Tamango are the most interesting Italian band of the moment

Look for their “Maladies of love” on Spotify. Click play, close your eyes and let yourself be transported by the images of the lyrics, by the singer’s interpretation (with a thrilling soul timbre) and by the arrangement, which mixes jazz and classical music. Nice, right? Now you are also among the fans of Tamango, la most interesting Italian band of the moment. Marcello Maida (vocals), Federico Anello (piano) and Alberto Tirelli (guitar), former high school classmates from the Turin province, founded their group in 2018. At the beginning the project was a trio. Then Tamango became more than just a band: a collective of artists and musicians that currently numbers fifteen people, of which the three boys however remain the face Their first single, “Malmetto”, was released in 2020.

But popularity began to grow dramatically when in recent months a reel from a concert in a Turin club went viral on Instagram: the video – the full one is on YouTube and you can find it below – portrayed the band playing some pieces at center of the venue’s parterre, with fans circling around the musicians. .They sound like God. And their music – at least, the one they have decided to play so far – contains all the freshness that beautiful things have when they are about to be born.

There are some early fans Cesare CremoniniMalika Ayane and Vasco Brondi. They too fell in love with the style and imagery of Tamango, who they take their name from a cocktail born in Turin. For some this drink is “the Italian answer to absinthe”. The BBC also covered it, calling it “an amazing drink”. It is made with a mix of plants, African roots, infusions and alcohol: a mixture that arouses “a sense of euphoria and a desire to dance”. In turn, however, the name of the cocktail was borrowed from the protagonist of a story by the French writer Prosper Mérimée published in 1829, the story of a warrior of Senegalese origins who lived in a state of slavery and who at a certain point became rebelled against his master.

Today they have 116 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. Tamango’s growth was organic: they decided to do things calmly, without rushing, single after single and piece by piece. Always revealing a new facet of their project, revealing themselves to be multifaceted and versatile. In 2021 they released the EP “Come were caresses”, which collected the songs “Pueblo”, “The sky above Berlin” (their most popular song on Spotify, with 4.2 million streams), “Platani”, “Lucciola” and “Maladie d’amour” itself. Then came other singles: “Baby Moon”, “Oh!”, “Rosso Cosi”, “Nura”, the last three collected in a mini-EP, “Sirene e pirates”, released in 2022. Songwriting, electronic, acoustic , jazz, soul: they play everything and know how to do everything well.

“We like mayonnaise, sex and rock’n’roll. We don’t like the word work, cocaine and Juventus”, they write on social media, introducing themselves. The references to the world of football also return in the video of their latest single, “Dogs”, released this summer, which is not exactly a tribute to Niccolò Contessa. They published an irresistible video clip on YouTube: “The well-being of a team is measured by the mood of the bench players.

When things don’t work and the manager’s tactical choices become incomprehensible, the flame of civil revolution lights up in those excluded from the starting lineup. Let the mafia presidents, the recommended coaches and the cheap strikers, absent from training but indisputable starters on Sundays, watch their backs, when meritocracy is killed, peace cannot exist. How can we forget what happened in the football season of the year of the dog at Banditi FC when Marcello Maida, known as the midfield blacksmith, annoyed by the choices of the coach who continued to make him sit on the bench despite his champion talent, decided to fuel the spirits of the revolt of his bench comrades. He swore on what was dearest to him, the pair of custom-made Magrini, that would lead them to a coup during the legendary Piedmont Cup final against Cambiano. The famous photograph portrays the moments preceding the big brawl which the Corriere di Chieri will headline ‘Disaster at the De Paoli Stadium’: a bloody Sunday, suspended match and 257 match ban for the Banditi FC bench”.