ANIMA MEANS SOUL
It was only supposed to be 3 gigs, three blues clubs in Northern Italy. Just for fun!
We gathered in Forlì, at the home of a Vintage Fender collector, for three days of rehearsals. There was just enough time to put together a repertoire, a few classics to justify a jam session.
But "Anima*Blues" had other plans.
From the first notes, I realized that something special was coming to life, something that had ancient but familiar echoes. Each one of us had limitations but, merging with those of the others, they turned into a unique sound. And the creativity!
In the first three days we conceived "Holyland", "Heart Of The Country", "Marta's Dream" and "Sweet Surrender".
I hadn't written anything new since "Accadueo" in '98 and, frankly, I thought the well had dried up, but now we can't get together without some new idea being hatched.
We started doing gigs, like the memorable concert at the "Festambiente" festival near Grosseto....
I was dreaming about a live album, but the record industry is going through bad times and soon I found myself neck deep in endless wrangling 'bout budgets, schedules, production.
I knew exactly what I wanted the record to sound like so I decided I would pay for it out of my own pocket and that I would start my own production & publishing company: EFsounds.
I called my good friend Sandro Pascucci, the Mayor of Longiano, a small paradise in the hills of Romagna, home to Teatro Petrella, a tiny jewel box theatre where we spent a week rehearsing, eating and recording. That's where we organized all the ideas, the lyrics and, in the process, also wrote "Pipe Dream", "Estrellita", "Barn Yard Mama" and "Long Way Home".
But for our final recording we needed a Mecca of Vintage!
The sound I wanted was crystal clear in my mind, but to catch it, I needed the NEVE 5116 board of "Officine Meccaniche", owned by my friend Mauro Pagani. It was there that, in seven incredible days of absolute concentration, we finally recorded "Anima*Blues". There we wrote "Mojo Philtre", completed "Mama Left Me" and, at 6 p.m. the last day, we improvised "Doctor Doctor".
Finally, listening to it one night at home, I realized that I had finally found my Holy Grail: the lost album that-they-never-let-me-record, and that "Anima*Blues" is not only my new album but, in many ways, also the oldest of all, since I've been dreaming of it for precisely 40 years.
Eugenio*Finardi
Singer, songwriter, italian icon and bluesman at heart. Eugenio Finardi was born in 1952 in Milan, the son of an Italian sound engineer and an American opera singer who had come to Italy to sing at the LA SCALA Theatre in Milan. His first recording experiences came early in his childhood when he sang in children’s’ records and in recordings of American classics for the expatriate community in Europe.
He went to the American School in Milan and then studied theatre at Tufts University in Boston.
As a teenager he started singing the blues with friends like Fabio Treves and Alberto Camerini.
Upon his return to Italy he started working as a studio session man and as a radio DJ in the first underground FM radio stations.
In 1975 he released his first album, for “Cramps”, a pioneering “alternative” label, which single-handedly created Italian rock, blending lyrics inspired by the cultural and political issues of the seventies “movement” with a sound influenced by rock but with jazz, blues and traditional Italian folk influences. His highly original “Musica Ribelle” from “Sugo” became the soundtrack of that period and started the evolution of Italian pop music.
Songs like “Extraterrestre” and “Le Ragazze di Osaka” are landmarks in the collective memory of several generations, also because Finardi has never stopped growing as a musician and producer and this constant evolution has kept him at the forefront of musical research, while his lyrics always stay in touch with the feelings of the times.
Eugenio Finardi’s live performances have been the training ground for artists such as Gianna Nannini and Pino Daniele, who, chosen as opening artists have ever since reached superstar status and one of the achievements he is proudest of is having been the one to discover most of Italy's best sessionmen.
In recent years Eugenio has gone back to his first love: The Blues. With old friends Vince Vallicelli and Pippo Guarnera and young guitar wiz Massimo Martellotta he recorded in 2005 the extraordinary "Anima*Blues", a rock/blues masterpiece.
"Anima*Blues" has since been touring Europe's Blues Festivals, and is currently taking some time out to write and record new material.
mercoledì 24 giugno, ore 18.30: STEFANO TESSADRI live @ PAC via Palestro 16
NOVUNQUE in collaborazione con MILANO IN MUSICA per il festival INCANTI
E DISINCANTI presenta: APERITIVI CON LA CANZONE D'AUTORE al PAC di
Milano in via Palestro 16:
24 giugno h.18.30 STEFANO TESSADRI
25 giugno h.18.30 ETTORE GIURADEI
01 luglio h.18.30 STEFANO VERGANI
02 luglio h.18.30 FABRIZIO CONSOLI
INIZIANO LE ISCRIZIONI GRATUITE per il 2009 … avete tempo fino al 30 ottobre Festival Pub Italia 2009 – Primo premio 3.000 euro - PASSAPAROLA
scaricate moduli direttamente dal sito - compilate per bene e passateparola......... Perchè non si sa mai…. Vi invito a tenervi aggiornati sul sito ufficiale interattivo www. viviantares. com CIAO
caro Eugenio, volevo solo salutarti e dirti che la penso come te e come te non appartengo, ne' voglio a questo punto, appartenere a nessuna categoria ne' "cricca" o "cricchetta" di operatori del ns settore. Non mi riconosco in nessuna radio,tv.discografia ne' in pensiero artistico o politico attualmente diffuso in Italy. Sono "figlio delle stelle" e della MUSICA RIBELLE. ciao amico, con stima, Gianni
come promesso qualcosa del nuovo album alla fine l'abbiamo cagata.... A parte i nuovi video su Youtube, tra 1 pò pubblicheremo il Telefilm a puntate "3 Sgroove In Europe", direttamentre tratto da una storia vera: il viaggio di Frank, Hermes e Brazo da Gaeta (LT) a Cristiania (Copenaghen) 3 amici, 1 Panda, 7000Km!
Ah, e ovviamente... a Settembre il nuovo disco: ABBEY RUZZ!
Online Now!
