An encounter, a friendship, a unique page in the history of music
Meeting, talking to each other, trying to get in tune with one another, finding points of contact and identifying those in which there may be dissonance is something that does not only happen in love or friendship stories. The history of music is an infinite archive of encounters, from which collaborations were born which then wrote the most beautiful pages. Think, just for a moment, about the meeting between Paul McCartney e John Lennon. Now think, always only for a fateful moment, if that meeting had never happened. How much history of music would not have been written, how many chapters dedicated to Beatles, and the innovative and revolutionary musical imprint that the formidable Liverpool quartet represented, today they would be only completely blank pages.
Mauro Pagani
The assistance for this post was given to me by a beautiful article published in Il Corriere della Sera signed by Paul Baldini. The subject of the article is a character from the world of music that not everyone knows or, perhaps, better still, does not know exactly its greatness. For over fifty years his extraordinary musical qualities have led him to touch different artistic fields, always managing to create unique atmospheres. Mauro Pagani was born in 1946, a clear, in the province of Brescia. Multi-instrumentalist and composer with rare talent and sensitivity, in the 70s was considered one of the top 10 musicians in the world. In his article Paolo Baldini traces the stages of a career full of encounters, starting with the one with Flavio Beg e Franco Mussida, together with which he will give life to the largest Italian progressive group, la PFM.
PFM and the "ethnic" turning point
That wonderful adventure with the PFM it lasted eight years, from 1970 al 1977. It goes from the beginnings up to Chocolate Kings and his presence deeply marks the history of the group. It is thanks to him that instruments such as the violin and the flute find their space in an area almost forbidden until then, that of pop - rock. It is a truly magical period, which Mauro Pagani imprinted in letters of fire in his memory, with that indelible memory: "when we accompanied the explosion of 33 rpm and progressive living in the car, from one concert to another". At the end of that experience, his solo career began. From that moment on he was born the push towards a new musical trend, that of ethnic music, with a particular interest in that coming from the Middle East area.
Mauro Pagani & Fabrizio De André
In 1981 the "meeting" with Fabrizio De André. A partnership that was born from a friendship and an empathic understanding on a musical and poetic level that led the two artists to the creation of two musical masterpieces: Creuza de mä e Clouds, where the Lombard musician took care of the music and arrangements. Above all Creuza de mä, which is dated 1984, is an absolute masterpiece and judged one of the 10 best records released worldwide in the 90s. The initial idea was to create a grammelot, or an invented language of sailors, where Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic could blend harmoniously. But that idea, says Mauro Pagani, lasted less than two days, since Fabrizio De André has thought of a new solution. There was no need for a new language, the perfect language for sailors already existed and was the Genoese dialect. Genoa is the sea and his language carries that sea within him, within himself. Never has a choice turned out to be more appropriate.
The collaboration with Gabriele Salvatores
His artistic history then continued through other important collaborations such as the one with the Oscar-winning director, Gabriele Salvatores. For him Mauro Pagani has written the soundtracks of five films, including hidden port e Nirvana. Ten articles would not be enough to tell Mauro Pagani's artistic story, so vast and varied was his ability to delve into the most diverse meanders of the musical universe. Our goal was, from the outset, to make known a little better, a multifaceted and original artist, who has partly written, and rewritten, the history of our music. As a solitary composer, within a group or collaborating with other artists. Everywhere, and in any case, he created MUSIC, the one written all in capital letters.
Article written by Stefano Vori
