First Cd for the roman Divae Project, descendants of Divae, the band which released the album DETERMINAZIONE in 1995. Following the release of STRATOSFERICO (vinyl, 11 June 2021) only on vinyl and PROG WILL NEVER DIE (vinyl, 23 June 2023), and the single “After The War” (vinyl, 2023), dedicated to John Wetton.
STRATOSFERICO
The project was conceived by Guido Bellachioma (music critic, director of «Prog Italia» magazine and of the Progressivamente Festival since 1993) and Davide Pistoni (multi-instrumentalist and uniquely talented composer), who developed and worked on the ideas together, right up to the final mix, obtaining a full-bodied and nuanced sound. Around them they gathered some of the best Italian musicians of yesterday and today, as well as creating some new music to match the voice of Demetrio Stratos – the song “Stratosferico”, taking the original file of the tongue twister “O tzitzeras o mitzeras”, included in the 1978 FUTURA box – and Giulio Capiozzo’s drums – “L’urlo” – thanks to the collaboration of Daniela Ronconi, Demetrio’s wife, and Christian Capiozzo, Giulio’s son. “Rawon” is the significant tribute to Demetrio and Giulio by their great friend, Gianni Nocenzi (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso), who offers the listener restless and beguiling atmospheres with his Bechstein A-228 acoustic piano.
The second side is occupied by the revisitation of three songs from Osanna’s first album, L’UOMO. In the suite, which combined “Introduction” and “L’uomo”, Lino Vairetti, the heart and soul of Osanna, is present on vocals and harmonica; “L’amore vincerà di nuovo” is sung by Gazebo, an icon of the 80s with “I Like Chophin” and “Masterpiece”, who demonstrates his great love of seventies rock.
This songs tells six stories, suspended between rock and experimentalism, connecting prog, hard-rock, psychedelia, classic-contemporary music, electric and acoustic instruments, vintage and modern sounds, melody and rhythms which refuse to stand still.
OTHER STORIES
“È la guerra” (“That’s War”): Romantic and chiaroscuro piece that reflects on the various meanings of the word “war” and on the ways to combat the resulting cultural brutalization, including that of never betraying one’s ideas.
“Lampo” (“Lightning”): Symphonic prog with the expressive urgency of punk. We liked the idea of a prog synthesis, almost an oxymoron.
“After The War”: Homage to John Wetton with a “forgotten” piece by “his” Asia, which concluded their third album, ASTRA (1985). It was also chosen for the value of the anti-war lyrics. The group’s approach was not philological, avoiding the photocopy effect. The song is devoid of the original smooth atmosphere. It is practically played live with a decidedly powerful style compared to the original version.
“La follia che diventa realtà” (“The madness that becomes reality”): A lyric written by Gianni Leone of the Balletto di Bronzo. Recorded for another project of ours (Sinfonia) for the anthology PROGRESSIVAMENTE 1973-2003 (Cd). The first part is sung and apparently reassuring on a melodic level, even if it features an odd time signature, with the second, only instrumental, part which explores the depths of the darkness of the human mind. Sax, violin and a choir in Latin (using only phonemes that sounded in tune with the rest, without finding the meaning in the lyrics). A song that I have always loved and of which we had not created the “right” version yet.
“È la guerra” (“That’s War”, orchestral version): The music, deprived of its lyrics, almost takes on another meaning, also thanks to some changes in the arrangement.
“A Gift For Keith Emerson”: HE is the character who gave equal dignity to keyboards in rock. Dutiful homage in three instrumental movements…
A) The Beginning
B) From The Beginning To The Top
C) From The Top To The Hell
D) Goobye Life
This minisuite describe his problematic life, which ended in suicide on 11 March 2016 The formation is triangular like Emerson, Lake & Palmer but involves the use of the electric guitar instead of the bass, a role covered by the synthesizers. Keith was an absolute master, at least among the key artists of the music that exploded in the 70s, on the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers. In 1967 he began his climb to success with the classic band Nice. He exploded in 1970 with the supergroup par excellence… Emerson, Lake & Palmer. But from the top you can only go down! After the ecstasy of success comes torment! In the 90s he discovered the disease which severely limited the use of his right arm. On the night between 10 and 11 March, now aware that the disease could no longer be cured and afflicted by a profound depression, the king of rock keyboard players committed suicide with a gunshot to the head. The last movement describes the moments in which he thinks back to his beginnings, when he had yet to begin traveling in music. He needs it to find the courage to end it, because his music is more important than his own life to him. The final noise, after the last note, symbolizes the closing of the piano lid, perhaps due to the fall of his body on it, perhaps due to a compassionate hand that prefers to remove the sight of Keith’s lifeless body from those magical keys in white and black.
1 Stratosferico 2:03
2 L’urlo 2:33
3 Rawon 5:17
4 Introduzione 4:31
5 L’uomo 4:34
6 L’amore vincerà di nuovo 3:36
7 È la guerra 3:24
8 Lampo 1:29
9 After The War 5:05
10 La follia che diventa realtà 6:48
11 È la guerra (versione orchestrale) 3:24
12 A Gift For Keith Emerson 8:38
Demetrio Stratos: voice (1 – Area) – Davide Pistoni: piano, keyboards, synthesizers, effects, orchestrazioni (1/12 – Zucchero, Enzo Avitabile, Rovescio della Medaglia), Giulio Capiozzo: drums (2 – Area) – Gianni Nocenzi: acoustic piano (3 – BMS) – Lino Vairetti: harmonica, voice (4/5 – Osanna) – Gazebo: voice (6) – Luca Velletri: voice (9/10 – JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA, NOTRE DAME DE PARIS, Jon Anderson & Vangelis, Phil Collins) – Francesco Isola: drums (4/6, 8/10, 12 – Mo Foster, Alex Britti, Rovescio della Medaglia) – Fabio Cerrone: guitar (4/6, 8/10, 12 – Divae, Virtual Dream) – Lorenzo Trincia: bass (9/10 – Floydiana, Rovescio della Medaglia) – Fabio Trentini: bass (4, 6 – Le Orme) – Carlo Maria Micheli: sax (4, 10 – Vittorio Nocenzi, Tullio De Piscopo) – Paolo Lucini: flute (4/5 – Ezra Winston) – Enzo Vita: guitar (4 – Rovescio della Medaglia) – Alessandro Costanzo: voice (5 – Divae) – Dahl Ah Lee: violin (10 – Conservatorio S. Cecilia) – Elio Volpini: bass (5 – Flea, Uovo di Colombo, Etna) – Pericle Sponzilli: acoustic guitar (4/5, Reale Accademia di Musica) – Guido Bellachioma: voice (7).
Art production: Guido Bellachioma & Davide Pistoni
