A couple of years ago we hosted a mix by one of Italy's best disco DJs,
Miki. We described him as Italy's earliest mixing DJ, but were corrected
by a few people including Jeremy Campbell who interviewed
Beppe Loda and researched the history of the Italian club scene back
in 2006. So we decided to look further. Thankfully Max De Giovanni had
just written
a book on that very subject, which made our job a lot easier. We're
very grateful to Max for providing pretty much all of the following information,
mixes and images...
In the 1960s, unlike the UK, Italy wasn't exactly an underground club
mecca; the only night clubs around were pretentious hang outs where actors,
VIPs and international stars spent the night talking about the latest
fashions, and overdosing on massive amounts of cocaine, with music played
by live bands. However, by the end of the '60s in Rome and Milano, a defining
moment in Italian club history ushered in a new era as club owners decided
to save the cost of the live bands and enrolled DJs to play records in
their clubs. Soon the decade's style of live music was ending. A lot of
musicians wanted to stay in the music business however, so they had to
figure out how to start a new career, and the Italian club DJ was born.
The earliest clubs modeled themselves on fashionable European venues,
with the sophistication of Paris and London, and a musical soundtrack
to match. These clubs were small and exclusive and aimed at a very adult
clientele, but by the turn of the decade Italian nightlife slowly started
to change for the better, with a lot of amazing new clubs opening. Among
the most famous of these were Astrolabio in Parma, Nephenta and Charlie
Max in Milano, King in Cortina, Xenon in Genova, Ritual in Baia Sardinia,
Stock in Madonna di Campiglio, Ciak in Bologna, Altro Mondo, Paradiso
and Bilbò in Rimini/Riccione, Gilda, Jackie O and Locanda Dell
'Orso in Rome, Jab Jum and Arcadia in Firenze, Snoopy in Modena and Pick
up in Torino.
Some of the country's first DJs were foreigners like Winston, Abrahams,
Henry, Patrick, Michael and Jean Claude - these guys obviously didn't
ever become celebrity DJs since nobody ever knew what their surnames were.
Many of this new breed struggled with only one turntable and no headphones,
which meant they had to be quick flipping the vinyl. The music selection
was initially decided by the club owners, who bought the records for use
at the club. But not surprisingly the DJs wanted to control what type
of music they were going to play, so they looked for new songs and new
ideas to keep things fresh. At the time it was tough getting new music
to play though, so they resorted to playing the B sides of their 45s,
while they tried desperately to score better records. One lucky DJ, Antonio
Verrastro, had developed a friendship with an air hostess who regularly
flew to New York. Each time she went she would bring him back all the
top 20 hits. He quickly became the country's leading DJ, with the owner
of the Honky Tonk where he began his career unable to open the doors without
him in the booth.
Ivano Carlini was another of Italy's earliest DJs. He loved rock, soul
and funk music, and found himself playing all over at clubs like Number
one in Torre Pedrera, Shaker, Locanda Del Lupo and Ye Ye in Rimini, before
spinning at the some of the best discotheques, such as Jumbo in Parma,
Caravel in Mantova, Picchio rosso in Modena, Baccara in Lugo, Altro Mondo
and Meeting in Rimini, despite never learning to mix, but continuing to
announce his selections on the mic.
Then there was Robi Bonardi - another of the country's first DJs to make
a name for himself. He began his musical career as a drummer, but in 1968,
at the age of 17, he joined many other Italian musicians and changed direction;
becoming a DJ at King Club in Parma. He went on to become resident in
one of first discos built in Italy, Astrolabio in Parma, before landing
gigs at Klandestine, Tabasco, The Tube, Dada Umpa, Metamorphosy Club,
Spirit, My Top and Bogey Club, as well as getting bookings in Paris and
London throughout the decade. His early gigs were difficult, due in no
small part to the lack of available music. Equipment was basic, though
he did at least have the luxury of two turntables. He switched between
them with a crude mixer - basically an amp with two phono inputs and a
knob marked with "1" for left, "2" for right, and "0" for off!
Ask any Italian DJ of a certain age to name their early heroes and Marilù
Corradi (Cabala in Rome and Number One in Milano and Rome), Sergio Cossa
(Nephenta in Milano and King in Cortina D'Ampezzo), Fabrizio "Billo" Levati
(Bilbò in riccione), the American singer Ronnie Jones (Bilbò
in Cortina and Riccione, Tino Club in Ravenna, Baccara in Lugo), Gianni
Naso (Piper in Rome), and Jonata Garavaglia (Charlie Max in Milano) are
names that constantly come up. This pioneering group of DJs opened the
doors for all Italian DJs who would follow.
In 1973 a group of DJs got together to create The Italian Association
for DJs (AID). They met in a record shop in Rome, Cittö 2000, and together
they built the foundation for DJs who wanted to take their new careers
seriously. Showman Renzo Arbore was voted president with Gianni Naso as
secretary, and a whole new generation of DJs was spawned, including Sasa
Capobianco, Tiziano Felici, Paky Mele, Piero Fidelfatti, Pippo Balistreri,
Riccardo Cioni, Claudo Stella, Cesare Plantulli, Giuliano Veronese and
Claudio Casalini. Casalini's career began in 1971 in London, but in 1973
he returned to Italy and found himself in demand in some of the country's
best clubs. This generation of DJs became more than just record jocks,
they became showmen, speaking between each song and entertaining the crowd.
Their DJ style was still pretty formulaic however; they would play three
down tempo tunes, and then switch it up and play three up tempo tunes
for the duration of the night.
Getting hold of decent music still wasn't easy; some record shops tried
importing records from the States, but it was difficult. AID organised
themselves as a record pool, where all the members were able to get all
the new releases from the Italian labels. The lucky few also got their
hands on a small amount of records imported from NYC. In 1974 things began
to change...
Miki started his career as music programmer for a club called Ciak in
Bologna; a converted castle holding some 1500 people inside, with room
for another 4000 outside. He had relatives in New York who were involved
in the music industry, and Miki himself was a reporter for an Italian
music magazine, so he was regularly sent parcels of records. He got himself
enrolled in the New York Record Pool and soon he had a wonderful collection
of interesting disco, funk, soul, afro and Philly records on original
US labels. He regularly received promos, months, even years, before they
got to Italy. Ciak was one of the first clubs in the country to be equipped
with two turntables and a proper mixer (and a great sound system), so
when he started DJing there in 1974, initially filling in for a week for
a sick friend, Miki quickly became a DJ of advanced techniques. He was
the first Italian DJ to use a set of headphones to locate the best spot
to cut the record in, and the first to take control of the turntable to
keep the records perfectly in tempo. He also got into playing around with
EQ, not only to boost the bass for premium thump, but to compensate for
the loss of highs that occurred when a record was slowed down during mixing.
All this was self taught as there was no one else doing anything like
it in Italy at the time. The music he was being sent from New York suited
his DJing style perfectly, so it's probably safe to say that Miki was
the first Italian DJ to be playing disco style music in Italy. His turntable
skills, plus his record collection made him a massive influence on many
Italian DJs who followed in his footsteps as they witnessed him abandon
the old style of chatting between songs and playing for five hours at
a time mixing seemlessly. Miki was resident at Ciak until 1990 when he
retired from DJing for personal reasons.
By 1975 DJs had completely replaced live music in the clubs and competition
became fierce as they desperately searched for new music, especially new
12" singles which had just started arriving. When Baia Degli Angeli disco
opened in june of that year, owner Giancarlo Tirotti had the foresight
to employ two American DJs: Bob Day & Tom Sison. Tom was born in Puerto
Rico, ran away to New York and spent some time in the infamous "Boys Town"
in West Village - a shelter for young runaways. He was fanatical about
music, and his dreams of becoming a DJ came true when the future owner
of Baia heard him spin at a NY party. Tom was invited to Italy and arrived
with his then partner Sterling St Jacques, who was originally going to
be Tom's DJ partner at Baia. Turns out he was unable to take job, so Tom
immediately contacted another DJ friend of his, New Yorker Bob Day to
come out and spin with him. Whereas Miki had been playing a mixture of
all types of black music at Ciak, Bob & Tom brought with them the sound
of New York, and the DJ skills to match. They regularly flew home on record
buying trips, introducing the sounds of Salsoul, Philly International
and a whole load of other exotic labels to to the Italian scene. Baia
Degli Angeli is now probably the most legendary of Italian discos, despite
Bob & Tom only playing there for two years until 1977.
A whole new generation of DJs learned from Bob & Tom, many of whom went
on to become names synonymous with the Italian scene. Baldelli talks of
them witnessing him DJ, complimenting him on his skills, but suggesting
he loses the rubber on the turntables and teaching him to use slipmats.
Mozart, one of the Italian scene's most important DJs, who took over their
Baia residency was schooled by them. Rubens, who was a regular on the
Baia dancefloor before starting his own on-going DJ career at clubs like
Pineta, Eva 2000, Le ruote and Bobo, learned his art from Bob & Tom. Ebreo,
who is considered legendary in the Italian Afro and disco scenes from
his late '70s gigs in the Chicago Disco in Bologna, made the decision
to become a DJ on the Baia dancefloor listening to Bob & Tom... Marco
Trani, Gianni Morri, Meo, Fattori, Franco Moiraghi, Spranga, the list
of Italian DJs who made their names in the wake of Bob & Tom is endless.
Jonata Garavaglia was an Italian DJ who travelled in the opposite direction
to Bob & Tom. Starting out in Italy as a DJ in 1969, he found himself
in New York in 1976, where he landed a residency at Regine - one of the
most expensive discos in the city at that time. He stayed in the States
for four years, learning his craft from watching masters like Tom Savarese,
Richie Kaczor and Jellybean Benitez, and remixing for quite a few disco
artists, including Gloria Gaynor, Lenny Williams and Michael Zagor.
By the end of the 1970s, as the disco bubble was bursting worldwide, Italian
DJs simply changed their musical choices and carried on playing to packed
houses as before. Even the diehard black music freak Miki was playing
new wave in Ciak. But this change of direction helped to keep the Italian
club scene alive. The biggest success story of this era was the Cosmic
Club in the north of Italy, where one Daniele Baldelli was resident from
1979 until 1984. Baldelli's taste in music ranged from electronic German
music, jazz and new wave to reggae, African, Brazilian, fusion and pop;
basically anything he felt would work on his dancefloor. His choice of
music and his style of mixing eventually led to a certain style of music
being christened "Cosmic".
Despite beginning his DJ career as early as 1973, Beppe Loda didn't find
fame until the end of the decade when he gained a residency at Typhoon
near Brecia. Beppe was always looking for records no one else knew, developing
his own unique sound, genre-hopping through long, well programmed sets.
This fact and the timing of his residency, means he is often mistakenly
called a "Cosmic" DJ; something he is quick to dispell, even though he
landed a brief residency there in 1984, before the club was forced to
close by the authorities.
Many thanks to all the DJs who contributed to this article, to Miki for
his valuable input, to DJ Coolcut for his help, and massive thanks especially
to Max De Giovanni. All of the images and mixes on this page were generously
provided by Max.
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