Buio Pesto is a musical band from the small town of

Bogliasco Bogliasco ( lij, Boggiasco) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa. Together with the ''comuni'' of Camogli, Recco, Pieve Ligure and Sori, it is part of t ...

near

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Italy. The name of the group is an Italian way to describe something very dark, but at the same time the word ''pesto'' can also refer to the typical

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

n pasta sauce,

pesto Pesto () is a sauce that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), al ...

. As a matter of fact the band's logo, characterized by a strong green colour, resembles a Ligurian

basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also kno ...

leaf, which is the most important ingredient for

. The musical style varies from rock, to rap, to

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and to

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. The most important characteristic of their lyrics is the strong sarcasm and comic irony which gives the music a peculiar goliardic touch. In 2005, Genoa gave Buio Pesto the Disco D'Oro (Gold record) because they reached 50,000 albums sold.

History

''Buio Pesto'' were founded in 1983, although their very "professional" period started in 1992 with the recording of their first album, '' Voglio una fidanzata'' (I want a Girlfriend), published first by Deadline / Discomagic and then in 1996 by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. Significantly, in 1995 the music career of Buio Pesto changed fully, along with their decision to sing in the local language, Ligurian. From then until now, they have sold 60,000 records and performed more than 400 concerts (with a total of 680,000 people among the audience), while collecting more than 254,000,000 Lire for charity. Their second album, ''Cosmolandia'', was released in 1998 and sold more than 3,000 copies; it contains an unedited song ''Cosmolandia'' as sung by

Franco Malerba Franco Egidio Malerba (born 10 October 1946 in Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy) is an Italian astronaut and Member of the European Parliament. He was the first citizen of Italy to travel to space. In 1994, he was elected to the Europea ...

, the first Italian

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

in space for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

in 1992 with the

Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. ''Atlantis'' was manufactured by the Rockwell Inte ...

STS-46 STS-46 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission using and was launched on July 31, 1992, and landed on August 8, 1992. Crew Backup crew Crew seating arrangements Mission highlights The mission's primary objectives were the deployment of ...

. In 1999 the

Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to Se ...

STS-103 STS-103 was a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission by Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 19 December 1999 and returned on 27 December 1999. It was also the last Shuttle mission of the 19 ...

was launched from

Cape Canaveral , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

transporting the album on board . ''Cosmolandia'' was the first Italian song album to fly to space. Buio Pesto even produced the first sci-fi movie entirely shot in Italy: InvaXön - Alieni in Liguria. They have had various guests in some of their albums such as

Marco Masini Marco Masini (born 18 September 1964 in Florence), is an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and pianist. As of 2021, he has released 11 studio albums, 12 compilations, and 3 live albums. Early years Marco Masini was born in the city o ...

and

Elio e le Storie tese Elio e le Storie Tese (; literally "Elio and the Troubled Stories"), often abbreviated EelST, was an Italian comedy rock band from Milan, formed in 1980. Its leader was Stefano Belisari, better known as Elio. They announced their split on 17 Oct ...

, and Ligurian

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 ...

singer Piero Parodi.

Band

The main members of the band are: * Massimo Morini – main vocals and keyboards * Nino Cancilla – bass * Gianni Casella – vocals * Federica Saba – vocals * Massimo Bosso – lyrics, vocals and production * Giorgia Vassallo – vocals

Former members

* Davide Ageno – guitar and vocals * Danilo Straulino – drums * Maurizio Borzone – violin and vocals The staff of Buio Pesto counts 45 members altogether. The initial group comprised Alex Pagnucco (bass) and Andrea "Pagen" Paglierini (vocals).

Discography

;Dead Line / Discomagic: *'' Voglio una fidanzata'' ;Grigua/Discolandia *'' Belinlandia'' (1995) *'' Cosmolandia'' (1998) *''

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

'' (2000) *'' Zeneize'' (2001) *'' Paganini'' (2001) *'' Basilico'' (2004) *'' Palanche'' (2006) *''

'' (2008) *''

Pesto Pesto () is a sauce that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), al ...

'' (2010) * '' Zeneize'' (2012) * '' Buio Pesto'' (2014) * ''

Liguri The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian regio ...

'' (2016) ;Videolandia / Discolandia *'' Belin che video!'' (2001) *'' Buio Pesto al Teatro Carlo Felice'' (2002) *'' Buio Pesto'' (2005)

References

External links

official websiteIMDB's InvaXon
{{Authority control Italian musical groups