Negrita
Nove volte Negrita

On May 27, the band Negrita, undoubtedly a prominent group in the Italian rock scene, made their appearance on the Rai 2 program SuperMax. The program, hosted with extreme verve by the talented Max Giusti and the effervescent Gioia Marzocchi, featured them as both musicians and casual conversationalists.

As already known, on March 24, the very recent album of new material “9”, was released. During the broadcast, Max Giusti, with his usual comedic flair, sought to unravel the oracle of the CD title by Negrita. Basically, without downplaying its importance, the members of the Italian combo serenely replied that there's no numerological secret behind the number “9” in the title. Numerology has nothing to do with it: quite simply “9” is their ninth album. Period. On the other hand, they follow in this, examples of international artists who have used simple numbers to define their works, two of them being: Led Zeppelin and Toto. Pau and his bandmates pointed out that since February 27, as a trailblazer on the radio, the single “Il gioco” is achieving excellent listenership ratings.

For this album, Negrita distanced themselves from Italy: unlike many of their peers who favor America, they traveled to Northern Europe, specifically Ireland. On the other hand, Ireland is home to names and sacred monsters of world music: Ireland, for example, rhymes with Bono Vox and his U2. As someone would say, big shots. Nevertheless, America is also frequented by Negrita. However, to be fair, as discussed by Luca Barbarossa and singer-songwriter Mimmo Parisi, who were passing through SuperMax and are admirers of this original band, it's important to note that the America they favor is South America. After all, traces of this inclination are evident in the sounds and lyrics that, for some time now, have been imbued with Latin America.

According to Max Giusti, amidst smiles and bon mots, the Negrita mentioned that, all in all, the residential environment adjacent to the Grouse Lodge recording studio in County Westmeath, Ireland, resembled what they usually frequent in Italy. Indeed, in their homeland, the band composes and works mainly in their studio set in the countryside: Pau, the singer, said that the Irish chickens foraging around managed, with their presence, to mitigate the sense of distance from Italy.

“9” contains 13 tracks: “Il gioco”, “Poser”, “Mondo politico”, “Que será, será”, “Se sei l’amore”, “1989”, “Ritmo umano” (Feat. Ted Neeley), “Il nostro tempo è adesso”, “Baby I’m in love”, “Niente è per caso”, “L’eutanasia del fine settimana”, “Vola via con me”, and “Non è colpa tua” (feat. Shel Shapiro).

Pau and Mac are the founders of the band, the third is Drigo who presented the work like this: “Our previous albums were born in the spirit of significant journeys…” and, referring precisely to what was mentioned earlier, regarding their cultural sympathies, he continued “… These journeys have always taken us to countries and territories alternative to the rock scene: Brazil, Argentina, Spain. Here at Grouse Lodge, you can breathe the air and atmosphere that permeated the albums we listened to in our teens. Here we are indeed in the heart of Rock.”

Negrita are currently on tour, which started on April 10, and will hit the major Italian arenas.