Agricantus (from the Latin: the singing of the corn field) is a Sicilian musical group playing mixed genres. Founded in Palermo, Italy, in 1979, the group has included many artists, including, in alphabetical order, Tonj Acquaviva (vocals, drums, sequencer and percussion), Mario Crispi (wind, vocals), Danila Laguardia (vocals), Massimo Laguardia (frame drums, percussion, vocals), Pippo Pollina (vocals, guitar), Mario Rivera (electric bass, vocals), Salvo Siciliano (guitar, keyboards).
The band has been formed by various lineups. The musical work was then taken up by two distinct autonomous lineups: In the 2010 Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr took the name Agricantus adding “by Tonj Acquaviva. In 2012 Mario Rivera, Mario Crispi e Paolo Dossena took the name Agricantus with the addition “reunion”.
History
Agricantus has performed a mixture of musical styles, languages and dialects, modern sounds and archaic musical instruments, through three decades of music. They reached their artistic maturity in the second part of the 1990s, following a particularly prosperous period for world music production in Italy. Their history can then be divided into these main periods.
1980-1991
Their artistic career was initially inspired by the revival of Andean music and South American folk culture exemplified by the Nueva Canción Chilena. At the beginning of the 1980s, the band was part of the popular Sicilian folk scene (Rosa Balistreri, famous folk-singer, Ignazio Buttitta, famous popular poetry, Ciccio Busacca, famous street story-singer, and other artists) drawing encouragement and inspiration to pursue their own path and engaging actively in the promotion of popular music in Sicily. the grou was founded in 1984 in Palermo and performed in numerous concerts throughout Europe and in prestigious occasions such as folk music and world music festivals.
1992-1999
Agricantus developed a mature musical language at the beginning of the 1990s with the release of Gnanzù! which was dedicated to the music of Southern Italy, the result of a research of the oral tradition recorded in the field and re-arranged through new technologies using traditional sounds. This new phase also coincides with the joining of the Swiss singer Rosie Wiederkehr who was the lead singer of the group until 2008. Since 1995, following a signature of a discographic contract with Compagnia Nuove Indye and the production directed by Paolo Dossena the band produced more thematic discs (concept album) in which often use a mixture of European and non European languages side by side to the Sicilian language, using too electronic musical instruments and ethnic groups from various parts of the world. Tuareg, 1996, can be considered the most representative album, with which Agricantus have received several national awards. At this stage, the band has also developed more collaborations with the world of cinema and has participated in international music compilations. This allowed Agricantus to overlook the panorama of world music beyond the Italian borders with the publication in the USA of the collection “The Best of Agricantus”. In 1997 they published “Hale Bopp Souvenir”, named after the Comet Hale-Bopp, an EP that bears witness to the encounter with the Tuareg singer Fadimata Wallet Oumar In 1998 they published Kaleidos second concept album, based on a mixture with classical music.
2000-2008
In 2000 Agricantus sign the soundtrack of the film Placido Rizzotto of Pasquale Scimeca which is published by the eponymous CD.
In 2001 they published Ethnosphere third concept album dedicated to the world and the spirituality of Tibetan culture. The album, inspired by some lyrics and music composed by Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr as part of the multimedia project Welt Labyrinth, organized in support of the struggle for the independence of Tibet.
In 2002 the song “Amatevi” (co-written with Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi) is included in the famous compilation of world music/ambient/chill out Buddha Bar IV.
In 2005, the interruption of production with the label and, at the same time, the simultaneous expulsion of Mario Rivera, there is the release of the album Habibi, that is disavowed by group members.
The artistic activity continues then with the collaboration of DJ Ravin, with the creation of the soundtrack The Son of the Moon of Gianfranco Albano and with the publication of Luna khîna, published by Raitrade: This is the last album that also will mark the end of the collaboration between Acquaviva and Wiederkehr with Crispi, which took place at the end of 2008.