Giuseppe "Gipo" Farassino (11 March 1934 – 11 December 2013) was an Italian singer, songwriter, musician and politician.

Biography

As a songwriter Farassino produced more than 30 albums and virtually 50 singles. Most of his songs were in

Piedmontese language Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

and were directly inspired by French

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

and chansonniers. Farassino, who was also active as an actor, obtained his first major success in 1968 with ''Avere un amico'', a collection of his most well-known songs in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. Contextually, Farassino became a friend of

Fabrizio De André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...

and started to be active in the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

(PCI). Having abandoned the PCI and having endorsed more and more Piedmontese nationalism, Farassino first joined the Piedmontese Union, founded and led by Roberto Gremmo (another former Communist), and later was the founder and leader of the "Piedmontese Autonomist Movement" in 1987. The party, which took the name of "Autonomist Piedmont", was soon involved in the formation of a federation of

Northern Italian Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

regionalist parties, Lega Nord, and was transformed into Lega Nord Piemont (LNP). Farassino, who would be the "national" secretary of the LNP until 1996, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 1992 general election. Having been defeated in a Senate single-seat constituency in the 1994 general election, he was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

in the

1994 European Parliament election The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994. This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall numbe ...

. He did not stand for re-election in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and briefly left politics. Farassino was finally regional minister for Piedmontese Identity from 2004 to 2005.

Discography

Solo * ''Le canssôn d' Porta Pila'' (1962) * ''Le canssôn d' Porta Pila n° 2'' (1962) * ''Le canssôn d' Porta Pila n° 3'' (1963) * ''Mè cit Turin..'' (1963) * ''Le canssôn 'd la Mole'' (1964) * ''Milano canta...'' (1964) * ''Auguri'' (1967) * ''Avere un amico'' (1968) * ''Due soldi di coraggio'' (1969) * ''Gipo a só Turin'' (1970) * ''Ij bogianen'' (1972) * ''Uomini, bestie e ragionieri'' (1972) * ''Aria di casa mia'' (1973) * ''C'è chi vole e chi non pole: grassie listesso'' (1973) * ''Guarda che bianca lun-a - Gipo canta Brofferio'' (1974) * ''La patria cita'' (1974) * ''Mantello, stivali e coltello'' (1975) * ''Me car Artuf'' (1975) * ''Ij mè amor dij 20 ani'' (1976) * ''Per la mia gente'' (1977) * ''Turin bel cheur'' (1979) * ''N'aptit da sonador'' (1982) * ''Piemonteis'' (1985) * ''1996'' (1996) * ''Ridatemi Amapola'' (1998) * ''Ritratto d'artista'' (1998)

References

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farassino, Gipo 1934 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male singers 21st-century Italian composers 21st-century Italian male singers Deputies of Legislature XI of Italy Italian folk musicians Italian male singers Italian male singer-songwriters Italian singer-songwriters Italian multi-instrumentalists Lega Nord MEPs MEPs for Italy 1994–1999 Musicians from Turin Politicians from Turin Singers from Turin