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.

L'Uomo E La Nuvola
Angelo Branduardi Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Lui l'amò
come la vide:
così bianca e inafferrabile.
"Lontana sei
ed io non ho
la scala per il cielo."
Lei serena lo guardò
ed al vento si distese...

e lui seguì sospirando
lei che, per gioco, navigava per il cielo.
Lunghi anni
lui l'amò:
sempre bianca e inafferrabile.
"Crudele sei
e il tuo candore
nasconde solo gelo."
Lei turbata lo guardò
e al suo pianto poi si arrese...
Ed una tenere pioggia

lei gli donò
consumandosi d'amore.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Angelo Branduardi's song L'Uomo E La Nuvola tell the story of a man who falls in love with a cloud, which he sees as white and unreachable. The man is aware of the distance that separates him from the cloud and realizes that he does not have the means to reach the sky. Despite this, the man continues to love the cloud for many years, although he sees her as cruel and cold, hiding her true nature behind her whiteness. The cloud, on the other hand, seems to be playing with the man's emotions, by flying away in the sky as he follows her with a sigh. However, when the man confesses his feelings to her, the cloud is moved by his emotions and offers him a gentle rain, as a sign of her love.

The love story between the man and the cloud in L'Uomo E La Nuvola is a metaphorical representation of the human desire to reach something that is unattainable, whether it is a dream, an ideal, or a person. The lyrics suggest that the pursuit of such unattainable objects can be both painful and rewarding, as the man's love for the cloud resulted in years of devotion and an eventual expression of love from the cloud. The theme of unrequited love is also evident in the lyrics, as the man's feelings for the cloud are not initially reciprocated, but are eventually met with a gentle response.

Line by Line Meaning

Lui l'amò
A man loved her

come la vide:
As he saw her:

così bianca e inafferrabile.
So white and elusive.

"Lontana sei
"You are far away

ed io non ho
and I don't have

la scala per il cielo."
the ladder to heaven."

Lei serena lo guardò
She looked at him calmly

ed al vento si distese...
and spread herself to the wind...

e lui seguì sospirando
And he followed with a sigh

lei che, per gioco, navigava per il cielo.
She who, for fun, sailed through the sky.

Lunghi anni
Many years