Memoria D'elefante

It isn’t fictive folk music, it isn’t jazz, it isn’t classical, it isn’t traditional or world music – it’s simply Sardinian music from Sardinian musicians. The idea emerged through the work of the film director Gianfranco Cabbido, who resides in Rome. While doing research some eight years ago in preparation for his film Bakunin’s Children, he was surprised by his discovery of an abundance of film material covering life in Sardinia from the 1930’s to the 50’s. The film was a reflection of what was even for him, as a native Sardinian, an almost forgotten world. He lovingly restored the material, and soon had developed the idea of putting the material together as a sort of documentary. And what made more sense than to have musicians accompany this visual record live on stage?

Franco Battiato is one of the most successful singers in Italy. He began his career as a "light" singer, recording a few singles. In 1971 he started his particular journey through experimental music, recording his proggiest issues: "Fetus", "Pollution", "Sulle corde di Aries". Some very atmospheric parts and some very melodic songs make these records worthwhile, along with musical references to the arabic culture and italian folk that will surface from time to time in all of his following output…