Lebanon is a nation where the paths between Asia, Europe, and Africa intersect. Due to its geography, beauty, and its historic abundance of various ethnicities within it, it has been a haven for its own children, travellers, minorities, explorers, artists and traders for thousands of years. As a result, it has a very rich history. Although its feet have been currently muddied in the mess of power, politics and ill intent, its history and spirit remain strong and vibrant. In contemporary Lebanese life, memories of Lebanon from its so-called \u2018Golden Age\u2019 \u2013 the time between its independence in 1948 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1975 \u2013 are often cherished. The economy was flourishing, and tourists from all over the world were visiting the country. Food was delicious and cheap, the climate pleasant, generosity and goodness were in abundance. It was a bustling cultural hub which hosted many artists, including jazz musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Duke Ellington, who wrote a piece called \u2018Mount Harissa\u2019 in ode to the shrine located there.<\/p>\n
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\nWithin its national history, lie a colossus of experiences and stories. This article deals with the story of an Italian Maestro who lived in Lebanon during this era.
\nReddy Bobbio is a pianist, composer, arranger and conductor who has written over one thousand songs. His early career comprised with playing shows with his band in France, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Beirut, and Tehran.<\/p>\n
Reddy Bobbio (Top Left) and His Band, c.1960s
\nHe arrived to Lebanon in the 1960s. In this time, he collaborated with the Lebanese-Armenian community which was a cultural powerhouse in its own right. He arranged and orchestrated music for Adiss Harmandyan\u2019s in \u2018Live At The Recital Phoenicia Theatre\u2019, and released an album with his orchestra titled, \u2018Holiday In Yerevan\u2019, interpreting Armenian folk songs. In this period, he released his own albums such as \u2018Reddy Bobbio And His Multi-Sound Organ\u2019.<\/p>\n
Reddy Bobbio (Far Left) with Daniel Der Sahakian and Adiss Harmandyan, alongside an Adiss album cover \u2013 Late 1960s<\/p>\n
A few years later, Bobbio returned to Italy and began a long and productive musical relationship with Italian saxophonist, Fausto Papetti. He arranged many of Papetti\u2019s albums in the 1970s, 80s, and 1990s as well as composing music with him such as the track, \u2018Montenapo\u2019 on the 32\u00aa Raccolta in 1981.
\nPrior to the Lebanese civil war, copies of Papetti\u2019s easy listening records were immensely popular in Lebanon and would be found in many record cabinets in throughout the country. Bobbio also worked with notable Italian musicians Gigi Proietti, Claudio Villa, and Fred Bongusto among others.<\/p>\n
Reddy Bobbio (Left) and Fausto Papetti- c.1980s
\nIn the 1980s and 1990s, he released many solo albums as well as with his orchestra, such as \u2018Only You\u2019, \u2018Rarefaction\u2019, \u2018To Remember\u2019 and instrumental piano albums.<\/p>\n
Reddy Bobbio Trio
\n(Photo: DANIELA BORGHI for www.lastampa.it)<\/p>\n
In his eighth decade of music, he is still as active as ever. He is the Vice-President of the Festival di Sanremo Symphony Orchestra and heads the Reddy Bobbio Swing Trio where he is accompanied by Mauro Parrinello on double bass, and Fausto Biamonti on drums. This formation recreates the atmosphere and extroverted spirit of the swing era underlining “the smiling side of jazz” whose repertoire is made up of the great masterpieces of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington. In that case, perhaps his trio might create their own rendition of \u2018Mount Harissa\u2019 seeing as Bobbio himself has surely been there.
\nBy: RH, RB<\/p>\n
REDDY BOBBIO
\nPianist, Composer, Arranger and Conductor.
\nAs Composer:
\nHe Wrote 1,300 Songs, Deposited To The S. I. A. E.
\nThese Are Some Interpreters Of His Musical Compositions : Claudio Villa, Fausto Papetti, Nilla Pizzi, Carla Boni, Gino Latilla, Enrico Musiani, Giorgio Consolini, Johnny Sax, Jos\u00e8 Maria Villaroia, (Spagna), Jos\u00e8 Bacchelli (Gold Record In Uruguay).
\nHe Wrote The Piano Book \u201cStudio E Divertimento\u201d (Edizioni Mediolanum \u2013 Carish).
\nA Drums And Rhythms\u2019 Study \u201cLa Guide Du Rythhme\u201d (Edizioni Chappel \u2013 Paris)
\nChamber Music (Edizioni Chiola Music Press Brussels, New York)
\nSacred Music For Organ (Edizioni Carrara)
\nA Concert Mass For Choire, Soprano, Baritone And String Orchestra Dedicated To \u201cPADRE PIO\u201d
\nHe Wrote Chamber Music Performed By Chamber Quintet \u201cTHE PRELADIUM\u201d
\nSong For Band (Edizione Scomegna ) \u201cSoggiorno Viennese\u201d Tipical Walzer Of Vienna
\nSong Dedicated To Papa Giovanni Paolo II \u201cSANTO SUBITO\u201d Carla Gelmini\u2019s Lyrics And Voice.<\/p>\n
As Arranger and Orchestra Conductor:
\nArrangements made for Fausto Papetti ( n. 38 LP and CD)
\nFred Bongusto (L.P \u201cParadiso Perduto\u201d containing the song \u201cSCUSA\u201d participant in the 1989 edition of Sanremo Festival )
\nClaudio Villa (n. 1 LP e CD) his personal pianist and conductor of orchestra, during the tour in Japan in the best theatres of Tokyo, Osaka etc.
\nAdiss Harmandyan (popular Armenia\u2019 singer, n.2 LP one of these \u201cHOLIDAY in EREVAN\u201d)
\nAref: Popular Iranian singer ( n. 1 LP )
\nInternational Malta\u2019s Festival (he won the second prize representing Italy)
\nHe created the \u201cSwing Orchestra\u201d a Big band of 14 musicians and realized a CD.
\nAfter this experience, he created an orchestra of 7 musicians again: \u201cThe Glenn Miller story\u201d, remembering in the concerts the beautiful Gleen Miller\u2019 successes.
\nOrchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo: arranger, conductor of orchestra and pianist in the concerts:
\nMusiche da film, Tribute to Fausto Pappetti, Souvenir dell\u2019Operetta.<\/p>\n
Recordings:
\nn. 13 audiocassettes ( piano ) n. 4 CD ( Piano )
\nCD \u201cHistoricals voices and songs of Sanremo\u2019s Festival\u201d (three CD on the occasion of THE COLOMBIALI) editions RICORDI
\nCD for RAI TELEVISION \u201cMistero e Magia\u201d ediz. Fonit Cetra
\nCD \u201cItalia\u201d for Digimusic records with tenore GIOVANNI GURNARI (for Spanish and South American market)
\nCD \u201cChristmas night\u201d (Christmas songs) lyrics and voice of CARLA GELMINI
\nCD \u201cTribute to Elvis\u201d for Costa Azzurra records
\nCD \u201cSouvenir\u201d dedicated to Lake of Como lyrics and voice of CARLA GELMINI
\nN. 5 Accordion\u2019s audiocassettes \u201cRede\u2019 di Pigna\u201d a tribute to his grandfather.<\/p>\n
Television Appearances:
\nOfficial pianist of \u201cDOPO FESTIVAL\u201d RAI 1 – 47.ma edition Sanremo\u2019s festival with Bruno Vespa, Valeria Marini, Luciano Pavarotti
\n1986 \u201cGRAN GALA \u2018 DELLA TELEVISIONE ITALIANA\u201d RAI 1 (Gigi Proietti Personal pianist)
\n1995 Telemontecarlo Italia \u201cNON HO MAI PERSO LA BUSSOLA\u201d with Gianni Mina \u2018
\nSpanish National television (conductor of orchestra)
\nZDF German National Television \u201cSONNTAGS KONZERT EUROPA\u201d
\nTeleluxemburg
\nLebanese National Television
\nIranian National Television<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lebanon is a nation where the paths between Asia, Europe, and Africa intersect. Due to its geography, beauty, and its historic abundance of various ethnicities within it, it has been a haven for its own children, travellers, minorities, explorers, artists and traders for thousands of years. As a result, it has a very rich history. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":425052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-555"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=425050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425053,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425050\/revisions\/425053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/425052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=425050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=425050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=425050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}