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.
La Bella Dama Senza Pietà
Angelo Branduardi Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
il volto che hai,
sembra tu sia fuggito dall'aldilà...
Vedo nei tuoi occhi
profondo terrore,
che bianche e gelide dita tu hai...
Guarda come stan ferme
le acque del lago
"è stato in mezzo ai prati
che io la incontrai
e come se mi amasse lei mi guardò".
Guarda come l'angoscia
ti arde le labbra,
sembra tu sia fuggito dall 'aldilà...
"E'stato in mezzo ai prati
che io la incontrai..."
che bianche e gelide
dita tu hai...
"Quando al mio fianco
lei poi si appoggiò
io l'anima le diedi
ed il tempo scordai.
Quando al mio fianco
lei poi si appoggiò...".
Che bianche e gelide
dita tu hai...
"Al limite del monte
mi addormentai
fu l'ultimo mio sogno
che io allora sognai;
erano in mille e mille di più..."
Che bianche e gelide
dita tu hai...
"Erano in mille
e mille di più,
con pallide labbra
dicevano a me:
- Quella che anche a te
la vita rubò, è lei,
la bella dama senza pietà".
The song "La Bella Dama Senza Pietà" by Angelo Branduardi is a hauntingly beautiful ballad about a man who encounters a ghostly woman that bewitches and ultimately kills him. The song opens with the singer describing the pallor on the face of the man he is addressing, whom he assumes has just emerged from the afterlife. The man is visibly terrified and has cold, white fingers. The singer then draws attention to the stillness of the lake and the absence of birdsong, creating a sense of foreboding.
The man then recounts his encounter with a beautiful woman whom he met in the meadows, and whom he believes loved him. She carried a sense of danger with her, and her chilling presence left him forgetting time and space. In his retelling, the man becomes more and more panicked; his lips on fire with anguish, and his fingers cold with fear. He recalls a dream he had on a mountain that was his last. In it, he is surrounded by a host of ghostly apparitions who urge him to succumb to the same fate as the woman who stole his life, the beautiful lady without mercy.
The song's lyrics are dark, mythical, and suffused with a sense of other-worldliness. They create a vivid sense of atmosphere that is both eerie and tragic. The story of the man becoming enamored of a spectral woman who ultimately brings about his downfall is a timeless theme in art.
Line by Line Meaning
Guarda com'è pallido
il volto che hai,
sembra tu sia fuggito dall'aldilà...
Look how pale your face is,
It seems like you've escaped from the afterlife...
Vedo nei tuoi occhi
profondo terrore,
che bianche e gelide dita tu hai...
I see deep terror in your eyes,
And you have white and cold fingers...
Guarda come stan ferme
le acque del lago
nemmeno un uccello che osi cantare...
Look how still the lake waters are,
Not even a bird dares to sing...
"è stato in mezzo ai prati
che io la incontrai
e come se mi amasse lei mi guardò".
"It was in a field
where I met her,
and it was as if she loved me, she looked at me".
Guarda come l'angoscia
ti arde le labbra,
sembra tu sia fuggito dall 'aldilà...
Look how anguish burns your lips,
It seems like you've escaped from the afterlife...
"E'stato in mezzo ai prati
che io la incontrai..."
che bianche e gelide
dita tu hai...
"It was in a field
where I met her..."
And you have white and cold fingers...
"Quando al mio fianco
lei poi si appoggiò
io l'anima le diedi
ed il tempo scordai.
Quando al mio fianco
lei poi si appoggiò...".
"When she leaned against my side
I gave her my soul
And forgot the time.
When she leaned against my side...".
Che bianche e gelide
dita tu hai...
You have white and cold fingers...
"Al limite del monte
mi addormentai
fu l'ultimo mio sogno
che io allora sognai;
erano in mille e mille di più..."
"At the edge of the mountain
I fell asleep
It was the last dream I dreamed;
There were thousands and thousands more..."
Che bianche e gelide
dita tu hai...
You have white and cold fingers...
"Erano in mille
e mille di più,
con pallide labbra
dicevano a me:
- Quella che anche a te
la vita rubò, è lei,
la bella dama senza pietà".
"There were thousands
And thousands more,
With pale lips
They said to me:
- The one who took your life too,
Is her,
The beautiful lady without mercy".
Contributed by Charlie E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.