Osanna
Oro Caldo

The extravagant Neapolitan progressive scene is undoubtedly the most expansive and fertile of the Seventies. The shock of Alan Sorrenti with "Aria", the "YS" masterpiece by Balletto di Bronzo, the jazz of Napoli Centrale with Senese and Esposito, and the semi-unknown "Melos" by Cervello.

Yet nothing more theatrical than Osanna, nothing more picturesque than them. Already that enchanting flute of the phenomenal Ennio D'Anna that slipped sublimely through the unpolished blues of Rustici gave great promise for this original reality. The first album "L'Uomo" clearly showcases the project's depth. Folk, psychedelia, rock, and spiritual/philosophical themes, with a pinch of politics as well, enrich their style. Just the time to participate in the soundtrack of "Milano Calibro 9", with that beautiful "There Will Be Time" and other variations of the main "Theme", and the following year comes what you didn't expect, or that miraculously you were hoping for here in Italy.

They open for the Genesis concerts of the "Foxtrot" period (and who knows where that idea of Gabriel-like makeup came from?!) and they land on the pure theater of "Palepoli".

A journey through ruins and stories lost in time.

The economic boom is sucked into the archaic nature of this bucolic, panic, surreal, at times ecstatic setting. We witness the evolution of Neapolitan culture and its popular values unfold before us.

The lively chatter of a market is overshadowed by the advancing of a tarantula, which hurriedly immerses us in the secrets of Pompeii. We are immediately swept away by the torrential start of "Oro Caldo". The sounds are full, the grim introductory blues is alienated by backward flute notes. Slowly, guitar arpeggios make their way and the power of the rustic landscape of that submerged reality.

The beauty of dancing southern rural rhythms seasoned with the band's high voltage leave you breathless when they start to merge. Truly raw when flute and bass sink into the more obsessive and acrobatic rhythms of the drums. The finale gives chills, electronic play and rhythms impossible to conceive. Clearly indebted to Van Der Graaf and King Crimson, but Osanna's execution and involvement are always on exceptional levels.

We continue to be captivated by the surprising avant-gardism of flute with voices in "Stanza Città". And then the moral/political/philosophical message of "Palepoli".

"Animale Senza Respiro" symbolizes the powerful fat one in his garden punished by the imminent divine judgment. Emotions and amazement with escapes, rapid changes, and the classic blues well inserted even in the emphatic purely theatrical conception. The finale is monumental. Our vision is shaken by the grim rise of mellotron, basses, and dissonances equivalent to a divine gift.

How to imagine a stage while bringing before our eyes disguised existences.