Raoul Casadei
I grandi successi originali

Hello guys, as the late Eder Zoppoli once told me during one of our unforgettable walks between Viserba and Viserbella in that damp August of 1991: «Dear Il_Paolo, to them the money, the power, the supremacy, the capital and the country... to us, the folk dance!»

For a veteran communist like dear Eder, bewildered by Gorbachev imprisoned in a dacha in Crimea, everything seemed to have an excessively partisan and anti-Western flavor, although I had to change my mind (indeed) reevaluating my friend's thoughts, when, after equipping my parents' Arna to return to the city, Eder gave me a patiently recorded audiocassette that I listened to on the sunny highway that led me back to the mists of my usual northern routine.

Sorry for the introduction, but I believe it can provide an interesting framework to understand, with you and for you, the importance of Raoul Casadei and his orchestra for Italian "minor" music, which I persist in proposing among the other reviews present on this site. Our analysis can therefore start from this interesting collection of successes.

Simple, straightforward, and sunny music that reevaluates more than it seems the idea of a group, of an ensemble, and of notes played for dancing and entertaining all generations. Folk dance is often mistakenly considered as a creation and product only for the people of Romagna (or those who have Romagna in their head and heart), while, in my humble opinion, it represents a little treasure - if not of the ethnos - of the possible ethos of our country.

It borrows from tradition the soft and melodic sound of accordions (reminiscent of past mazurkas), enriching the harmonic textures of these instruments with the inclusion of guitars, bass, and drums from the more modern music of consumption, resulting in an interesting crossover suitable for all tastes.

This music certainly lacks the sharpness of a soloist, the complexity of a musician playing for other musicians or for himself, but it doesn't mean that's a bad thing, quite the contrary: the union of all folk dance groups, and Casadei's in particular, aptly highlights how music isn't the creation of an individual but a group of people who "play together" and "play to be together." It is, in a minor and popular tone, the concept of an orchestra, an almost socialist approach to music, as perhaps the dear old Eder Zoppoli intuited in the hot summer of Rimini.

The happiness of being together and the search for harmony is emphasized in folk dance and its interpretation by the talented and likable Casadei, by lyrics that are almost never pessimistic, and that indeed, very often, narrate the small joys of life and the little hopes that each of us harbors.

Take, for example, the famous "Ciao, ciao mare" and compare it with "Il mare d'inverno," "L'estate sta finendo," or, even, "Estate" and "Una favola d'estate" (other well-known pseudo-summer hits) and tell me if, in the perspective of Raoul and his group, we do not witness the conscious acknowledgment of the fleetingness of things, but also of their eternal return, so we say "goodbye" to the sea knowing, gods willing, that we will return the following year with the same enthusiasm as before.

The same could be said for feelings towards one's beloved or, by transition, towards one's ideals, homeland, origins, as symbolized by the famous "Romagna Mia": here, the memory of the past, of the beauty at the farmhouse, does not resolve into lazy and pessimistic regret over lost time, but constitutes the momentum to regain strength, to move forward against all possible obstacles, in time with the folk dance and tapping out the one-two-three of provincial bands.

So then I think of all the Eder Zoppolis dancing Casadei in dance halls, unaware of the passing time and the coming of old age; I think of the possibility of entertainment music, not devoid of technical skill, that with heart and simplicity spreads small values and teachings that teach us to resist the ugliness of daily life; I understand why Casadei's music contains a small moral lesson: never give up, continue to fight daily for one's rights.

And so I correct Zoppoli's phrase: more than to country, folk dance should be likened to reggae. And if Casadei is Bob Marley, Romagna, in the head and heart, is the Jamaica we deserve.

Rhythmically Yours,

Il_Paolo