LOS ANGELES, CA. “Italian music is not just mandolino and people in the streets of Italy singing, Volare,” says Francesco Del Maro the organizer of the first (H)itWeek L.A.  This fifteen year veteran of the Italian music industry became frustrated with having to explain this to nearly everyone he met.  It was out of this frustration that (H)itWeek L.A. was born, his goal to introduce authentic Italian music to the world will begin in America.  This upcoming week, October 13th through October 18th ,  fifteen of some of the top performers from Italy will perform at various locations through out Los Angeles, CA. 

 

Photographs by Lori Fusaro [2]

Francesco decided upon Los Angeles as the location for the very first (H)itWeek because “it is known to many as the capital of the music business.”   Besides that he says, “Los Angeles is my favorite place to come.”  But Francesco doesn’t want to stop there, he was clear to let i-Italy.org know they are the first to hear that he has already laid the ground work for (H)itweek 2010, which will be taking place simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York.  

 

It is hard to believe now that when he first brought the idea of (H)itWeek to the attention of his contemporaries, most balked at such an undertaking and many thought he was crazy.  Without funding from the Italian government even he began to wonder if his friends might be correct.  Investing his own money and working for a year and a half with no salary, this has truly been a labor of love for Francesco.  With a generous smile he says that “I have always worked from passion, I have never started something for money only.”  Now with over forty of the top Italian companies joined to sponsor the event and fifteen of the countries top performers participating, the former naysayers are rallying behind him.  “Music is my passion and I am a very very lucky guy because I have got to live in a good way with my passion and most of all I want people to have fun … and maybe people will have fun together with us.” 

 

(H)itweek launches Tuesday night, October 13th, at 6:30pm at the Italian Cultural Institute – located at 1023 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.  From there the week blasts off with DJ sets at The Standard Hotel in West Hollywood, concerts at The Music Box @ The Fonda Theatre in the heart of Hollywood, even a Ducati Motorcycle Parade will take place on Saturday, October 17th, starting from the Italian Cultural Institute at 3pm and traveling all the way to The Music Box.  “The Ducati extravaganza will feature bikes, hot chicks and wine.”   

Here is an overview of the artists involved. For the full line up and schedule of events go to http://www.hitweek.it [3] 

 

FRANCO BATTIATO is one of the most worldwide recognized Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter.

He is considered one of the most original personalities in Italian music from the 1970s to now. Battiato's songs are dreamy, controversial collages of images and sensations, very experimental and convoluted, rich of esoteric, philosophical and East Asian religious themes. (Read more >> [4]) NEGRITA started their musical career in 1992 by recording two demo-tapes and touring all the most important clubs in Italy for two long years. Soon, they showed the italian audience their impact and energy and started building their profile as a unique live rock band.  (Read more >> [5]) GIOVANNI ALLEVI is one of the top pure composers of the current international scene. His compositions outline the tenets of a new Contemporary Classical Music, via cultivated and moving language which distances itself from the dodecaphonic and minimalist trend, and thus declaring a new European rhythmic and melodic intensity.  (Read more >> [6])

AFTERHOURS. In 1989 the debut mini album "All the Good Children Go to Hell" is mentioned by the most influential Italian alternative music magazine Mucchio Selvaggio among the best 10 records of the 80s. A year later independent label Vox Pop releases first album "During Christine Sleep" that gets an exciting review by American magazine Alternative Press. A flight to New York follows: the band fronted by Manuel Agnelli goes to represent Italy at the New Music Seminar. They are later invited to the Berlin Independence Days. (Read more>> [7])

DANIELE LUPPI’s music, Like the eternal city of Rome, is at once exotic and familiar, sophisticated but funky, sexy yet sinister, sleekly modern and wonderfully timeless. If you’ve listened to Gnarls Barkley’s Grammy-winning St. Elsewhere, or John Legend’s platinum-selling Once Again, you’ve experienced Daniele Luppi’s brilliant cinematic production and arrangements. If you’ve seen HBO’s Sex And The City, Disney's Under The Tuscan Sun (starring Diane Lane), or the acclaimed Brian Grazer-produced documentary Inside Deep Throat, you’ve heard the beguiling soundtrack contributions of this Italian-born composer.  (Read more >> [8])

AFRICA UNITE is an Italian Reggae Band from Turin, named after one of Bob Marley’s songs. It is led by charismatic Bunna and Madaski, who produced all their albums and also most of the top reggae bands in Italy.

They formed in 1981, when R.N.Marley prematurely died.

For 25 years AFRICA UNITE whose background is top-class reggae, have played hundreds of concerts, have taken part to a good number of international festivals, and have released 11 albums, establishing as the most prestigious and popular Italian reggae bands.  (Read more >> [9]) LINEA77. Since their birth – in Venaria (Turin) in 1993 – the Italian rock band have quickly grown, expanding throughout Europe and even stirring up interest across the ocean. It is difficult to believe that this is the same group that began by playing covers of Rage Against The Machine and CCCP, but it was then that Linea 77 first sowed the seeds of what would become the hard core of their fan base. Their constant live performances soon made them a cult: in just one year from their first furious war cry, they were playing to a crowd of 8,000 people at the now defunct Beach Bum Festival in Jesolo.  (Read more >> [10])

LE VIBRAZIONI are one of Italy’s main rock bands. The group is composed of Francesco Sàrcina (vocals and guitar), Alessandro Deidda (drums) and Stefano Verderi (guitar).

2003 is The year: the video “Dedicato a Te” hits Italian music tv - constantly broadcasted, stays at the number one spot for 14 weeks, dragging along their first album Le vibrazioni, with 300 thousand units sold. "Dedicato a te" went platinium and Le Vibrazioni remained in the charts for 40 weeks. (Read more>> [11])

BELLADONNA. How many artists can claim to have single-handedly originated a musical genre? Italian quintet Belladonna are amongst that rare breed of bands whose absolute uniqueness enraptures and inspires countless followers and imitators all over the world.

Rock noir, that Belladonna extraordinary brand of emotionally-charged rock’n’roll melodrama utterly seduced those beautiful hordes of Music lovers sick’n’tired of being force-fed today’s computer-driven, fake-angst-ridden pseudo-rock down their ears.  (Read more>> [12])

THE NIRO. Davide Combusti, a.k.a. The Niro, was born in Rome in 1978. His father was a drummer and right from a very early age instilled in him a love for music and the drums, which was actually the first instrument the young Davide learned to play. With the passing of time Davide became a multi-instrumentalist as he added guitar, bass and much more besides to his passion for playing percussion. He then started collaborating with a number of bands as a drummer. In 2002 he decided to pursue a more personal path and formed his own band called “The Niro”, writing lyrics and music to all their songs. After this experience, Davide decided to go it alone as a singer-songwriter and kept the name of the band for his new solo career.  (Read more>> [13])

CALIBRO 35. Researches begun years ago, diggin dusty vinyl crates for obscure samples. The discovery of italian '60s and '70s soundtracks was a crucial point; from that moment on nothing sounded as good and interesting as electrifying tracks from exploitation movies.

By the summer of 2007 time was ready and Tommaso Colliva (Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Arto Lindsay) invited an incredible jam band formed by Massimo Martellotta (Stewart Copeland, Eugenio Finardi, Mauro Pagani) on guitars and lapsteels, Enrico Gabrielli (Afterhours, Mariposa, Morgan) keyboards and brass, Fabio Rondanini (Pino Marino, Roberto Angelini, Collettivo Angelo Mai) on drums and Luca Nano Cavina (Transgender, Lindo Ferretti, Beatrice Antolini) on bass to record at omniaB studios in Milan.   (Read more>> [14])

AMANA. Born in Germany, raised around the world, Amana Melome' grew up exposed to a wide variety of music. Both grandparents were heavy in the international Jazz scene; her grandfather Jimmy Woode started as the youngest musician in Duke Ellington’s band and toured as one of the golden men of Jazz until his recent passing.

“My grandmother was a jazz vocalist and I remember loving listening to her sing while ironing. By the time I was a teenager I knew so many old jazz songs it surprised even her… I enjoyed them so much, they just stuck” she says.  (Read more>> [15])

JESUS WAS HOMELESS is a project born on the road during a round trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. A trip originated from a desire to feel alive again. A travel where freedom of movement became freedom of espression, where the diverse artistic, cultural and social issues arising from those American metropolies enriched and re-ignited the creative sparks of the band founding members, giving birth to their debut album: The Landing, a collection of songs that definitely gathers all the experiences of the road trip in one coherent work.

This project is then deeply rooted in international grounds, untamed by the Italian scene logics and market, aiming toward wider horizons. The band is a four piece with a mixed musical background: we have Tiziano on vocals and guitar, Amorosi on bass, Maruko on guitars and electronix and Alessandro on drums.  (Read more>> [16])

MARCO FABI was born in Rome, Italy in 1977. Initially, he found an attraction to writing and performing songs in English. Later he dedicated himself to transforming what had thus far been a primarily English lyrical affinity. He wrote all of his new songs in Italian, without ever compromising his international tendencies in melody and arrangement.

Accompanying Marco Fabi will be talented violinist Andrea Di Cesare, who has established himself as one of the country’s most sought after session violinists, working with such notable artists as: Carmen Consoli, Negroamaro, and Ron. (Read more>> [17])