a new musical synthesis on the paths of classical music where I had already walked... [6].

 

The Golden Age of the Italian Progressive Rock was rising. Gianni Leone, keyboardist and singer of Il Balletto di Bronzo: - In Italy they began to speak of progressive rock during a pop festival in Novate, near Milan. I remember the meeting with Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Osanna, PFM, Trip, Nuova Idea,all the most important bands of that period were there. It was just after the summer of 1971 and there were Colosseum too. The National Broadcast Radio (RAI) was linked up for a broadcast called “Per voi giovani” (For you boys). The radio airplay was very important for the diffusion of progressive music. At that time the radio was the basic media you had to listen to new music. But it was not like now that as soon as  you turn on the radio you can get submerged by a sea of music of all kinds and genres and you can choose. At that time there were some kinds of music that hadn’t any airplay at all and if they had any it was just one broadcast on air only once a week. I felt like the Last of the Mohicans while being there to listen to all those notes, that gold, that golden fluid. It was the only way to defend ourselves from the Italian melodic easy songs that use to rule on the musical scene. There wasn’t anything else. Radios used to play very commercial music. So, you hadn’t any choice but tuning your radio into the frequencies of foreign radios like Radio Luxembourg or waiting for the afternoon of the day when you knew that “Per voi giovani” or some other sporadic programme would have be playing this kind of music, then reputed not commercial at all  [7].

 

 

3) The Golden Age of Italian Progressive Rock

 

From 1972 to 1975 almost everybody in Italy seemed to be fond of progressive music. Almost all the bands of that period released al least one album in prog style, even the bands not involved in the prog scene (for instance Nomadi and Pooh) and even some singer-songwriters like Francesco Guccini and Fabrizio De Andrè released albums featuring slightly progressive arrangements. But what are the characteristics of the Italian Progressive Rock in comparison to the progressive rock of other countries? Franco Mussida, guitarist of Premiata Forneria Marconi: - Progressive is basically a blending of three elements: the song, the improvisation inspired by jazz and the composition in classical style. This cocktail is interpreted in different ways in every country: in England, for instance, Celtic, rock and blues influences prevail. In Italy we have to cope with our classical tradition: the melodramma, Respighi, Puccini, Mascagni but also all the contemporary classical composers. It’s in this legacy, in my opinion, that the specificity of the Italian Progressive Rock  is concealed [8]. Gianni Leone: - In that period we, Italians, had to fight against the wall of the Italian melody. We, of Il Balletto di Bronzo, were living in Naples and we had to bear on our shoulders even a heavier boulder, that of the Neapolitan culture and Neapolitan music. We had to tackle this tradition, we had to fight against the conventions and refuse to be integrated. The New Sounds hadn’t arrived yet, there was no music for the young people, there was nothing, you had to invent and build up your space. Perhaps this was the mainspring that unchained such a creative strength [9]. Aldo Tagliapietra, bassist and singer of Le Orme: - Prog was practically a kind of music that came using the forms of cultured music and that was played by musicians with a solid classical background and a Conservatory certificate in their pockets but with long hair, drums, electronic instruments and walls of amplifiers. At that time they preferred to call it “Pop” that is the shortened name for “Popular” with the meaning of diffuse and famous, different from the meaning that “Pop” has today (synonymous of something half-way between dancing music and melodic songs) [10].

 

However it would be limiting to consider as specific characteristics of the  Italianprog scene only the musical influences and the alchemies of the different blending between rock, classical music, jazz, Italian folklore and so on. Inside the albums of that period you could find attempts to blend music with literature, poetry, politics and social comment as well. Sometimes the results were excellent, some other times only confused and pretentious. Ivano Fossati: - It was the tendency of those years: to complicate all that was simple and that could have been even very simple. The albums of that period were odd, contorted and complex, following the English models, King Crimson above of all [11]. Inside the tracks of an album you could often find fragments of classical composers like Scarlatti, Bach, Vivaldi or Corelli. The albums used to have complex structures and usually they were very far from “easy listening”. Italian melody often used to drop out in the singing parts, while in the lyrics you could find a little bit of everything, from Wolf Biermann’s lieder to passages from the Gospels, from the philosophy of Nietzsche to the poetry of Lodovico Ariosto and son and on. Ivano Fossati: - We loved giving hidden meanings to everything, and we used to do it in full sincerity, not just to plagiarise other bands. The albums of the early Seventies were very rich in ideas, although not all the ideas were good, because the “group” was considered like a gymnasium where everybody had the right to train. The political climate of those years contributed very much to strengthen this concept. The group was a democratic institution, every member could bring in an idea and ask the others to develop it. There was a lot of inexperience and ingenuity, but also a little bit of pretentiousness, due to the enthusiasm coming from the chance to record and release an album. There were no plans, that’s it. It’s different from today where you demonstrate your knowledge just to strike the public. The debut albums of that period where like stores. You used to put into them all that that you had listen at, all that you had read. Indeed all that you could! [12].

 

In the early Seventies there were many “pop” festivals in Italy. They were organised with the same spirit as the pioneers, with limited means, trying to imitate festivals like those of  Woodstock or of the Isle of Wight. These festivals allowed the musicians of the Italian progressive bands to know each other exchanging ideas. The public get to know the new bands in this way and the new tendencies. People who used to go to the concerts was very interested and “active” (sometimes too “active”!). Beppe Crovella, keyboardist of Arti & Mestieri: - In the Seventies we had the basic idea, born spontaneously, that we were a “big bloc”. Everybody was like in a convoy on the road, literally but also figuratively, in the sense of a creative movement, positive and in perennial changing, featuring a certain complicity between all the elements previously indicated. The artists used to create while keeping in their mind the world around them and the public didn’t just go to the performances but used to “take part” in the concerts giving a contribution in some way. They used to feel like a part of the happenings not only as passive spectators. Journalists, labels and radios were going all in the same direction and there was a significant compactness [13].  Donald Lax, violinist of Quella Vecchia Locanda: - It was an exalting period. There was a lot of creativity, we used to share new ideas, we were spreading the seeds of a new genre of music. At the most important concerts all the bands were together, there was no sense of competition but a sense of cooperation [14]. Claudio Rocchi, bassist of Stormy Six and singer-songwriter bound to the prog movement: - In those years there was not only a progressive music but there was also a progressive tension of life, of society, of system, of relationships that made of that season a season shared by thousands of boys and girls on the move just to follow the pop festivals... In those years signals from the underground used to come out not as a cultural or a musical fashion, but as a new way of life, as a reference system, as an existential paradigm [15]. From 1971 to 1977 in Italy a large number of albums were released in the progressive style, much more than the market could absorb. So, often the bands couldn’t survive for a long time on a musical scene where it was also almost impossible to earn money from the concerts, because of the lack of professionalism of many managers and because of “public security” problems. That’s why many groups disbanded after the release of only one or two albums and that’s the reason for so many “one-shot bands” on the Italianprog scene.

 

 

3.1) Italian Progressive Rock and society

 

In the early Seventies Italian society was going through a period of deep crisis and turmoil. Since 1968 students and workers unions strikes and riots had been becoming more and more violent. “Italy was poisoned by intolerance. The conformist and massive violence of the left wing – students and workers – was counter balanced by the violence of fascist minorities, that became exalted to the paroxysm as they felt less numerous and isolated” [16]. “The violent forms of action became more and more brutal especially in the physical fights between the radical part of the left wing and the radical part of the right wing, determining the creation by both parts of security order services, with military training and increasing autonomy from the political instances of the movements that were their reference points. The result of these dynamics was an increasing spiral of reciprocal violent acts, with an increasing number of ambushes and violence frequently leading to fatal consequences. The escalation of the fights in the streets between extremists of the left and the right wing and between both of them and the police exacerbated the contest. Some extremists joined and enforced clandestine organisations” [17]. The long and sad season of terrorism that marked all the Seventies in Italy causing hundreds of deaths was rising and “brutality became a substitute of reason” [18]. In the meantime, there was also the rise of “common crimine”, the spreading of heavy drug use among the young people, the proliferation of Mafia, ‘Ndrangheta and Camorra, some political scandals, the crisis of the economic system aggravated by the rise of the price of petrol, the consequences of the Cold War, of the plots (true and presumed) of the secret services, bomb attacks, slaughters and the so called “strategia della tensione”, the strategy of tension...

 

I don’t think that this is the best place where to try to explain “gli anni di piombo”, “the years of lead”, but it’s normal that such a kind of atmosphere had a deep influence also on the more committed young musical scene, the progressive rock scene. Vittorio Nocenzi: - It was such a peculiar decade, so rich that it would be limiting speak only of just one thing. I should speak more properly of a mosaic, a puzzle, a great labyrinth made of large boulevards and narrow alleys, of horizons to reach by running that seemed so near and suddenly were hidden by hedges coming from nowhere. It was a period of great and general utopia, amazing but not to celebrate in a  nostalgic way because the future is more precious than the past if you look at it with eyes drenched with desire. Another thing is the past if you look at it like a lesson to learn, in this case you have to keep it in your mind [19]. Songs used to reflect the times but despite the omnipresent violence in the streets, lyrics of Italian progressive scene are never trivial and the music is sometimes so sweet to seem surreal (nothing to share with Eminem’s style, indeed!). Just a few examples: “Terra in bocca (poesia di un delitto)” of I Giganti, a whole album inspired by a murder of Mafia and “Canto nomade per un prigioniero politico” of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, inspired by Salvador Allende’s death during the coup of 1973 in Chile... Vittorio Nocenzi: - In those years you used to get completely involved in what you were doing, without calculations of other natures. I don’t know if this was true for everybody, but for us of BMS it was true and it still is today [20]. Often in the music of that period you can breath the wind of change but also the need to escape from reality and from its daily blue mood. Well, not all the lyrics of that “era” were at the same high poetical level, of course, but one way or another the Italian Progressive Rock movement was the expression of an artistic and social commitment and gave voice to a whole generation. It was never just pure and simple entertainment. Claudio Canali, singer and flutist of Il Biglietto per l’Inferno: - Our songs were our way, perhaps veined in provincialism, to live the protest... They perfectly matched the contest against the society of consumerism, of hypocrisy and of materialism that was rising in the Western World [21].

 

 

3.2) Italian Progressive Rock and politics

 

The political contraposition in Italy was so strong that the Italian musical scene couldn’t help getting deeply influenced by this atmosphere. The left wing was dominant in the music field, thanks to the organisation of concerts and to the links between some bands and the protest movements of the students. «To go to a concert in the Seventies was considered as a political act and you had to take precise and resolute positions. Furthermore, there was the tendency to judge the artists not because of  the quality of their music but on the basis of ideological criteria and the bands that were not politically involved or whose commitment was not clear or was evanescent were frequently attacked [22]. Among the bands more engaged and militant were Area, Stormy Six and Osanna. Osanna even inserted a fragment of the communist anthem “Bandiera rossa” in the song “Mirror Train” on their debut album. Lino Vairetti, keyboardist and singer of Osanna: «We were all supporters of the left wing except Elio D’Anna who supported the right wing. Anyway Elio wasn’t really a political militant so he agreed to insert that anthem in the album since our fans liked it» [23]. Area lyrics were extremely politically committed and they also put some revolutionary and disquieting symbols in the art cover of their debut album, hammer and sickle and a P38. Demetrio Stratos, singer of Area, from an old interview: - I contest many bands like PFM. Nowadays, in a historical moment when they throw bombs in Brescia and there are bomb attacks on trains, I find it rather stupid that they do such a kind of song like “Dolcissima Maria”, it’s absurd! Our music is violent because there’s violence in the streets [24]. For many people political commitment was a must and also artists who weren’t really interested in politics had to face this issue. PFM, for instance, trying to “surf” the wave of the movement in Italy lost the chance to achieve success abroad, especially in the USA where they didn’t understand why they took part in a concert pro FLP just before the release of their album Chocolate Kings and of a scheduled tour in the USA. Nevertheless PFM’s political commitment has never been explicit; Mauro Pagani was the member more in touch with the left wing movement and the band took part in many festivals organised by the left wing, but always without a direct thread with the extra-parliamentary groups. Because of this indecision, along with presence of their manager Mamone and for the attention that the band used to pay to the market strategies, PFM didn’t get much support [25].   

 

It would be wrong, however, to think that the whole Italian scene of the
seventies was the expression of just one political part. There were many bands that drifted with the current, without feeling exceedingly involved and just following the fashion. Giuseppe “Baffo” Banfi, keyboardist of Biglietto per l’Inferno: - Above all we were interested in playing our music. It’s true, those years were the years of the protest, in the pop festivals there was a left wing imprinting and we used to breath it too. But we didn’t feel particularly involved on a political basis [26]. Other bands preferred not to openly side at the cost of undergoing ferocious criticism, like Le Orme. Toni Pagliuca: - We never professed any political faith. We  never got involved with any political party, although we knew that Italian artists used to have a preference for the left wing and we were near the needs of the people too. For example, in our album “Contrappunti” in the song “Maggio”, we remarked that Christ and Marx were in some way on the same level. In our songs we used to deal with prostitution and abortion but I remember that I was accused of “moralism”. Today I have to say that I’m pleased, because today any sense of morality is missing. We were very moralist indeed and I’m still proud of it [27]. Claudio Simonetti, keyboardist of Goblin: - I remember that those years were strongly characterized by political issues, by all the after-effects of 1968, although I was never interested in politics for ethical reasons. Many artists used to exploit politics to promote their works and I found this very disturbing. I never had a political tendency. Musicians shouldn’t be just like everyone else and they shouldn’t be “pushed” by politicians [28].

 

Anyway, the artists that didn’t take a position used to receive harsh criticism by the militant critics, like in the case of Il Volo, a band that collaborated with the singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti and lyricist Mogol who were accused of being supporters of the right wing (though this wasn’t really true). Alberto Radius, guitarist of Formula 3 and Il Volo: - The critics in that period were strongly influenced by political ideologies: Bertoncelli, Massarini Giaccio were all excellent critics, but militant. According to them Mogol was a fascist and Lucio used to do the Roman salute, so they were constantly criticized. And then they had to expiate their most serious guilt according to the militant critics of the left wing: they were to become billionaires [29]. Things got even worse for Museo Rosenbach, a band that was openly accused of fascism and practically forced to quit the scene because of the art cover of their album “Zarathustra” and because of their lyrics inspired by the philosopher Friederich Nietzsche. Alberto Moreno, bassist of Museo Rosenbach: - The seventies had been extremely politicized, but these issues were own business of the single members of the band. Muso Rosenbach, as a group, used to follow only a musical path, bound to English and American pop-rock or Italian bands like PFM and BMS. Area were open sided but they were an exception among the bands. We were aware of their commitment but we never thought to counterpoint their commitment with right wing oriented proposals... The face of Mussolini on the album cover was a choice of the art designer. The references to Nietzsche instead were clear and they were an important part of our message. On the original album jacket we tried to explain that you shouldn’t interpret Nietzsche as one of the inspirers of Nazism like they used to do in those years. We used to read the philosopher in a “softer” way, without any forced political interpretations. Unfortunately our explanation wasn’t understood and we realized that sometimes images are more important than words. I admit that the black of the art cover and  the bust of Mussolini didn’t help us. But we have paid for these ingenuities [30].      

 

As I said before, Italian Progressive Rock was one of the voices of a whole generation, not only of the young people that were part of the political movements of the Italian left wing, and thus it was appreciated and practised also by the youth of the right wing, though with more difficulties. Marcello Vento, drummer of Alberomotore and Canzoniere del Lazio: - Once they called us to perform in Turin. As soon as we arrived, we realized that the flags on the stage were of a different colour than those we used to play for. It was a festival organised by the “Fronte della Gioventù” (a movement of the right wing), so we turned back and returned to Rome. Perhaps they loved our music too, but we used to be so exigent and at the same time intransigent that we didn’t play [31]. Actually, there were also bands with political tendencies openly for the right wing, like Janus or La Compagnia dell’Anello, but they didn’t have any commercial impact at all and they had to operate in almost “clandestine conditions”. Mario Bortoluzzi, singer of La Compagnia dell’Anello: - In 1974 we were caught by the irrepressible desire of taking a guitar in our hands and singing the life of our people that daily resisted to the “red violence” in the schools, in the streets and in the workplace. Nobody used to sing for those outcasts: we did it, with inexistent means but with rage and joy. Large part of the musicians were, then like now, committed with to left wing. They were pushed by the labels. All we needed was a recorder, a basement where to rehearse and record our songs and the product was immediately distributed by a semi clandestine net composed of friends and friends of friends. Our aim was (and still is today), beyond every possibility of commercial use of the product, giving a voice to a common feeling, to the soul of a world that otherwise would be living without somebody expressing in music its wishes, ideals, hopes and dreams. In the beginning the technical means were rather poor although they were supported by an incredible and contagious enthusiasm. As we went on, an increased professionalism and the availability of better means improved the quality of the alternative music products. The need to express a spiritual vision of life overdubbed the moment of the pure and simple testimony. Since then La Compagnia dell’Anello (and many other bands of the musical movement of the right wing) began to become something that you could listen to also outside the “ghetto”. As time passed by, new members with a solid musicianship joined to the original line up... Our work is supported by three generations of friends that keep on singing our songs all over Italy and all that without any television passages, pushes or external supports [32].       

 

 

3.3) Italian Progressive Rock and public security

 

One of the characteristics of the Italian musical scene of the Seventies, unfortunately not enticing at all, consisted of the delicate situation of public security at rock concerts. Shouting “Riprendiamoci la musica” (Let’s take the music back), groups of exalted people (called “autoriduttori”) used to claim the right to attend rock concerts without paying the ticket. They ended up constantly in conflict and fighting against the managers who organised the concerts and the police. “The situation exploded finally on the 5^th of June 1971 at “Velodromo Vigorelli” in Milan. That night Led Zeppelin were performing there, but the main event of that happening was the extremely violent “metropolitan guerrilla” burst between part of the “public” and the police. Since that 5^th of June in Italy there wasn’t a single concert of a certain importance without extremists attempting to break through the gates and fighting with the police... Tension dramatically increased in 1973. A spiral of violence wrapped rock concerts for two years. On one side thousands of young people, on the other side mangers and police. On 17^th of March in Bologna protestors ended up with setting fire to the “Palasport” where a concert of Jethro Tull had been organised. In 1974 the Soft Machine’s tour was marked by serious riots in Reggio Emilia and in Naples. Riots kept on forcing the manager Mamone to give up after an authentic “urban guerilla” on 2^nd of April at the concert of Traffic. The final act would had been played one year later when, during a Lou Reed concert in Rome, organized by the manager David Zard, the battle between extremists and police forces raged on until 2 a.m.» [33].

 

There were troubles at almost every concert, not only at those of the most important bands, and for this reason the live performances of the Italian bands was not very profitable (and some times even dangerous!). Lino Vairetti: - In Casale Monferrato in 1972 we were beset by a riotous and contestant group who, shouting “We want the music for free”, attacked us and the staff of the organisation, calling us fascists and wielding clubs of wood and iron, unchaining a violent action against us and our car supposed to be a luxury good. They targeted Elio who could have died, but he luckily escaped... In 1978, during the tour of Suddance almost all our concerts were cancelled. Because of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, there were many check points on the roads all over the country and we had been controlled many times by the police [34]. Rodolfo Maltese, guitarist of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso: - At the “Palasprt” of Naples one of our technicians was injured and there was a beginning of physical confrontation between us and the public. Among the public there were phalanges that didn’t listen to any reason and used to carry iron clubs with them and just to make trouble at every concert... Some managers began not to lend theatres for the risk of riots and damages to sits and stage [35]. Corrado Rustici, guitarist of Cervello and Nova: - They used to assault you if you dared to ask for money, I remember that once I shut myself in my Volkswagen van trying to shelter from clubs and chains wielded by some exalted people. I was a student in an Art School in Naples, inside the Academy of Belle Arti, along with other musicians. Every now and again some groups of the right wing used to come and targeted the boys with long hair, like me, and attacked them. From school to concerts where I usually found people of the left wing that acted in the same way claiming music for free... I didn’t like the atmosphere that you could find in Italy in that period, it hadn’t anything to share with music and I think that the people who loved music began to feel fed up of the usual riots and fighting. You had no choice but to take sides like Area or to give up [36].

 

Actually, nobody was exempt from criticism and troubles, not even bands like Area and PFM or singer-songwriters committed to the left wing like Eugenio Finardi, Francesco Guccini or Francesco De Gregori. Patrizio Fariselli, keyboardist of Area: - Somebody spread the strange idea that the music belonged to everybody and for this reason it should be for free. People that had made music their job, according to this idea, had to play without any remuneration because of this presumed right to the joy and amusement of a life of art and love... Who used to contribute significantly to our survival was the PCI (The Italian Communist Party) with the festivals of Unità. Without that it would be the end [37]. At the concerts there were often among the public those who wanted to jump up the stage to improvise political speeches and “assemblies” about the most disparate issues. Even on the left wing there was always somebody “more on the left” who used to contest and in 1976 a great deal of people began to feel fed up. On the 2^nd of April 1976 at the “Palalido” in Milan, after the concert of the singer-songwriter committed to the left wing Francesco De Gregori, some exalted people went to the point of entering backstage and compelled the artist to go back on the stage to put him on trial because “he wasn’t enough on the left wing”. Then, in June, during the last festival of Parco Lambro in Milan all the contradictions of the movements of protest exploded leading to acts of unprovoked and aimless violence completely wasting what should have been only a feast for the youth full of music and joy. The season of progressive rock in Italy was coming to an end. For many bands this atmosphere of impending violence during the concerts was one of the main reasons to give up and stop their musical experience. This is the case, for instance, of De De Lind or Metamorfosi. Eddy Lorigiola, bassist of De De Lind: - We made up our minds unanimously. There were many reasons on the base of this decision but two were the most important. The first one was the theft of all our instruments, the second one was an assault against us at the end of a concert when we found our van completely smashed down. We looked to each other straight in the eyes and we agreed that the only solution was to split up and give up with music [38]. Davide “Jimmy” Spitaleri and Enrico Olivieri, respectively singer and keyboardist of Metamorfosi: - There were many reasons for our split up... There were personal problems, problems of budget but above all we were at the end of the magical season of concerts of the early Seventies... Most of all the crisis of concerts, because for us that was our life. All in all after the release of an album what do you have to do? Staying at home just waiting? You have to keep on playing to grow up as a musician [39]. The impossibility of regular live performances was an important cause of the decline of the Italian progressive movement, since the money coming from concerts and albums wasn’t enough for a professional career.

 

 

4) The decline and the tunnel of the eighties

 

Something was changing and the Golden Age of the Italian progressive Rock was declining, but it’s difficult to say exactly when it was over. What were the reasons of this “irreversible reversal of tendency”? Vittorio  Nocenzi: - As far as I’m concerned the main reasons were the electronic loops and a new profession. The advent of the D.J. that gradually became to act as artists while they were just programmers. This happened exactly in 1977. We, in that moment, to be coherent with the times, released “...di Terra”, our most difficult album and in my opinion the one with the best music we have ever released. It was an album intentionally against the stream and not successful at all. Two years of work almost vanished although I remember some wonderful concerts in Verona and in Milan. That was the worst moment for this genre of music, probably because in the “collective unconscious” it remembered the state of fear caused by terrorism of both the extreme wings. The lyrics and the music were like salt in the wounds still too fresh. Since then the music began to become just pure entertainment and the interest of the public followed only the commitment of the singer-songwriters and abandoned the bands [40]. Indeed, for the managers it was simpler and cheaper to organise concerts with singer-songwriters that used to perform only with an acoustic guitar and vocals. However, in Italy it wasn’t the punk that caused the down fall of progressive rock like in Britain. Franz Di Cioccio: - No, the end of progressive is not punk. Punk is nothing but another musical current that came over. The end of progressive rock is an involution in the social costume, where music was considered again just as a product to consume rapidly. Tastes had changed and now progressive is again a music with its own public, more or less like jazz. Often jazz blossoms thanks to some great artists and it grows in the taste of the public. Progressive albums were complex and long and they used to need many listens to be appreciated, nowadays with the imprinting of radio stations things have changed. Free Radio stations have begun to spread in the seventies but they became really important in the eighties. Times have led to a shorter form of music that can be proposed and absorbed in a faster way. Punk is a kind of music with a different germ of rebellion than progressive, all in all every generation has its own way to communicate. A musical form never led to the end of another one, but it’s always something that comes aside, that comes out from the previous generation [41].

 

Many artists abandoned progressive rock to survive in the music business and turned to more commercial genres or put their experience to the service of other artists (for instance, in the eighties Corrado Rustici became the producer of some very successful albums of Zucchero, while Michele Zarrillo, guitarist and singer of Semiramis and Il Rovescio della Medaglia, became a successful melodic pop singer). Someone turned to disco music like Alan Sorrenti, others tried to release sophisticated pop albums like Matia Bazar, a band that rose from the ashes of Museo Rosenbach and Jet. Giancarlo Golzi, drummer of Museo Rosenbach and Matia Bazar: - How did we come to turn from the progressive rock of Museo Rosenbach to the pop of Matia Bazar? It was a natural evolution and an almost obligated choice. Thanks to progressive we could have been playing all what we wanted: many of us had practically passed all their adolescence in a basement to rehearse, to improve their musicianship trying to absorb the great lesson that came from Britain in that period. Suddenly we realized that we were just imitating things that didn’t belong to us and we felt the need to create something original [42]. Some even reached success producing sons for the cartoons series coming from Japan, like Vince Tempera (keyboardist of Il Volo) and Ares Tavolazzi (bassist of Area). Vince Tempera: - We started working on the basis of a market survey, trying to release an easy listening song for adults and children. We released Ufo Robot and it was incredibly successful reaching the top charts [43]. As for the bands leaders of the progressive movement, in 1979 PFM made a very successful tour with the singer song-writer Fabrizio De Andrè, rearranging his songs (a wonderful live album was released after the tour), then tried to produce a kind of music more straightforward and simpler. Le Orme went completely against the stream and in 1979 released “Florian” a wonderful acoustic album inspired by classical music but after that they had to accept a compromise with pop that led to disappointing results. Banco del Mutuo Soccorso shortened their name to Banco and tried to play an original and high quality pop. Vittorio Nocenzi: - It was very difficult for me turn from the complex compositions that were inspired by the classical music of XIX century (mini-suite) to the synthesis of short pop songs. For instance, for me writing “Paolo Pa” was harder than writing “Il giardino del mago”.  However it would have been  easier for us just to keep on walking on the old paths than to tackle this new challenge trying to write pop songs with an excellent quality standard [44]. Perhaps the only protagonist of the “progressive era” that was able to update his style and reach an excellent commercial results in the eighties without completely disown himself was Franco Battiato who released some very original and personal pop albums such as “La voce del padrone” and “Fisiognomica”. Anyway, on the whole Italy in the eighties was definitely a desert for progressive music, a genre that seemed almost to disappear in a black hole in that period.

 

 

5) The come-back of the nineties and the present scene

 

During the eighties in Italy there wasn’t any current music comparable to the neo-prog of bands like Marillion, Pallas or IQ in Britain. In Italy during the eighties, the era of the ephemeral, progressive rock was a kind of music for a few die hard fans, almost underground and completely ignored by media and labels. The few bands that tried to keep this genre alive, like Nuova Era, had many troubles to carry out their projects and risked to get drowned in a sea of indifference. Walter Pini, keyboardist of Nuova Era: «For me the project of Nuova Era was a challenge against all the people who used to denigrate the seventies, prog and vintage sounds. In the eighties they used to spit in your face if you dared to say you liked Hammond or wha wha guitar. Then someone apologised when those sounds came back in fashion. I hate those who play to be in or the ones who think that all that comes after is better than what came before. Blues has been played for ages in the same way but no one says that it is overtaken or obsolete, while many “wells of learning” use to emit sentences and assessments about prog! Our dreams were like the dreams of everybody else: to be successful and to earn money playing our music, but we knew that our genre was the wrong one for that. We would have felt gratified just playing all around the world for true prog lovers. But all in all I can say that things didn’t go so bad. We didn’t become stars but anyway we had some satisfaction playing the music we loved without compromise [45].

 

Something changed at the beginning of the nineties and interest for this genre of music engaged and complex seemed to emerge again. There were some new bands trying to deal with the themes and the sonorities of the progressive era, while some “historic” bands brushed off the rust from their glorious past. In 1994 I remember going to a wonderful performance of Le Orme promoting their album “Antologia 1970 – 1980”... The theatre was crowded and the public enthusiastic. After three hours of music the members of the band were happily signing autographs and explaining to their fans that they never meant to stop, that they have always wanted to go on playing their music but for many years they couldn’t find any attention from the media, labels and managers... Progressive rock was suddenly seemed to be born again. Since then other concerts and progressive festivals followed, I remember the “Testaccio Village Progressive Festival” in Rome in 1996 with Le Orme, BMS, Osanna, Metamorfosi, Il Balletto di Bronzo and a good new band called Divae... Luckily many other prog festivals and concerts have followed in Italy since then, with good success. New bands and old “dinosaurs” are still able to release excellent albums, blending new sounds and fresh inspirations with echoes coming from the past, and they’re still able to communicate emotions performing concerts with high quality standards. Nowadays Italian Progressive Rock is not a mass and generational phenomenon but die hard fans all around the country seem to be numerous and able to keep it alive. Luckily there are no more riots at the concerts nor attacks on the musicians and this is a good point in comparison with the seventies. Beppe Crovella: - Now, also for many historical reasons, there’s more disillusion and less enthusiasm and, above all, you have the idea less of a cultural movement. There’s less collective attendance and in comparison with the past there’s more dispersion and a kind of isolation. Nevertheless there’s still a continuous creativity. This effective and  visible base is looking confidently into the future. In my opinion there’s a great vitality and many things that are still missing are just waiting to blossom again. Today it’s simpler because there are more ways and means to communicate than in the past but on the other hand there’s an enormous risk of dispersion [46].

 

Although the present Italian progressive scene is kicking and alive, media and the music business seem to ignore all its potentialities. Vittorio Nocenzi: - They’re trying hard to homologate and globalize the preferences of the public. Well, perhaps these words are a little bit abused but it’s absolutely true; there’s only one model that the music business tries to impose on everyone using medias and market strategies, leaving no much room for something that sounds different. I dare say that they try to avoid diversity like a disease and consequently it’s very difficult producing genres of music different from the mainstream. It’s the same for Jazz, for instance, because it’s a musical language that needs a deeper knowledge and it’s more challenging for the listener; so it’s usually excluded by majors and medias [47]. However, also some progressive fans would deserve to be put on the Index because they’re too “nostalgic” and bound exclusively to the bands of the golden era while they don’t pay enough attention to the new bands, as an emerging band, Taproban, remark in an interview: -  It’s the world of progressive rock that is indifferent towards itself. So, if there’s a good work to promote it often gets lost in the indifference of the progressive movement itself! Radio and TV are completely indifferent; some managers and promoters are just scoundrels who offer to the new bands contracts that resemble hanging ropes; there are people that keep on buying all the re-releases of Genesis or Yes completely ignoring great bands such as Finisterre, Moongarden, La Maschera di Cera, La Fonderia and many others. There are things that seem not to be able by change while time passes by and the music scene is full of disdainful people. To tell you the truth we live on the borders of this world, we love to shut ourselves in our studio and keep on playing just for the pleasure of producing music... like it should always be! [48].

 

 

Andrea Parentin

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an excellent article, apart from the musical side you give a very good overview of the politicall and social athmosphere of the 70's in Italy. I spent quite  a lot of time in Italy in the 70's and I felt ecaxctly what you were describing. I remember especially one concert in 'Firenze'. I stayed with a student collective on a farm outside of Firenze and one day we went to a concert. I had not much money back then (and still don't have) and I asked them if it was expensive and they said to me "Don't worry!" It was an outdoor concert (If I remember well the headliner was Eduardo Benato) and when we arrived there were 'regular' concert goers with tickets and a group of about 300 youngsters just waiting. A little bit apart was also a police squad. The tension was a little nervous and at one point my friends just said "Run!" and suddenly the group of 300 was just running towards the gate and flooding in. It was exciting and fun at the same time but once inside when I looked back I saw that the police had charged the ones at the rear end of the group and was beating them heavily with sticks. So I had some mixed feelings even so it was a great summer evening and it was exactly the athomsphere you described. I saw too some great concerts and theatre plays during the summer festival of the communist party 'L'Unita' I remember having seen the 'Living Theatre' in a suburb of Bologna. I was again in Italy during the terrible Bologna bombing in 1980 and this was for me the end of a period of innocence...

 

PS excellent discography, just my favourite Italian band 'Picchio Dal Pozzo' is missing

 

 

 

This explaining that!!!

 

We have three Andreas here plus another Italian Andrew, but I was no aware of the last name or your techincal problems.

 

I guess my humour towards Tony is a bit out of context,.

 

I've already responded to him before I read posted and deleted this morning. 

 

And the article by DallasBryan about Greek prog: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28113&KW=