“Komodo” by Mauro Picotto: “reconstructed” the original version

“Komodo (Save a Soul)” is the greatest success of the Italian Trans producer Mauro Picotto. He was published in July 2000 as a fourth single of his “The Album”.

Giovanni Erata, also a producer, managers and independent promoters, randomly discovered the existence of an original version of “Komodo”, different from the known one.

Here is his story:

“In 2000 I had the opportunity to hear a pair of Mario Più and Mauro Picotto live sets in which they played that version. From that moment my hunt began. I conducted research and, thanks to several testimonies of former professionals who directly made that disc, I have obtained confirmation of the existence of that version, and also some additional information that led me to know an unknown circumstance practically almost everyone. In 1999 the first version of the song ‘Komodo’ was created (initially entitled ‘Komodo Dragon’) which saw the presence of a tribal choir inside, inserted in the central break of the song. This choir, sung in Baegu’s language, had been taken from the song ‘Sweet Lullaby’ of the Deep Forest, in turn taken from the ethnic song “Rorogwela” of Afunakwa, a woman belonging to a tribe of underworld (Solomon Islands). The Deep Forest, custodians of copyright on the tribal choir, did not however grant authorization for the use of this for commercial purposes.

Consequently, Picotto and his staff were forced to fall back on an alternative that was then ‘Save a Soul’, or the chorus sung in English that took the place of the previous one. But that’s not all. The first version of ‘Komodo’, in addition to the tribal choir, was characterized by a double flute solo, also with a tribal flavor, placed right at the end of the choir and before the melodic restart.

Well, that element was also removed from the song and subsequently re -proposed, even if to a very reduced extent, only in the alternative mix version.

From the information collected I learned that the first version created, after the failure to authorize for the use of the tribal choir, was destined to be trashed. First, however, very few copies of this version on CDR and Acetato have been privately made, which over the years have all been lost, thrown or unusable due to wear, according to the testimonies of those who had one.

The research conducted led me to consult all those directly concerned: from the authors of the song to some of the employees of the record company, to get to the individual recipients of those copies. All useless. The only remaining possibility of having that version was to reproduce it.

I then went to the studio with the desire to reconstruct that lost version.

I put myself at work by resorting to all my skills, giving life to the faithful reconstruction of the first version of ‘Komodo’. And I did it. “

There Reconstruction of the first version of Komodo is available for listening to Giovanni Erata’s Youtube channel. Which finally specifies:

“Otherwise from what is believed, it is legally possible, within certain conditions, to use existing works to create a new work, according to what was stated in the matter by The Copyright Modernization Act (Secation 29.21). And not only that: in the case in question, or the publication of a Mash-up on YouTube for non-commercial purposes, It is absolutely legal, according to what is announced by the Mount Saint Vincent University through its information archive and established by law by the aforementioned rule. “

For information: www.kuodragon.it