Dik Dik is an Italian

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- pop-

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, named after the antelope Dik-dik, formed in the 1960s and still in activity. They were most popular in the late 1960s, when they released a string of hit singles with the contribution of renowned lyric-writer Mogol and songwriter

Lucio Battisti Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 – 9 September 1998) was an influential Italian singer-songwriter and composer. He is widely recognized for songs that defined the late 1960s and 1970s era of Italian songwriting. Battisti released 18 studio albums ...

,
Dik Dik: Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa
'

' their greatest successes being "Sognando la California" and "Senza luce", respectively covers of "

California Dreamin' "California Dreamin'" is a song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and first recorded by Barry McGuire. The best-known version is by the Mamas & the Papas, who sang backup on the original version and released it as a single in 1 ...

" by

The Mamas and Papas The Mamas & the Papas were a folk rock vocal group formed in Los Angeles, California, which recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group consisted of Am ...

and "

A Whiter Shade of Pale "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song by the English rock band Procol Harum that was issued as their debut record on 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, i ...

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Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have List of best-selling singles, sold over ...

. While their early production is mostly inspired by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, in the 1970s they also experimented in other genres, including

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

.
Dik Dik: Biografia
'' They went on hiatus in the 1980s but later returned to the scene, mostly in revival television shows and live performances.

History

Dik Dik formed in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1965. The original line-up included Giancarlo Sbriziolo (aka Lallo) on vocals and bass, Pietro Montalbetti (aka Pietruccio) on guitar, Erminio Salvaderi (aka Pepe) on guitar, Sergio Panno on drums and Mario Totaro on keyboards. Their first single, '' 1-2-3'', was a cover version of the song by

Len Barry Leonard Warren Borisoff (June 12, 1942 – November 5, 2020), known professionally as Len Barry, was an American singer, songwriter, lyricist, record producer, author, and poet. Life and career Born on June 12, 1942 and raised in Philadelphia, ...

. Their second single, ''Sognando la California'', was released in October 1966 and ended up topping the Italian charts for two months. Dik Dik subsequently released a string of successful singles, mostly a mix of original compositions and Italian renditions of popular songs by other artists, including ''Il mondo è con noi'' (1966), ''Inno'' (1967, cover of ''Let's go to San Francisco'' by

The Flower Pot Men The Flower Pot Men were an English pop group created in 1967 as a result of the single, "Let's Go to San Francisco", recorded by session musicians, becoming a major UK Top 20 and Continental Europe hit in the autumn of 1967. The group's sound ...

), ''Senza luce'' (1967, cover of ''

'' by

), ''Il vento'' (1968), and ''

Il primo giorno di primavera "Il primo giorno di primavera" (literally "The first day of spring") is a 1968 song composed by Mario Lavezzi, Cristiano Minellono and Mogol and performed by the musical group Dik Dik. The song was one of the band's major hits, its lyrics were ...

'' (1969). In 1969 they performed with Rita Pavone at the

Festival della canzone italiana The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...

Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...

. Other singles released in the following years include ''L'isola di Wight'' (1970), ''Vendo casa'' (1972), ''Storia di periferia'' (1973), ''Help Me'' (1974), and ''Volando'' (1975, a cover of ''Sailing'' by

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

). Their long-playing albums were not commercially successful. Their first three releases, largely collections of their singles, were published in 1967, 1969, and 1970 respectively. In 1972 the band recorded the first proper studio album, ''Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa'' ("Suite for an absolutely relative woman"), which was an experiment in

.
Dik Dik
' ''Suite'' was conceived as a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about the feminine universe, with lyrics by artist and poet Herbert Pagani; it was very different from Dik Dik's previous production, and was somehow rejected by their audience, resulting in a commercial flop. As a consequence, the band thereafter returned to their earlier pop-beat style. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s the band experienced several personnel changes, with Panno and Totaro leaving in 1974 (replaced by Roberto "Hunka Munka" Carlotto on keyboards and Nunzio "Cucciolo" Favia on drums), and Sbriziolo leaving in 1978 (replaced by two guitarists, Roberto "Roby" Facini and Rosario Brancati). In 1980 Carlotto was replaced by keyboard virtuoso

Joe Vescovi Joe Vescovi (1 January 1949 – 28 November 2014) was an Italian progressive rock keyboard player, considered as one of the prominent musicians of the 1970s Italian progressive rock scene, best known for his work in bands The Trip and Dik Dik. A s ...

, who had been collaborating with the band since 1974. Dik Dik's alienation of the mainstream audience continued with ambitious sonic experiments such as ''I'te vurria vasà'' (1976), which drastically departed from Dik Dik's traditional sound, and also with the advent of

disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano ...

, which caused the decline of several pop-rock bands.
I Dik Dik raccontati da Pietro Montalbetti
'' After a couple of relatively successful singles, such as ''Laser vivente'' (1980) and ''Giornale di bordo'' (1982), the band went on hiatus. Pietruccio, Pepe, and Lallo eventually reconvened and released a few more singles such as ''L'amico mio'' (1983) and ''Senza luce... reggae'' (1984), and participated in the Musicaitalia per l'Etiopia humanitarian project for

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. In 1986, Favia and Carlotto gave life to a spin-off of the band, originally named "Carlotto e Cucciolo già Dik Dik", which led to a legal quarrel about the ownership of the "Dik Dik" brand. The dispute went on until 2006, when the name "Dik Dik" was finally given to Pietruccio, Pepe, and Lallo while Favia and Carlotto were allowed to perform under the name "Già Dik Dik" ("Ex Dik Dik"). From the second half of the 1980s, Dik Dik returned to the scenes participating in popular music revival television shows such as ''Una rotonda sul mare''. In 1993 they performed again at the Festival di Sanremo together with former rivals

I Camaleonti I Camaleonti ("The Chameleons") are an Italian pop group from Milan, mostly active between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Background I Camaleonti were formed in 1963 in Milan. The original line-up included Livio Macchia (guitar), Anton ...

, another band from the 1960s-1970s Italian scene, and Maurizio Vandelli from

Equipe 84 Equipe 84 were an Italian Beat band formed in 1964 in Modena. The name translates as Team 84, and it was originally suggested by a friend of the band, Pier Farri. 'Equipe' was thought to be a word that would resonate more easily outside of thei ...

. Dik Dik are still occasionally performing. In 1997 they have started their own website. In 2010, Pietruccio has published an autobiographical book about the history of the band, ''I ragazzi della via Stendhal'' ("The Via Stendhal Boys", a reference to Molnár's novel "

The Paul Street Boys ''The Paul Street Boys'' ( hu, A Pál utcai fiúk) is a youth novel by the Hungarian writer Ferenc Molnár, first published in 1906. Plot outline The novel is about schoolboys in Józsefváros neighbourhood of Budapest and set in 1889. The Pau ...

"
La California in Via Stendhal
' as well as a reference to the street where Lallo and Pietruccio grew up in Milan). In November 2020, Pepe Salvaderi died because of

covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

complications. In 2021, they released their last studio album "Una vita d'avventura" (An adventurous life) which contains six new songs and new recordings of five of the band's evergreen. The album is also the last performance by Pepe Salvaderi before his death.

Personnel

* Giancarlo "Lallo" Sbriziolo: vocals, bass, guitar (1965-present) * Pietro "Pietruccio" Montalbetti: lead guitar, vocals, bass (1965-present)

Support musicians

* Gaetano Rubino:

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Mauro Gazzola:

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Past members

* Erminio "Pepe" Salvaderi: Guitar, vocals (1965-died 2020)

Past members

* Mario Totaro: keyboards (1965-1974) * Sergio Panno: drums (1965-1974) * Nunzio "Cucciolo" Favia: drums (1974-1982) * Roberto "Hunka Munka" Carlotto: keyboards (1974-1977) * Roberto "Roby" Facini: vocals, guitar (1977-1982) * Rosario Brancati: guitar (1978-1982) *

: keyboards (1978-2007, died 2014) * Erminio "Pepe" Salvaderi: rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals (1965-2020, born 194?, Milan died 19 December 2020, Milan)

Discography

Albums

* ''Dik Dik'' (1967,

Dischi Ricordi Dischi Ricordi is an Italian record company founded on by and Guido Crepax, active from 1958 to 1994. History Dischi Ricordi had its seat in Milan (Via Giovanni Berchet, 2). In 1994, the company was bought by BMG, who acquired the catalog w ...

) * ''Il primo giorno di primavera e altri successi'' (1969, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa'' (1972, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Storie e confessioni'' (1973, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Volando'' (1976,

Ri-Fi Ri-Fi was an Italian record company and label, active between 1959 and 1982. The company was founded in Milan by , who also served as CEO.Mauro De Luigi. "Ri-Fi". Gino Castaldo (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 19 ...

) * ''Amico'' (1978, Ri-Fi) * ''Live'' (1989,

Durium Durium is a highly durable synthetic resin developed in 1929. It was used in phonograph records, as well as in the casting process for metallic type and in the aeronautics industry. Origin It is a resorcinol-formaldehyde resin, the result of ...

) * ''Come fossero farfalle'' (1991,

Carosello ''Carosello'' () was an Italian television advertising show broadcast on RAI from 1957 to 1977. The series mainly showed short sketch comedy films using live action, various types of animation, and puppetry. It had an audience of about 20 milli ...

) * ''Come passa il tempo e i più grandi successi'' (1993, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Isole in viaggio'' (1997,

Duck Records Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list ...

) * ''Sogno Beat'' (2000,

) * ''L'isola di Wight e altri successi'' (2000, MBO Music) * ''Uno in più e i grandi successi beat'' (2000, MBO Music) * ''Ingresso gratuito'' (2003, Dik Dik Records) * ''Sold Out'' (2008, Dik Dik Records)

Singles

* ''1-2-3/Se rimani con me'' (1966,

) * ''Sognando la California/Dolce di giorno'' (1966, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Il mondo è con noi/Se io fossi un falegname'' (1967, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Guardo te e vedo mio figlio/Senza luce'' (1967, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Inno/Windy'' (1967, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Il vento/L'esquimese'' (1968, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Dimenticherai/Eleonora credi'' (1968, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Zucchero/Piccola arancia'' (1969, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Il primo giorno di primavera/Nuvola bianca'' (1969, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Primavera primavera/Sogni proibiti'' (1969, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Io mi fermo qui/Restare bambino'' (1970, Dischi Ricordi) * ''L'isola di Wight/Innamorato'' (1970, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Vivo per te/Quattro bicchieri di vino'' (1970, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Vivo per te/Dove vai'' (1970, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Ninna nanna (Cuore mio)/Incantesimo'' (1970, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Vendo casa/Paura'' (1971, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Viaggio di un poeta/Oggi no'' (1972, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Il cavallo, l'aratro e l'uomo/Senza luce'' (1972, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Storia di periferia/Libero'' (1973, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Il confine/Ma perché'' (1973, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Help Me/Sono nato'' (1974, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Piccola mia/Uno strano sentimento'' (1975, Dischi Ricordi) * ''Volando/Ossessioni'' (1975, Dik Dik Records) * ''I' te vurria vasà/Come una bambina'' (1976, Dik Dik Records) * ''Un giorno, cento anni/Flowers freedom and love'' (1977, Dik Dik Records) * ''Io, te e l'infinito/Walking in the Sunshine'' (1977, Dik Dik Records) * ''Amico/Senza di te'' (1978,

) * ''Strani fili/Hard Stuff'' (1978,

Ariston Records Ariston Records was a Record label, record company established in Milan, Italy, by Alfredo Rossi (1925–2008). It was active from 1964 to 1989. It was part of the larger Ariston Group, which was founded in 1949 by Alfredo and his brother, th ...

) * ''Dimenticare Venezia/Sentimento'' (1979, Ariston Records) * ''Laser vivente/Dolce amara tu'' (1980, Ariston Records) * ''Vuoto a rendere/Mamamadama'' (1980, Ariston Records) * ''Giornale di bordo'' (1982,

Lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

) * ''L'amico mio/Compagnia'' (1983, Numero Uno) * ''Senza luce...reggae/Alza la vela al vento'' (1984, Five Record) * ''Un giorno d'amore/Primo round'' (1985,

) * ''Quando verrà Natale/L'isola di Wight'' (1990,

)

References

External links

*
L'Isola di Wight
* {{Authority control 1965 establishments in Italy Italian pop music groups Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Milan Pop rock groups Soft rock music groups