Da Spunda is the first solo album of drummer, percussionist, composer and singer from the Piedmont region of Italy, Gigi Biolcati, a permanent member of groups such as Banditaliana, Bella Ciao and YouLook Trio.
Da Spunda is an extremely individual and personal work: eleven songs, almost all written by Biolcati, inspired by traditional music and culture and mostly sung in Santhiatian dialect, difficult to understand but rich in rhythm and bearer of popular wisdom. One exception is a piece of local tradition and the original cover of "Fiorin Fiorello", for which a fun video was also made.
Biolcati plays almost exclusively alone, accompanying his voice with a number of percussions (including metal trays, demijohns and toys), synthesizers, kalimba, electric piano, classical guitar, fast-foot - a wooden recycled box which he plays barefooted. - and a self-built guitar from recycled materials, played with Chinese chopsticks. His performance of Body Percussion and the transformation of the rhythm of the dialect into a sort of rap is completely unique.
Published by Visage Music, Spunda is an album that talks of human feelings and relationships and is pervaded by constructive optimism as the title suggests: transforming life's difficulties into opportunities to renew and improve, just as in billiards in “La Sponda” the limits and borders become virtuous tools.
Da Spunda transmits a spirit to the listener from the first note onwards and remains with him long after the end of the disc !
Gigi Biolcati: composition, lyrics, percussion, synthesizers, kalimba, electric piano, guitar classes, objects.
Guests - Loredana Guarneri: cello; Piergiorgio: pocket trumpet; Roberto Amadè: voice
About Gigi Biolcati:
Born in 1965, he began at twelve years of age playing music in dance halls and discotheques.
The encounter with Maestro Enrico Lucchini, which has shaped him since 1994, influences him greatly both in the study of jazz and in the search for his own musical identity.
In the 1990s he collaborated with Cristiano De Andrè and Aida Cooper; mid-way through the first decade of 2000, in numerous projects by the hurdy gurdy player Maurizio Martinotti; Between 2008 and 2009 he participated in the recording of two albums by Alboran trio for the German label ACT,
The Lion, the Wolf and the Donkey with the American harp player Park Stickney and Tutti gli incanti della vita with Roberto Amadè. At the same time he same time he was called by Paul James to join the international Evening Star band.
In 2010 began the partnership with Riccardo Tesi and Banditaliana, becoming a firm member recording two albums, Madreperla and Maggio, in which he is also author and co-author of some tracks.
In 2013 he founded, together with Aldo Mella and Luisa Cottifogli, the YOULOOK TRIO, and recorded the disc Desert Island.
From 2014, its 50th anniversary. participating in the reinterpretation of the historic Bella Ciao show, directed by Riccardo Tesi, together with Lucilla Galeazzi, Elena Ledda, Gine-vra Di Marco, Alessio Lega and Andrea Salvadori.
Inspired by drumming, sound and groove both from the drum tradition and from the ethnical percussion, in which the tribal aspect of the rhythm contaminated by techno-post-industrial sounds shines through. Biolcati is devoted to a variety of instruments: Cajon, Tabla, Djembe, kalimba, knick-knacks, slatted sound boxes and strings, wooden boxes played barefoot with a technique that brings to mind flamenco and tip-tap steps. To this he adds voice - in the form of both singing and rhythmic vocalizations - and body percussion.