Franco Mussida
Racconti Della Tenda Rossa

Between one job with the PFM and another, in 1991 Franco Mussida gave birth to this unique work which I would classify as "World Jazz", that is, a jazz oriented towards ethnic sounds. Besides playing the guitar, he is also found on vocals, where he demonstrates good singing abilities. Everything in this album is special, starting with the title "Racconti della Tenda Rossa", finishing with the instrumentation used (Indian flutes, keyboards, trumpets, sax, tabla plus various other types of percussion) and the original type of music played.

The songs that compose it are 14 and examining them all would produce tiring iterative effects, but going through a few of them can help to better understand what kind of music we are talking about.

The first track already gives us an idea of the product's specialty: "Voci" consists of vocalizations followed by a background of diffused percussion that accompany Mussida's voice, which insinuates itself into the fragile musical fabric by reciting a rather cryptic text: "Giochi di parole, giochi di parole... voci sante, voci vere, voci al vento, voci sincere, voci a tempo, voci a stento [...] voci in lamento!"
The second track "Orizzonti del Cuore" opens with a soft melody from Mussida's own guitar, which, hand in hand with a few effective piano notes, outlines an irresistible melody. This instrumental piece creates an atmosphere of calm serenity that will follow throughout the album.
"Radici di Terra" is a more significant piece: after a brief instrumental introduction, Mussida's voice slowly rises and leads to a smooth jazz-oriented sound; then the rhythm accelerates and the percussion becomes more evident. It must be said that the lyrics, apparently trivial, reveal all their depth after listening to them several times.

"La Cava di Sabbia" recalls the best of Battisti's "Anima Latina": here too the trumpets and sax create an atmosphere of primal, genuine beauty, and after a duet by Mussida with a very talented singer who will also appear in other pieces, a sweet riff of his guitar follows accompanied by never intrusive keyboards. Once again, the lyrics surprise with their substance. "Himalaya" leads us to sounds recalling world music, with African percussion and tribal rhythms over a background of ethereal voices that outline a tense and vibrant motif. "Dance Classique" opens with the drums in the foreground, followed by a melodic contribution of the winds and voice, reciting in constantly different tones.

Then it moves from more syncopated rhythms to more melodic ballads and even a lazy Brazilian samba, "Caffé Concerto", in which it is possible to hear the voices of the local clientele discussing in the background. Other small brilliant touches (rustling wind, sounds of flowing streams...) make it an extremely varied and very interesting sound experiment that is worth listening to and revisiting, to let yourself be lulled by the sweet notes and to appreciate the skill with which the able musicians juggle different genres with uncommon mastery. Mussida, deviating from the sounds shared with Di Cioccio & Co., has produced something that, if not unique, is at least pleasantly unusual.