FunFara

This highly skilled Piedmont wind instrument ensemble got started in 1980, favouring theatricality and comicality in their music shows. Now, on FunFara, they pay homage to the Italian brass band tradition. These exuberant and carefree maestri aim to modernise this influential and popular sound.

Thus, the title perfectly embodies the quartet's surrealistic spirit and performative inclination for the unexpected. FunFara is a consistent album offering 18 compositions, a considerable range and plenty of enjoyment. The tracklist includes some newly composed suites, marches, waltzes and an Italian-flavoured sirtaki. The highlight is ‘Oggi, un Giorno del ’44’, a poignant reinvented version of the anthemic ‘Bella Ciao’. You get furious and earthy sequences alongside slower, heartfelt and cinematic-influenced tunes. There is also a satirical environmentalist piece (‘Acquedotto Oleodotto’) and a number commenting on the tragic fate of B-sides (‘Noi Siamo le Canzoni’). Some numbers have been recorded with Riunita Banda di Filano from Basilicata, with whom the lyrical and yet fresh and direct style is favoured. Elsewhere, the quartet is flanked by the northerners of Banda Musicale di Cavenago di Brianza and Banda Musicale di Agrate Brianza. Good-time and delightful stuff, for sure.