Cinesoundz/Bureau B
Franco Godi : Signor Rossi (I,1975-1978,re.2008)****°
I was very pleased to see the reissue/compilation of Franco Godi’s work for the comic movie series of “Signor Rossi”.
-Just recently someone told me what really happened to all those talented comic & puppet film studios in Czech Republic from the 60s, - another shocking fact I heard after so many other facts of deliberate changes within the Art world which caused the milieu of Modern Art, in the first place, -especially thanks to some of it 60s concepts of fluxus and conceptual art- to become a place of much more “business creativity”, where its leaders can easily add mediocrity and fake artists without anyone complaining or is able to notice the difference really-… Walt Disney bought all promising art comic studios, and then made them all run into bankruptcy so that in the end they were the only surviving monopolistic animation/comic movie company (-luckily there were some second alternatives like Blue Sky Studios or even Pixar, who now recently cooperated with them for Wal-E-). This is the reason why and how we never heard of those creative studios again, and since the whole media and movie halls are much more into a mafia structure as we might want to believe, we also never saw their results being broadcast any longer either.
If these power seeking people only had taste and some decency to have made also some little money growers with this and would have saved at least more Quality before Money, to release at least some of it, now, on DVD or had sold these results to some smaller companies to do at least something with the Past, that of course did not happen. Rather than that, history is rewritten and parts of it tend to become forgotten.
Media tends to repeat only the same music, the same movies and of course (and play a game for) the same companies and work more for certain rich copyright owners only (some examples are that rights of songs are bought and new arrangements must replace the original arrangements, together with a deliberately promoting music from just below the average, like on Belgium Dutch songmusic and showbiz, so that also VIPS that know nothing of music and singing can easily join in and make more money without people noticing any difference. Through idols shows they can find malleable artists, and through covers they can bring the still known good songs to the same lower level.
Just remember how copyright originally was meant as a protection of creative rights before it became a tool for company related profits. Since recently, teachers copying the notes of traditional children songs in kindergarten have to pay expensive rights for it, just like playing music anywhere in public was already charged, while the rights only go to the same big companies and names of copyright owners (who of course invented or changed these regulations). Companies today are exaggerating the rights on everything. Songs are bought everywhere so that smaller companies can’t release anything without paying the same companies the profit.
-In other businesses it became even more inhumane :a company like Monsanto suddenly was able to buy the rights on an already existing natural tree (!!!), the neem tree, so that whole villages in India committed suicide because they were no longer allowed to continue their tradition of exploiting that tree to use it for medical use or to clean their teeth with it. Where will these so called rights on creativity and things end ? If this is possible they will be able to buy the right on apples, coffee, and even your hair so that everyone will have to be bold. It is becoming inhuman.-
For music and art business I can say that now I know at least why and how there’s more mediocrity available than integrated creativity, and that there is not much to do within the limited structures that channel certain forms of creativity really.- But luckily with this release, at least we’re reminded now of some nice to remember 60s comic movies from Italy, and above all of its brilliant music by Franco Godi, who started to work with comic artist/producer Bruno Bozetti not until some time later (the earliest movie of his is from 1965). Godi was already known for his publicity tunes since 1962, which resulted in some commissions for another great comic series ‘La Linea’ (review of another compilation with this see further down->) amongst others, before turning to Bozetti.
The great thing about this release is that it perfectly compiled the tracks, not only by combining brilliant moments of the different versions in the different languages (German, Italian, English), in general it sounds like so much brilliant fun and entertainment, opening lots of worlds and ideas which combined this way sounds like genius, attractive not just for the happy exotic rhythmical ideas and vivid arrangements, but also especially for the endless talented vocal fun inventiveness (redoing dog barking and howling into song, or brilliant yodelling, or underwater bubbling singing,), and on top of that worlds provoking pleasure all the fitting lyrical smiles and titles and themes provoking all sorts of worlds that become compiled in inventive funny ways, like for instance on “Tutankhamen Cha Cha Cha”, which combines sitar led parts with Latin dance, or like some of these ethnic references parodies (Russian folk dance, Arabic singing, Jewish klezmer, and so on). The arrangements have all the elements of lounge dance companies and are exotic, showing the happiest movements of the 60s. Not only the title tune and comic opener in English, with its great flutes and rhythms vocals will be memorable from the moment you recognise this, many more moments will have even more effect on you. A must-have heard.
-published under license from Wagner-Hellig Film Gmbh-
