Pino Rucher (1 January 1924 – 16 August 1996) was an Italian guitarist active in orchestral settings and in film soundtracks.
Biographical notes and musical career
Early life
Rucher started playing the guitar when his father came back from the United States in 1933 and presented him with a guitar. His parents decided that he should take private music lessons. After a few years’ study, he started playing in public in his hometown and in Naples and Bari.
American influence
The presence of American troops in the province of Foggia (and particularly in the area of Manfredonia, Rucher's hometown), between 1943 and 1946 led to Rucher joining several Allied Army's orchestras, where he came into contact with American musical atmosphere and jazz.
In 1946, Rucher entered the Carlo Vitale orchestra after coming first in a competition for the position of guitarist at Radio Bari. After the dissolution of the Vitale orchestra, Rucher went to work for Radio Milano as a member of the Carlo Zeme orchestra. In the 1950s and the early 1960s he also worked with two forerunners of Italian "swing", Pippo Barzizza and Cinico Angelini.
Angelini Orchestra
Angelini selected Rucher as a member of his orchestra, with which Rucher worked for about ten years. He participated in events including the First International Song Festival in Venice in 1955 and several San Remo Music Festivals, among which the 1957 Festival, where Claudio Villa came first with Corde della mia chitarra.
Pino Rucher collaborations
Rucher took part in many musical events and radio and television broadcasts (San Remo Music Festivals, Festival di Napoli, Festival delle rose, Mostra Internazionale di Musica Leggera in Venice, Canzonissima, Gran varietà, Studio Uno) playing in a number of orchestras and, at the same time, went on cultivating his passion for American music, as can be seen from his transcriptions, with his own arrangements. He devoted himself to jazz and performed in live concerts or in studios under the direction of many conductors. The influence of American music can be noticed from his performance of Italian songs E se domani, Una zebra a pois (sung by Mina) and Amore twist (sung by Rita Pavone). He also worked for orchestra conductor and composer Elvio Monti, who asked him to play in a number of his recordings. Rucher played the guitar in L’Estasi, a composition written by Monti for Andrea Giordana and Marina Solinas.
Rucher took part in Sorella Radio, a production with the RAI orchestra. From the second half of the 1970s to December 1983, Rucher was engaged in playing in concerts as a guitarist in the RAI orchestra Ritmi moderni, which came to be known as the RAI Big Band. In 1984, owing to health problems, he stopped working for RAI, left Rome and retired.
Other activities
Rucher performed in film soundtracks from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, with at least two hundred performances including those under the direction of orchestra conductors Luis Bacalov, Gianni Ferrio, Elvio Monti, Ennio Morricone, and Riz Ortolani.
Rucher was the first guitarist to play the electric guitar in Italian westerns, performing as "electric guitar soloist" in A Fistful of Dollars. Rucher also appears in some shots from Sanremo - La grande sfida, a 1960 movie including scenes from the San Remo Music Festival. During his career he took part in musicals including Alleluja brava gente and his guitar ideas are present in numerous Italian songs, including Casetta in Canadà (sung by Carla Boni), Flamenco Rock (Milva), Se non ci fossi tu (Mina), Andavo a cento all’ora (Gianni Morandi), Che m’importa del mondo (Rita Pavone), L’edera (Nilla Pizzi) and Adesso no (Neil Sedaka).
Rucher played not only the electric guitar, but also the folk (or acoustic), the classical, the bass and the twelve-string guitar, and then the banjo, the mandolin and the double bass.
Awards
The Municipal Authority of Manfredonia dedicated a street to Rucher. On 5 October 2008, the local authorities supported a commemorative event to Rucher in his home town. The event took place in Piazza Giovanni XXIII (Manfredonia's central square).
On 16 October 2010, the Municipal Authorities of Manfredonia and of San Nicandro Garganico dedicated a special evening to Rucher. The event took place at the Cine-Teatro Italia of San Nicandro Garganico.
The main songs with Pino Rucher as electric guitarist
The main songs with Pino Rucher as electric guitarist: