Semiramis
Dedicato a Frazz

The Semiramis, named after an ancient Babylonian queen, formed around 1970 by Maurizio Zarrillo and cousins Marcello Reddavide and Memmo Pulvano, all fifteen years old. In 1972, Michele Zarrillo, the younger brother of the keyboardist Maurizio, Giampiero Artegiani (keyboard), and Paolo Faenza joined them, replacing Pulvano on drums.

In the spring of 1972, the group played at the legendary Pop festival at Villa Pamphili in Rome, where they found great success. The astonishing talent on the six strings and Michele Zarrillo's guitar riffs (typical of Hard Rock) in duet with the keyboard of his brother or Artegiani, on layers of synthesizers and the slightly immature voice of the young guitarist (16 years old) which, however, did not clash. The Semiramis experimented at Villa Flora in the Portuense area (of Rome), a friar's college where they also recorded with Metamorfosi.

Thus, the following year in 1973, “Dedicato a Frazz” was released (in which Frazz was the initial of every group member's surname (F)aenza, (R)eddavide, (A)rtegiani, (Z)arrillo, (Z)arrillo). The album tells the story, taken from a work written by Reddavide, of a naive character who sees the world only for the beauty that surrounds him without malice and the intent of profit, and who eventually heals and due to the trauma of reality's impact, he commits suicide by hanging himself (in their shows, Semiramis carried a life-sized gallows to which they attached a dummy dressed like Artegiani, which created a strong impression since just before the lights went out, the musician was dressed in that way).

The arrangements were carefully crafted by Michele Zarrillo, who is said to have taken every single instrument in hand, showing his companions how to play various pieces. The album is a fine example of Italian progressive, with dreamy symphonies conveying the protagonist's almost childlike naive vision, with passages of sweet bells and classical guitar arpeggio, which then give way to remarkable electric guitar riffs, supported by synthesizer. The second track “Luna Park”, though not diminishing the rest of the album, is the one that remains in my heart, right from the start with Zarrillo's young voice, the piece then ends with a seductive guitar with a backdrop of little bells. Another highly emotional track is the final one, “Clown”, in which the protagonist hangs himself, perfectly represented in the first part of the piece with a sad voice and atmosphere.

The album overall (aside from the two aforementioned tracks to which I have a personal emotional bond) always maintains high levels without highlighting dead moments or tracks to skip, and if one could describe it with a term, perhaps I would use "dreamlike," apart from the obvious "masterpiece." A small mention for the beautiful cover and its interior, created by Gordon Faggetter, an English artist living in Rome working with RCA.

Following this album, the group had an intense live activity until 1974, performing at many open-air festivals of the era, and it was at one of these that some guitarists, jealous of Michele Zarrillo’s extraordinary guitar skill, turned down his amplifier volume as a prank, a fact that greatly disappointed the young Zarrillo.

Unfortunately, the group dissolved in 1974 while preparing a second album that was never released, and Michele Zarrillo then moved to “Rovescio della Medaglia” for a brief period before embarking on a solo career...

Of course, describing an album of this depth with words is indeed a daunting task, and I have no presumption of being able to do so; in fact, I don't even think I have described it adequately. My only heartfelt advice is to take it and listen to it from beginning to end to transport yourself to a magical world, seeing it through the eyes of a child.

The tracks are:

1. La Bottega del Rigattiere
2. Luna Park
3. Uno Zoo di Vetro
4. Per una Strada Affollata
5. Dietro una Porta di Carta
6. Frazz
7. Clown