IL GRAN TEATRO AMARO "Port Famine" (NED, 1991)

The avant art-folk outfit IL GRAN TEATRO AMARO formed in 1990 by italian and dutch musicians. After a few concerts in continental Europe they attracted the attention of Swiss label RecRec and finally they released in 1991 their first album "Port Famine". Diverse influences are detected in their music: italian and french song traditions, Jacques Brel, poetic-theatrical atmosphere and some experimentation create a very interesting "european" sound.

Check also previous post about their third work: "Piazza Orphelins"

ROBERTA POSSAMAI - piano, accordion, vocals
FRANCOIS REGIS CAMBUZAT - vocals
STEFAN LIENENKAMPER - double bass
ROBERT VAN DER TOL - guitar, vocals

produced by FRANK VAN DER WEIJ


PORT FAMINE
(11 tracks, approx. time 35min)

COURAGE OF LASSIE "The temptation to exist " (1986) / "Sing or Die" (1989)

Rare Amok records vinyl edition front cover

Sing or Die, 1989 (60mb)

The Temptation to Exist, 1986, (73mb), 320kb

Refreshing the acoustic romantism of Pearls Before Swine, and Leonard Cohen... and setting on music poems of W.B. Yeats and the likes... these Canadian masters of quiet, art-folk melodrama get a position among the sound of rain, the evergreen whispers of fallen leaves and the autumn natural noises.
From the haunted "hopes & fears" to the droning backgrounded auras of "air du temps"... from ingeniously covered "Bang Bang (my baby shot me down)" to holocaustic"Sing or Die" declarations... both albums have plenty of songs equally able to build their chilling echo inside you, for ever.

IL GRAN TEATRO AMARO "Piazza Orphelins" (NED, 1995)

Acoustic-art-folk aspects of avant garde according to IL GRAN TEATRO AMARO, a multinational band acted in 90`s and released 4 albums (first three via Recommended Rec). Based in Groningen, musicians from Italy, Holland, France... visit with innovative spirit the traditions of european song: italian and spanish folk, french chanson, german cabaret and many other ethnic-folk-retro genres... Sounds and noises of street culture, tunes whistled by refugees or performed by wandering musicians in small art cafes...get arty treatments and sound like new worldsong manifests... Accordion, acoustic guitars, piano, lute, banjo, double bass, horns, percussions, male-female vocals... diffuse the music through a prism of languages reminding both much earlier times and modern avant/improvised practices.
Piazza Orphelins is IL GRAN TEATRO AMARO third album and deep in its european soul you `ll find "Ritik Ma Na; Rif Uyn", a composition of great ANOUAR BRAHEM.

PIAZZA ORPHELINS (48mb)