Trinaka Etna · Sicily

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Franco Battiato

Notable people

Who they were
1945–2021 · cantautore, compositore, scrittore, regista, pittore e politico italiano (1945-2021) · Giarre-Riposto

Franco Battiato
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA

Francesco "Franco" Battiato was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs explore many themes, and have spanned genres such as experimental pop, electronic music, minimalism, avant-garde, progressive rock, new wave, symphonic music, sound collage, opera, oratorio and movie soundtrack.

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Biography

Early years and experimental period
Battiato was born in Ionia, the former name of the town of Giarre-Riposto, in Sicily, southern Italy. After graduating from high school at the Liceo Scientifico "Archimede" in Acireale, and following the death of his father (truck driver and longshoreman in New York), in 1964 he moved first to Rome, and then to Milan at age 19, and soon after won his first musical contract.
His single "La Torre" was released and Battiato appeared on TV to perform the song. He scored some success with the romantic song "È l'amore". After some works as a guitarist and sound engineer for popular singers, he traveled to America for a small tour where he had considerable success. After that, Battiato met the experimental musician Juri Camisasca in 1970 and collaborated with Osage Tribe, an Italian psychedelic-progressive rock band. As a solo artist, he released the science-fiction single La convenzione (The convention), one of the finest Italian progressive rock songs of the 1970s.
Starting from 1971, Battiato devoted much of his efforts to experimental electronic music, producing a series of LPs that remained almost unknown at the time, but are now eagerly sought by collectors worldwide. Starting out with electronic progressive rock with some emphasis on vocals, his music became increasingly experimental, gradually moving into the realms of musique concrète and minimalism. Fetus, his first album, was released in January 1972, followed by Pollution (1973), Sulle Corde di Aries (1973), Clic (1974) and M.elle le "Gladiator" (1975).
In 1975, he moved to the Dischi Ricordi label, producing Battiato (1977), Juke Box (1978) and the experimental it:L'Egitto prima delle sabbie ("Egypt Before the Sands", 1978), which won the Stockhausen award for contemporary…

Filmography

Lost Love (2003)
Musikanten (2005)
Nothing is as it seems (2007)
La sua figura (2007)
Auguri Don Gesualdo (2010)
Attraversando il Bardo (2014)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Read the whole article

Photos
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37.72778 N · 15.19639 E

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