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Living the life in the Golden Age of Italian music... I was very fortunate to live in Italy from the beginning of the 70's up to the mid-80's. It was an incredibly fertile, creative and dynamic time in music, truly the Golden Age of Italian pop music. No matter the size of the country, it was an exceptional time and there were many wildly talented and productive artists making music in Italy then -- competitive in originality and sheer musicality on a world level. I had the excellent fortune to find myself smack dab in the middle of the music scene and with my close friends, many of the top artists of the time -- many of whom remain, to this day, considered the most important artists of this time as well. And this period remains, what I would consider, the highlight years of my life (at least until now!). Christian Calabrese, the son of Giorgio Calabrese, a famous Italian and international songwriter, produced a revealing interview with me (July 2, 2007) for a very popular on-line magazine, Hit Parade Italia, where I talk about those times and some of my experiences. Although the intro to the interview is in Italian, I will give you the gist of it here ( a quick and rough translation): Christian Calabrese writes: "Sometimes life throws you a strange gift. It is unpredictable, a bit like this interview with Marva Jan Marrow. This is how it went: On my blog I had written a commentary on a 45 disc she recorded in 1975, which had never actually been released commercially, but was a promo record given to those in the music industry ( authors, disc jockeys, journalists) . Marva had seen the record jacket of the single [MM: I got an "Alert" through Google about this] and amazed, she wrote to me that she did not have a copy of this [MM: very true!!] -- which was understandable, for the reasons just mentioned. Then we started to write back and forth through email, and she began to understand where this record came from and she wrote a message about it on my blog. From there to the idea of doing an interview was a short step. Marva Jan Marrow [MM: I was always known by my full name in Italian music circles, for some reason -- I guess they just liked the sound] has her special spot in the history of Italian music from the 70's: she recorded with the Numero Uno recording company [MM: The "hot" record label of the time], she participated in some pop festivals and worked with Lucio Battisti [MM: arguably the most famous, prolific and influential singer songwriter Italy ever produced]. The questions to ask her are many... For her convenience and ease, we decided that she could respond in English. This was not because she doesn't know Italian, but because to write in our [MM: Italian] language would have taken her too long (as she says, " ten years!"). Better in English then. I left the English text side by side, with my Italian translation [MM: Better, so my non-Italian friends can read and understand too!]. This may not be necessary, but there it is. Naturally, my translation is not LITERAL. It is impossible to do a word for word translation from English (as for any language)..." <end quote> ______________ I think Christian Calabrese did a FANTASTIC job with the interview, with setting it up with the photos from the time (which I sent to him) and all. Take a look and see what you think... Listen to a couple of recorded tracks of mine from those times, below...
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Our Dear Angel and Go Man (1973) This is a 45/single I recorded at the end of 1973. It was a cover version of a big hit by Lucio Battisti, called "Il Nostro Caro Angelo." The English lyrics were mine, a translation from the Italian. The flip side, "Go Man" was a song that was part of a knock-off "Bonnie and Clyde" movie in Italy called "Blu Gang"-- pretty bad movie but with a great soundtrack. The music was written by Tony Renis and I wrote the original lyrics. In the soundtrack, this was a recurring theme song that told the story as it unfolded. But it was cut to make this commercial version -- which was quite popular at the time. Both songs got a lot of airplay. Click here to listen to Our Dear Angel Click here to listen to Go Man Click on the image to see a larger version of the covers
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Feedin on Dreams and Phoenix (1975 -- promotional recording) As mentioned above, these two recorded songs were published only as a promo. I actually did not recall that they were even released -- until, astonished, I saw Christian Calabrese's blog (see above)! They were recorded as rather elegant demos with a group of Italian musician friends -- some of the finest musicians around. But to me, the tempo was a bit too fast and I looked forward to re-recording them with a slower paced track. Still, the songs are rather complex and hopefully interesting. If you click on the back cover of the jacket, you should be able to read the lyrics as they are printed. Both the lyrics and music are mine (and, of course the singing too!). Feedin' on Dreams talks about the idea of what a shame it is that we grow older, finally have all this knowledge and experience and the irony - our bodies can't keep up with our minds! So in the song, the woman is old and then starts getting younger, so she will have the benefit of all the experience and knowledge, AND the energy and physical capability to use them. Still a great idea, I think...especially now that I too am older! Phoenix speaks of the famous bird (of love, in this song!) who rises from the flames to live again -- the eternal hope and gift that love brings. Spring is also the symbol of rebirth, like the phoenix. Click here to listen to Feedin' on Dreams Click here to listen to Phoenix Click on the images to see a larger version of the covers
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