Franco Battiato

Franco Battiato

Battiato in 2005
Background information
Birth name Francesco Battiato
Born (1945-03-23) 23 March 1945
Origin Riposto, Sicily, Italy
Genres Beat, new wave, experimental, musique concrète, progressive pop, electronic pop, pop, new-age, opera, free jazz
Occupation(s) Musician, filmmaker, painter
Instruments Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active 1967–present
Labels Ricordi
EMI
Sony Music
Associated acts Alice, Juri Camisasca, Giuni Russo, Milva
Website Official website

Francesco "Franco" Battiato (Italian: [ˈfraŋko batˈtjaːto]; born 23 March 1945, Riposto, Sicily) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes.

He is and has been for decades one of the most popular pop singer-songwriters in Italy. His unique sound, song-crafting and especially his lyrics, often containing philosophical, religious, and culturally exotic references, as well as tackling or painting universal themes about the human condition - unusual subjects for pop songs - earned him a unique spot on Italy's music scene, and the nickname of "Il Maestro" ("The Master" or "The Teacher"). His work includes songwriting and joint production efforts with several Italian and international musicians and pop singers, including the long-lasting professional relationship with Italian singer Alice. Together with Alice, Franco Battiato represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 with the song "I treni di Tozeur".[1]

Biography

Early years and experimental period

Franco Battiato moved to Milan at age 22, and soon after won his first musical contract. His single La Torre was released and Battiato appeared on TV to perform the song. He scored some success with the romantic song È l'amore. After further covers of pop songs, he met the experimental musician Juri Camisasca in 1970 and collaborated with Osage Tribe, an Italian psychedelic-progressive rock band. As a solo artist, he released the science-fiction single La convenzione (The convention), one of the finest Italian progressive rock songs of the 1970s.

Starting from 1971, Battiato devoted much of his efforts to experimental electronic music, producing a series of LPs that remained almost unknown at the time, but are now eagerly sought by collectors worldwide. Starting out with electronic progressive rock with some emphasis on vocals, his music became increasingly experimental, gradually moving into the realms of musique concrète and minimalism: Foetus (1971, its cover was censored), Pollution (1972), Sulle Corde di Aries (1973), Clic (1974) and M.elle le “Gladiator” (1975). Clic is a haunting yet largely conventional exploration in the electronic style reminiscent of Philip Glass and even German experimental rock band Can.

In 1975, he moved to the Dischi Ricordi label, producing Battiato (1975), Juke Box (1976) and the experimental L'Egitto prima delle sabbie (Egypt Before the Sands, 1977), which won the Stockhausen award for contemporary music.

National success

After the Ricordi label failed to re-sign him, Battiato signed with EMI. He abandoned the Prog Rock experiments of the previous years and moved to a more pop-oriented style which afforded him ever increasing popularity with Italian audiences. In this period his albums were usually in collaboration with the renowned musician and violinist Giusto Pio, whose two later albums were produced by Battiato.

After L'era del cinghiale bianco (The Era of the White Boar, 1979) and Patriots (1980), Battiato obtained astounding success with La voce del padrone (His Master's Voice) in 1981, which was the first Italian LP to sell more than one million copies. His commercial success was confirmed by L'arca di Noè (Noah's Ark) in 1982. Songs such as "L'era del cinghiale bianco", "Prospettiva Nevskij" ("Nevsky Prospekt"), "Centro di gravità permanente" ("Permanent Gravity Centrepoint"), "Bandiera bianca" ("White Flag"), and "Voglio vederti danzare" ("I Want To See You Dance") established Battiato in Italy. Orizzonti perduti (Lost Horizons, 1983), which Battiato himself called a kipper, was followed by the successful Mondi Lontanissimi (Faraway Worlds, 1985), which featured a solo version of the popular "I treni di Tozeur" ("The Tozeur Trains)", originally a duet with Alice performed at the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest.[2]

1988's Fisiognomica (Physiognomy) sold more than 300,000 copies and it confirmed Battiato's success. The album, considered by Battiato himself his best work for the balance between music and lyrics, contained the hit "Nomadi" ("Nomads"), originally recorded by Alice and written by his old friend Juri Camisasca, who in the meantime had retired to a Benedictin monastery. The album also included the songs "E ti vengo a cercare", which was performed by director/actor Nanni Moretti in his 1989 movie Palombella Rossa, and "Veni l'autunnu" with lyrics entirely in the Sicilian and Arabic languages.

Collaboration with Manlio Sgalambro

Battiato in concert during the Notte Bianca 2007 in Rome

In 1994 Battiato began to collaborate with the Sicilian philosopher Manlio Sgalambro, who was to write almost all the lyrics of his following albums. After the tentative L'ombrello e la macchina da cucire of 1995, in 1996 the duo published what is considered their best work so far, L'imboscata, containing the romantic hit "La cura" ("The care"), elected best Italian song of the year.[3] Gommalacca (1998, with an unusual stress on hard rock), Ferro battuto (2000) and Dieci stratagemmi (2004) continued on the same path, with variations mainly set by Battiato's unceasing desire for musical experimentation.

In 2003 Battiato released his first feature film, Perduto amor (Lost love), for which he also composed the soundtrack. The movie won the Silver Ribbon for the best debutant director. However, heavy criticism struck against his following movie, Musikanten, a rather experimental work about Beethoven's last four years of life. The German musician was played by the Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky. In November 2012 he accepted an offer from newly elected Sicilian regional president Rosario Crocetta to become the new Regional Minister for Tourism and Culture, announcing he will not take any compensation for the job, but was subsequently fired soon after for his "whores within Parliament" (troie in Parlamento) comment.

Franco Battiato in concert in Teatro Circo Price, Madrid 2013

Discography

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Singles

Singles in Spanish

Operas

Filmography

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmuFJEfkLM
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmuFJEfkLM
  3. ↑ La Posta, Annino (2010). Franco Battiato. Soprattutto il silenzio. (in Italian). Giunti. p. 223. ISBN 9788809742536. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Riccardo Fogli
with "Per Lucia"		 Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
1984 		Succeeded by
Al Bano & Romina Power
with "Magic Oh Magic"
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