Angelo Branduardi (born February 12, 1950), is an Italian folk singer and c… Read Full Bio ↴Angelo Branduardi (born February 12, 1950), is an Italian folk singer and composer who scored relevant success in Italy and European countries such as France and Germany.

Branduardi was born in Cuggiono, a small town in the province of Milan, but early moved with the family to Genoa. He was educated as a classical violinist in the local school of music. At the age of 18 he composed the music for the Confessioni di un malandrino (Hooligan's Confession) by Sergei Yesenin, still one of his finest songs.

He is married to Luisa Zappa, who wrote the lyrics for many of his songs. Luisa and Angelo have two daughters, Sarah and Maddalena, both musicians.

Angelo's first album was never released, and resulted from a co-operation with Maurizio Fabrizio, composer and gifted performer. The first released album, Angelo Branduardi '74 was arranged with Paul Buckmaster.

La Luna ("The Moon"), including "Hooligan's Confessions" and the fine, delicate song giving the LP its name, is a prelude to the success of the following works. Alla Fiera dell'Est (English edition: Highdown Fair, 1976) was Angelo's first vastly popular album, followed by La Pulce d'Acqua ("The Water Flea", 1978) and Cogli la Prima Mela (English edition, Life is the Only Teacher, 1979). In those albums Branduardi exploits themes and patterns from ancient music, mostly Renaissance and early Baroque. The very song Alla Fiera dell'Est ("At the Eastern Fair") is still popular among Italians of every age, who test themselves to send in memory all the fable-like, repetition-based lyrics.

Lyrics have a broad spectrum of inspiration: a Danse macabre, the theme of Satan's mistress, Chinese, Native American and Druidic tradition, the apocryphal Gospels. Concertation owes much to the talents of Maurizio Fabrizio, and exploits unusual instruments for pop music: dulcimer, Pan flute, lute, clarinet, among others - mixed with more standard guitar-bass-and-drums.

Subsequent albums are mark by an increasing desire towards experimentation and differentiation. Branduardi (1981) has a more intimate tone, Cercando l'oro ("Searching for Gold", 1983), has very sophisticated and delicate arrangements (starts with a String Quartet), Branduardi canta Yeats (1985) is a tribute to William Butler Yeats. Pane e rose ("Bread and Roses", 1988) is a still inspired, but increasingly dark picture of life and death. Though similar in style to the early ones, 1980s Branduardi's songs seemed to have lost the strong, rythmical energy that backed masterpieces like "Ballo in Fa Diesis Minore" or "Cogli la prima mela". Il Ladro (1991) marks a very delicate point of Branduardi's life, edging on depression, echoed in a dark, almost cemeterial, style of singing.

The album Si puó fare 1993 brings back Branduardi to normality, but the artist is now struggling to evade the minstrel character which is now too strict for him. In 1994 he publishes Domenica e Lunedì ("Sunday and Monday"), dedicated to Franco Fortini.

In 1996, during the celebrations for the restoration of the Duomo of Spilimbergo after the catastrophic 1976 earthquake, he records the extraordinary album Futuro Antico, in which he poses as an early Baroque musician, reusing, mixing, wording pre-existing material along with his own. This experience, together with musicians and musicologists, will continue with Futuro Antico II and Futuro Antico III.

In 1998 Branduardi teams with Italian stand-up comedian and writer Giorgio Faletti for Il Dito e la Luna ("The Finger and the Moon").

He reworks earlier musical themes with writings of and about St. Francis to produce L'Infinitamente Piccolo; he writes a musical on the same topic (Francesco).

In 2003 a new album, Altro ed Altrove ("Other and Elsewhere"), in a time period marked by a rise of racism and intolerance, brings together (mainly) love stories from several cultures.

Discography

* 1974 Angelo Branduardi
* 1975 la luna(France: Confession d'un malandrin, 1981)
* 1976 Alla fiera dell'est (France: A la foire de l'est - UK: Highdown Fair, 1978)
* 1977 La pulce d'acqua (UK: Fables and fantasies, 1980)
* 1979 Cogli la prima mela (France: Le demoiselle)
* 1980 Gulliver,la luna e altri disegni
* 1980 Concerto
* 1981 Branduardi '81
* 1983 Cercando l'oro (France: Tout l'or du monde)
* 1983 State buoni se potete (Soundtrack for the movie with the same name)
* 1986 Branduardi canta Yeats
* 1988 Pane e rose (France: Du pain et des roses)
* 1990 Il ladro
* 1992 Musiche da film
* 1992 Si può fare France: Ça se fait)
* 1994 Domenica e lunedì (France: La menace, 1995)
* 1996 Camminando camminando (Live collection)
* 1996 Futuro antico I
* 1998 Il dito e la luna (Lyrics by Giorgio Faletti)
* 1998 Studio Collection (Collection)
* 1999 Futuro antico II
* 2000 L'infinitamente piccolo
* 2002 Futuro antico III
* 2003 Altro ed altrove
* 2005 The Platinum collection (Collection)

==LINKS==
*http://www.angelobranduardi.it/
*[http://www.branduardi.info Branduardi.info
*[http://guide.supereva.com/angelo_branduardi/ Guida di Angelo Branduardi
*[http://www.angelo-branduardi.com ABcom - Il sito internazionale di Angelo Branduardi
*[http://www.europamici.com EuropAMICI di Angelo Branduardi
*[http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/branduardi-ans/ Branduardi-ans -Mailing List Ufficiale- Gruppo di discussione su Angelo Branduardi e la sua musica.

Girotondo
Angelo Branduardi Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Balla bimba
giocando ad esser donna
ed il mondo gira intorno a te,
balla bimba
giocando ad esser donna
ed il mondo balIa con te;
non si ferma questo girotondo
tutto il mondo cresce intorno a te,

gira e va,
questo mondo balla in tondo
giallo il grano cresce con te;
e allora
Balla bimba
giocando ad esser donna
ed il mondo gira intorno a te,
Balla bimba
un giro e sei già donna
tutto il mondo balla con te,
Balla in tondo al ritmo del mondo
verde l'erba cresce con te,
gira e va,
è un eterno girotondo
tutto il mondo balIa con te...
BalIa bimba
un giro e sei già donna
giallo il grano cresce con te
e va. questo eterno girotondo
tutto il mondo gira intorno a te;
balIa bimba
un giro e sei già donna
verde l'erba cresce con te

e va, non fermano il girotondo
tutto il mondo balIa con te.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Angelo Branduardi's song "Girotondo" speak of the joys of childhood and growing up, seen through the eyes of a young girl. The idyllic image of "dancing, playing at being a woman" is presented as a central metaphor for life itself, where everything grows and evolves around the individual, just as the world turns around the girl. The song's title itself, which translates to "Ring a Ring o' Roses" in English, evokes the idea of a circular movement, one that repeats itself over and over again and yet brings something new with each turn.

The notion that "everything grows around you" is repeated throughout the lyrics, with nature described as a companion to the girl's journey. The growth of the world, symbolized by the color of the wheat fields, is closely tied to the girl's own maturation process. The song ends with a repetition of the opening line, emphasizing the cyclical nature of life and the idea that "everything dances around you", suggesting that even after the girl has grown up, she remains connected to the world around her.

Line by Line Meaning

Balla bimba
Dance little girl

giocando ad esser donna
Playing at being a woman

ed il mondo gira intorno a te,
And the world revolves around you

balla bimba
Dance little girl

giocando ad esser donna
Playing at being a woman

ed il mondo balIa con te;
And the world dances with you

non si ferma questo girotondo
This circle dance never stops

tutto il mondo cresce intorno a te,
The whole world grows around you

gira e va,
It spins and goes

questo mondo balla in tondo
This world dances in circles

giallo il grano cresce con te;
The wheat grows yellow with you