Modena City Ramblers (also known as M.C.R.) is an Italian
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
rock band founded in 1991. Their music is heavily influenced by
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
themes, and can be compared to
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
music. The band has sold over 500,000 albums. Known for their
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...
, their lyrics often speak out against
the Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
and
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
.
Biography
The Modena City Ramblers were formed in 1991 by a group of friends who wanted to play traditional Irish music.
The first to join were Alberto Morselli, Giovanni Rubbiani and Alberto Cottica (previously in ''
Lontano da dove
''Lontano da dove'' (''Away from where'') is a 1983 Italian romantic drama film written and directed by Stefania Casini and Francesca Marciano. For this film Monica Scattini was awarded Nastro d'Argento for best supporting actress.
Plot
Ma ...
''), Chris Dennis (formerly a member of ''
Nomadi Nomadi (or I Nomadi, meaning "Nomads") is an Italian band formed in 1963 and still present on the music scene.
Career
Origins
In 1961, Beppe Carletti and Leonardo Manfredini formed the group I Monelli (‘Urchins’).
In 1962, Carletti met Franco ...
''), Filippo Chieli, Franco D'Aniello and Luciano Gaetani from Abazia dei folli''. On
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...
in 1991, during a concert in a pub in
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
, they chose the name Modena City Ramblers. The name was an homage to
Dublin City Ramblers
The Dublin City Ramblers is an Irish folk band, originally formed by the name of The Quare Fellas in 1970. The band has had a long line of members and Sean McGuinness is the only current of the original line-up, that also included Patsy Watchorn ...
, an Irish band.
In 1992, they were joined by bassist Massimo Ghiacci (formerly in the band ''Plutonium 99''). During the evening of 1 March they recorded their first demo. During a concert at a pub in
Carpi
Carpi may refer to:
Places
* Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy
* Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric
People
* Carpi (people), an ancie ...
, Stefano "Cisco" Bellotti sang "The Wild Rover" for the first time. At this time the Modena City Ramblers became an open company, and have remained so during throughout their history, with almost all members who have left the band returning sporadically to play with the group. Their most famous concert was performed as the opening act for the
Pogues
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...
in
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
. Their repertoire has since expanded considerably, including traditional Italian songs as "
Bella ciao", "
Fischia il vento
"Fischia il vento" is an Italian popular song whose text was written in late 1943, at the inception of the Resistenza. Along with '' Bella ciao'' it is one of the most famous songs celebrating the Italian resistance.
History
The song was broadc ...
", and "Contessa".
The singer of the group Cisco along with
producer Kaba Cavazzuti who also became "a new member of the Modena City Ramblers after changes in the original line-up", released the album of the ‘brother band’
Casa del Vento, titled "900" which came out in February 2001.
Members
The band's lineup has changed many times since their formation. After the first album, singer Alberto Morselli left the band; in 1996 Francesco Moneti replaced Marco Michelini, and Giovanni Rubbiani and Alberto Cottica left the band in 2001. Singer Stefano "Cisco" Bellotti left the band in 2005 after fourteen years. The lineup in 2006 was:
* Davide "Dudu" Morandi: singer, bass,
acoustic and electric guitar,
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
,
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone.
The glo ...
, harmonica
* Elisabetta "Betty" Vezzani: singer, acoustic and electric guitar,
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
* Massimo "Ice" Ghiacci:
acoustic and electric bass, double bass,
tea chest bass
The washtub bass, or gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses hav ...
,
sax, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
* Franco D'Aniello: flute,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
, trumpet, sax, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, percussion
* Francesco "Fry" Moneti: acoustic and electric guitar,
acoustic,
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
and
Indian violin, banjo,
oud
, image=File:oud2.jpg
, image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921
, background=
, classification=
* String instruments
*Necked bowl lutes
, hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum
, ...
, mandolin, backing vocals
* Roberto Zeno: drums, percussion, backing vocals, mandolin, acoustic guitar and piano
* Arcangelo "Kaba" Cavazzuti: drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, bass,
charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...
, piano, trumpet,
[Tour 2008 ]Image
An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
shaker, banjo, backing vocals
* Luca "Gabibbo" Giacometti (died in 2007):
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
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from:1992 till:2006 text:"Stefano 'Cisco' Bellotti"
Discography
Album
*1994 – ''Riportando tutto a casa''
*1996 – ''La grande famiglia''
*1997 – ''Terra e libertà''
*1998 – ''Raccolti''
*1999 – ''Fuori campo''
*2002 – ''Radio Rebelde''
*2004 – ''¡Viva la vida, muera la muerte!''
*2005 – ''Appunti partigiani''
*2006 – ''Dopo il lungo inverno''
*2008 – ''Bella ciao – Italian Combat Folk for the Masses''
*2009 – ''Onda libera''
*2011 – ''Sul tetto del mondo''
*2013 – ''Niente di nuovo sul fronte occidentale''
*2014 – ''Venti''
*2015 – ''Tracce Clandestine''
EPs
*1998 – ''Cent'anni di solitudine''
*1999 – ''L'Italia ai tempi dei Modena City Ramblers''
*2003 – ''Modena City Remix''
*2003 – ''Gocce'' (for Acqua per la Pace)
*2004 – ''El presidente''
Rarities
*1992 – ''On the first day of march...Live demo'' – autoproduced demotape
*1993 – ''Combat Folk'' – autoproduced demotape
*2000 – ''Il resto raccolto'' – recorded only for fan club
DVD
*2004 – ''Clan Banlieue'' – twelve years of songs, concerts, interviews, journey, unreleased videos
Participations
*1995 – ''Tributo ad Augusto'' (CGD) – with ''L'atomica cinese''
*1995 – ''Materiale resistente'' – with ''
Bella ciao''
*1995 – ''I disertori'' – a tribute to
Ivano Fossati
Ivano Alberto Fossati (born 21 September 1951) is an Italian pop singer from Genoa. He was a member of the progressive rock group Delirium and has worked with Fabrizio De André, Riccardo Tesi, Anna Oxa, Mia Martini, Ornella Vanoni, Shirley Bass ...
– play ''Gli amanti d'Irlanda''
*1999 – ''A come Ambiente'' (
La Stampa
''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy.
History and profile
The paper was fou ...
)- with ''Madre Terra''
*2002 – ''Piazza Carlo Giuliani ragazzo'' – with ''La legge giusta'' (inspired by the
27th G8 summit)
*2002 – ''Lontano'' – by Landscape Prayers
*2003 – ''Balla veloce vivi lento'' – with ''Le lucertole del folk''
*2007 – ''Tre colori'' by Graziano Romani – with ''Spiriti Liberi''; ''Stesso Viaggio Stessa Città''; ''Corre Buon Sangue''.
*2007 – ''Nessuno oltraggi nessuno'' – with ''Socialdemocrazia'' by Gang, live version.
Collaborations
* Several of the Ramblers' songs, such as "Cent'anni di solitudine", "Macondo Express", and "Remedios la Bella" are inspired by the 1967 novel ''
One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (Spanish: Cien años de soledad) by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...
.
* The song "Il bicchiere dell'addio" features Irish singer
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...
. The Ramblers later recorded a version of "The Great Song of Indifference" in
Emiliano-Romagnolo language, inspired by Geldof's version 1990 hit from Vegetarians of Love album.
* The Ramblers' album ''Appunti Partigiani'' features collaborations with many artists, including
Goran Bregović
Goran Bregović (born 22 March 1950) is a recording artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Slavic-speaking countries in the Balkans, and is one of the few former Yugo ...
,
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...
,
Moni Ovadia
Salomone "Moni" Ovadia (born 16 April 1946 in Plovdiv) is a Bulgarian-born Italian actor, musician, singer and theatrical author. He is one of the most highly regarded figures in contemporary Italian culture. His theatrical performances recall ...
,
Piero Pelù
Pietro "Piero" Pelù (born 10 February 1962) is an Italian singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the Italian band Litfiba. He was born in Florence.
In July 1999, Pelù quit Litfiba. In 2000, he released his first solo album ''Né ...
, and
Francesco Guccini
Francesco Guccini (, born 14 June 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter, considered one of the most important '' cantautori'' of his time. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live a ...
.
References
External links
Official websiteOfficial fan club
{{Authority control
Italian folk music groups
Folk rock groups
Musical groups established in 1991
Musical groups from Emilia-Romagna
Folk punk groups
Celtic music groups
1991 establishments in Italy