CALLIOPE means:
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Calliope began in May of 1989. Rinaldo Doro was playing in a
folk-rock group when
he ran into Beppe Crovella, one-time
keyboardist of Arti & Mestieri.
He was now a producer and
suggested they put together a '70-style progressive project,
rivaling the great bands of the past. Admitting the band didn't sing all that well, Rinaldo called Massimo Berruti, a charismatic and "very mad" singer, with stage presence to burn. So, Calliope was born. The band's first album, "La Terra dei Grandi Occhi" (The Earth
of the Big Eyes) was recorded
in two days only at Synergy Studios;
the effort was plagued by tecnical difficulties, including
the
need to drag a mellotron up and down stairs. The fact that Mario
fell very ill during the sessions
complicated matters further. The Band played various festivals and gigs throughout Italy over the next year. Soon, it was time to begin work on the next project,
"Citta'
di Frontiera" (Cities on the borderline). Unlike the 1st album,
this 2nd effort comprised all
new material, a collaborative
effort between all members of Calliope. The work sound more
contemporary,
but is still packed with plenty of mellotron and
other vintage instruments. An year later,
Massimo Berruti left the band.
Calliope left scenes and Rinaldo Doro wrote the music for
a
solo album. He included ancient music, folk and renaissance
dances in this project. The new CD was released in Italy in december '95, was called "Il Madrigale del Vento" (The Wind's Madrigal) and the band, again, Calliope. The music style is more far from rock, more symphonic and orchestrated, like the style of B.M.S. or Griphon, using the sound of ancient acoustic instruments. In the beginning of january '96, the band returned near his original line-up: Massimo Berruti on vocals, Rinaldo Doro on keyboards, Gianni Catalano on drums, Mario Guadagnin on guitar and Francesco Lannocca on bass; remained also Enrico Perrucci on keyboards, from the "Madrigal" experience. Unfortunately a month later Rinaldo Doro, the soul of the band, was forced to leave Calliope for personal problems (temporarily, we hope). Moreover during the october of 96, Massimo Berruti left the band again, and was replaced by the charismatic (and precious friend) Roberto Coli. After that, Mario Guadagnin and Gianni Catalano left the band too and, after an year and half of searching, we found Roberto Zaffaroni (the fantastic new drummer) and Diego Ferrero (bass). Surprise: Francesco Lannocca now plays guitar. But, in a rock band, surprises never ends: so on Christmas 1988 Roberto Coli and Roberto Zaffaroni left the band.Fortunately in march 1999
Calliope complete the band line-up again:
Andrea Pallisco, the golden voice, and Flaviano Sciarpa,
the
drummers wizard. During july 1999 we played live 2 times: the first concert was for our friends, to get their opinions about the new line-up and new sound, the other for our friend Hiroshi Masuda, a promoter from Tokio, that wrote us he would listen to Calliope during his holiday in Italy for the Vigevano Prog-Fest. In june 2000 Andrea get married,
and leave the band (good
luck Andrea !) but Massimo Berruti comes back into the band: it's not
a definitive return, but allow us to continue the activity during
the new singer search. In december 2000 Diego must leave the band because of a new job, but we
welcome in our 'old and large family' a
new great bass player: Andrea Crovagna and
his many 'little pedals'
(the sound processors). Why generations? The chice of the album title is due to the nature of the tracks: some are kept from a concert of the formers members in 1993, and some are recorded in july 2002, played by the new line-up. All songs are from the first and the second CD, except from the 4th track "Luci ed Ombre" (Lights and Shadows") that it's new. The same song, but revisited by the new band, is inserted in the first CD of the italiam fanzine Nobody's Land (Nobody's Land Act 1), out in february 2003. In june Flaviano, the drummer, leave the band for new personal different projects, an some month later also Francesco and Lele Foppiano, who replaced Flaviano, left the band. But in the end of 2004 finally we restarted to work, with our new two friends: Fabio Morese, 'The Time Machine', and Enrico Merlo, The Gentleman of the guitar. The new musicans are young but very good at music, so we are back ready to play: in these days we will record a Demo-CD for gigs, and we are working to the project of the new album. Near to the end of 2004 we were ready to start working again with our new friends: Fabio Morese, 'the rytm machine', and Enrico Merlo, The guitar gentleman. The two new musicians were young but very serious, so early we were ready to perform good. In that period we started to write and experience some new song for the next album, but we gave precedence to the live performances. The more significative were: - Italian prog Night, Concerto in Tournai, Belgium, in may 2006, with CAP and Ubi Major - The first Novara Prog Fest in june 1006, with our friends of Castello di Atlante - The first Progressive Rock Festival in Borriana, in may 2007, with CAP and Immagin'aria - The Veruno 2 Days Prog 2009, in september 2009, with Orme and Mangala Vallis.  Luckly our old friend Roberto Zaffaroni comes back to play with us. This is a very lucky thing for Calliope, because Roberto is an accurate and experienced musician, but also because he played with us some year later: he knows very well our songs and the right sound for the band. Thinking on which direction we can take, we noticed that we never played live the songs from our 3rd CD, "Il madrigale del vento" (The wind's madrigal). We love so much these songs, specially the two long suites, and so after a brief discussion we decided to rearrange that album to make it more compatible to the sound and the lineup of the band. In our next show we will play it for the first time. Now we are working to theis project, but we don't forget to think to the new album. Under the life storms, our saga go on.... Stay connected, good news will come very soon !!! Calliope has still the soul in the sky ... |
