Article

Monthly of Bologna

"Music has always been part of my life. Already at six months I was magnetically attracted to the turntable. In adolescence, love for rock and antagonism was born with my father who listened to classical music above all. At that time I answered Rossini with Led Zeppelin. Then there was an exchange, he became passionate about my myths and I was struck by the arias of Stravinsky, Mahler and Beethoven for almost twenty years ".
Daniele Faraotti, born in Forlì and adopted Bolognese, today voice and guitar of the Faraotti Band with which he performs his songs, has always been an omnivorous listener and a devourer of notes.
In the various phases of his artistic training he attended several genres, living with each one an intense and unique relationship, from the visceral love for the Beatles, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones, to the total devotion for the great classical composers in the period of studies academics, to the point of yielding to the irresistible fascination of experimentation, enthralled by the spirit of breaking the "avant-gardes colt".
Many visits without ever marrying any. Any codified genre always seems to be stressed, while almost unconsciously it feeds on a very personal and original musical identity.
For many years Faraotti lives his passion in an intimate and solitary dimension. Studies of classical guitar and composition at the Conservatory satisfy the thirst for knowledge but lead him to close himself in his own world. The ideas find free expression in notes and words pinned here and there that then, almost by chance, meet giving life to pieces of surprising coherence and organicity, but destined for years to remain closed in a drawer. Gratification is nourished by the fruits of creativity, invoked like a goddess. This way of experiencing music, which will keep Faraotti away from the stage for a long time, is immortalized in the text "Ciò che non sei più", a song that the songwriter considers a bit like his artistic manifesto of origins.
It will be a series of meetings and collaborations with other musicians to gradually bring out those pieces from the drawer. The first, important, takes place in 1994. “Thanks to my friend Marco Coppi, the possibility of working with Patty Pravo is born - the artist recalls - for his album" Ideogrammi "I write the arrangement of the song" La Vita "which debuts at the" Roxy Bar ", a television broadcast conducted from Red Ronnie. This episode, which unfortunately will not lead immediately to other illustrious collaborations, however, determines a turning point in its own path, bringing me closer to the song after a long period of detachment. A fact mainly due to the isolation from contemporary genres brought about by academic studies, which seem to ignore any musical innovation that took place in the modern era. Also the appearance of new talented artists, such as Radio Head and Jef Barkley, able to revitalize my interest for music, will contribute to this return. " In the end, the song proves to be a language capable of synthesizing all the previous experiences and today Faraotti seems to have found his artistic identity precisely in the lack of belonging to any pre-codified genre.
Subsequent meetings with highly experienced musicians such as Claudio Lolli, Franz Campi, Ernesto Geldes and Enrico Mazzotti push the Bolognese singer-songwriter towards an ever greater desire to finalize his musical production at the stage show.
From some of the aforementioned collaborations the Faraotti Band is born, as explained by the composer himself: “initially the group consisted of five elements, today we are three, with Geldes on drums and Mazzotti on bass. We discovered that this formation gave more synthesis to the songs and we stayed like this ". When a group exists, the confrontation with the public becomes almost a necessity and new opportunities are constantly sought to make themselves known. Music stops being an intimate and personal space and becomes an idea to share. Then, slowly, also confirmations and appreciations arrive. In 2005 the Faraotti Band participates in the Meeting of the independent labels of Forlì, presenting the song "Ciò che non sei più" which then gets excellent reviews from an audience of passionate and demanding listeners on the "Free Music" portal. Today, "Ciò che non sei più" is also the title of the band's debut album which will be presented next May 23 on the stage of the local Le Scuderie, to then be distributed in the best music stores.
"The album was ready for some years - comments Faraotti - we just had to decide to launch and find a label that believed in our work. Today, thanks to the Alka Record, the dream of is realized and we are ready to go out with a collection full of ideas, contaminations, influences, made up of 16 songs, 4 instrumental interludes and a recovery ".
As anticipated by the cover that immortalises a fading and movement effect created by the reverberation of water, the musical content is difficult to codify. A singular fusion of sounds and chords mixes the Rock with the Pop and fuses the Indie with the Progressive with shades coming from apparently very distant genres. The song for this composer is really a place to feel free to experiment, create, get out of the rigid and pre-established cages of the recording market.
With the release of the first album, accompanied by the single "Tico Tico - Ciò che non sai più", the ice is broken and now you look forward to the dates of the upcoming concerts and new projects.
Simona Marcosignori