Record of the day: International Folk Group, “'75-'79”

International Folk Group
'75-'79 (2 CDs Warner Music 5051011-4591-2-2)

In the short span of four years, from 1975 to 1979, the International Folk Group gave life to one of the most interesting experiences in the field of popular music ever created in our country. Fiery years from a political and cultural point of view, where everything was continually called into question; musicians and intellectuals united against multinational record companies, giving rise to experiences such as Cramps and the Cooperativa L'Orchestra of which the Group was one of the cornerstones. The revisitation of the popular repertoire not only Italian but also American, Irish, Spanish, Slavic, appeared absolutely prophetic in a historical period where world music was still unknown.

The musicians of the Group revolved around the charismatic figure of the leader Moni Ovadia (vocals) and saw in the violinist Maurizio Dehò an arranger and instrumentalist who contributed together with Ovadia in a fundamental way to the identity of the formation, extremely composite, which featured musicians with an academic curriculum alongside others of popular origin. The public of the time enthusiastically embraced their proposal and within a short time the concerts multiplied in Italy and abroad with great success.

For too many years these four records were unavailable, without younger listeners having the opportunity to know the beauty of their works. Now they all finally reappear in a double CD not to be missed, allowing us to chronologically follow their journey from “Festa Popolare” (1975) to “Il nonno di Jonni” (1979) passing through “Daloy Politzei” (1977) and the soundtrack of the show “One Thousand and One Nights” (1979).

Over the years the musical discourse becomes more and more heated, with accents of ever greater phonic harshness to arrive at a language partially linked to avant-garde cultured music (experiments on multiphonic wind instruments, destructuring of the song form, etc.) which however does not never loses sight of the original matrix and which seeks to bring non-trivial, complex and at the same time captivating music to a large mass of listeners, testimony to a time where the Utopia of combining popularity and substance had not yet been destroyed.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.