- country:Italy
- style(s):Ethnic, Roots
- label:Mescal
- artist posted by:Mescal International
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MAU MAU - Biography
Torino, Italy, early nineties. Three musicians coming from different experiences join together to create a new band that would rouse the Italian music scene with a revolutionary and ancient kind of music. They are Luca Morino (voice and guitar), Fabio Barovero (voice and accordion) and from Cameroon Bienvenu Nsongan (djembè and percussion). The three artists start performing under the name of Mau Mau, a Piedmontese word used to define tramps, immigrants, people who come from the south of Italy or, rather, of the world. Mau Mau were also a liberation group from Kenya that fought against the English colons in the fifties.
Right from the start Mau Mau play their music trying to strike people without the use of amplification supports, their music is acoustic, raw, immediate and passionate. Different suggestions mix together to create a new language, a charming landscape that links the mountains to the sea, and the sea to the opposite Mediterranean coasts.
The lyrics are about stories of poor people, immigrants, food and suburbs, the American dream and the “lost America”. Mau Mau go down deep into the research of the use of the dialect. Piedmontese and Italian mix to gain a new citizenship and create a new language.
Sounds, popular instruments, the use of the voice, choruses, rhythms enhanced by clapping hands and stomping feet; new Arabian and African pop music, percussive composition from the Brazilian blocos. All of these elements contribute to build a bridge between their regional Piedmontese culture and the beats they breathe in the rest of the world.
Chronology
In 1992 Mau Mau record their first EP entirely sung in dialect “Soma la macia” for the
independent record label “Vox Pop – Just for Fun”. The same year they release the first album, “Sauta Rabel” always with Vox Pop and licensed to EMI. The mixes take place in Bath, at The Real World Studios. Starting from now they begin a prolonged collaboration with Carlo Rossi, one of the most important Italian producers.
An enormous interest starts growing around the band: Mau Mau write the original soundtrack for Giancarlo Soldi’s film “Nero”, and swarm over the Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia. “Sauta Rabel” is released in Switzerland and in Holland. In the summer of 1993 the band kicks off a big European tour, playing in many important festivals. They are also invited at the Palestine International Music and Dance Festival, the only festival to be organised by Palestinians in the taken lands. They also take part in the Babylon International Festival, in Iraq. On the way back to Italy Mau Mau receive the Club Tenco award for best debut album.
In April 1994 the second album “Bass Paradis” is released in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium and Japan. The album, which is once again mixed at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, is enriched with a great performance with twenty-four musicians. The tour, following this release, successfully cover over a hundred towns in Italy and Europe. In summer 1995 they feature in the “Materiale Resistente” compilation with the song "Resistenza, marzo 1995” written during a Moroccan trip and recorded in Casablanca with local musicians. In the same period Mau Mau open a Paolo Conte concert in front of a 70.000 crowd at the Paleo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland and in September they win the “Premio Revelación Internacional” at the BAM festival in Barcelona.
In April 1996 they release their third album “Viva Mamanera”, mixed in Los Angeles by
Carlo Rossi and Eric Sarafin, the sound engineer of artists such as Ben Harper and Spearhead. In autumn, after another journey to Morocco, Mau Mau create, for the first Salone della Musica di Torino, the concert-event R@dio Trance. They meet on a great circle stage the Moroccan musicians from the Gnawa Brotherhood Les Maitres du Guembri, the Indian Inder “Goldfinger” Matharu and the techno trance band Ohmega Tribe. More than 5000 people gather at the venue.
In March 1997 Mau Mau shock Torino with a massive street parade that invades the town and write the original soundtrack for the inaugural film of the Festival Internazionale del Cinema
Sportivo di Torino. In this occasion the band performs live at the city's Opera House Teatro Regio.
In November 1997 they take part in Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD festival in Las Palmas, Canary Islands. In April 1998 their fourth album, “Eldorado”, sees the light. To collect material and new experiences for this release Mau Mau set out on a journey to Brazil where they perform with the Meniños do Pelo in Salvador de Bahia. These live sessions are recorded and give a great contribution to the fine work of Eldorado. The following live tour counts over eighty big concerts in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium. One important step in this tour is the partecipation at the “Feira Das Mentiras” in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia – Spain), a big happening organized by Manu Chao who joins the band on stage in a burning medley of Mentira and Ritmo Politico.
In April 2000 Mau Mau start the works for their new studio (the Mulino MAUse House) and the composition of the new album “Safari Beach (tucasa micasa)” with Sergent Garcia as special guest. Once again they create and recycle acoustic sounds, sample grooves and hypno ballads, echoes of Brasilian music, calypso and jungle for a true “on the road” soundtrack. Tourism and romanticism mix up in the imaginary of neocolonialism, charter flights on behalf of soldiers and army.
In the meantime the band organizes on his own a little festival focused on music and culture from Africa, the PiemontAfrique Festival and finishes the work on the website www.maumau.it. In the same year there is another big event, Marrakech Connection, where Mau Mau play with B’net Houariyat, five female singers from Marrakech and The Gnawa Confraternity of Sidi Mimoun, from Casablanca. The show tours in many Italian world music festivals.
In 2001, ten years of activity are celebrated with a double live album, “Marasma General” with two new songs ('Conga Milonga' and 'Il mondo dall’alto') and a remake of Eldorado with the famous band Inti Illimani as guest stars.
In September Luca and Fabio organize a new event with the band, “Mistic Turistic, dal Mediterraneo ai Caraibi” with the partecipation of a string quartet and ZUR company, a French group of street theater and film manipulation. In the same days there is a big concert for the Moroccan community in Torino, at the old food market Balon.
In October the band is in Japan for a little tour, after which Luca and Fabio take some rest to get new energies and follow some personal projects.
Three years of...
In the following period Fabio produces two widely acclaimed albums with Banda Ionica (Passione – Felmay, 1999 and Matri Mia - Felmay , 2002) and his solo debut (Preghiere - Wide, 2003).
Luca writes a book in the mood of tourism and surrealism (Mistic Turistic, cibo, viaggi e miraggi - Mondadori, 2003) and a solo album (Mistic Turistic/Moleskine Ballads - Mescal, 2004).
Mau Mau souls and future projects
The band is a kind of open workshop where several important musicians have put their experience during the years, but the two souls of the project are from the beginning Luca Morino and Fabio Barovero.
At the beginning of 2005 Mau Mau set off to Brasil once again to immerge themselves in the Rio of the Amazons, to record part of the material that will make up the new album, which will be released in late 2005.
Rumours say that it will be a powerful interpretation of roots and grooves, looking at the world as a big, fascinating and chaotic home.
For contacts/info:
Mescal International – Roberta Accettulli
Tel./fax +39 02 474451 – Mob. +39 335 316695
e-mail roberta@mescal.it
Booking in Italy:
Mescal Live – Alessandro Ceccarelli
Tel./fax +39 051 5878905 – Mob. +39 335 7169140
e-mail cecca@mescal.it
International Booking:
Mescal Live – Emanuele Roveri
Tel./fax +39 051 5878905 – Mob. +39 335 5736656
e-mail lele@mescal.it