ÈL BÉS GALILÌ
Requélie

FY 8287

885016828721
Felmay Records
Italia

 

Requélie in Brescian dialect means “relics”, a mysterious and striking title that aims to bring back, after more than 40 years of obscurity, the music of Èl Bés Galilì. We have collected in one single “definitive” edition both the 11 studio tracks of the eponymous album Èl Bés Galilì (1980), recognised by critics as one of the most significant albums in Italian folk of those years, and 12 tracks recorded live at three concerts held by the group in 1981, which clearly document the captivating live performances of the band from one of the most intense seasons of Italian folk music revival.

Requélie in Brescian dialect means “relics”, a mysterious and striking title that aims to bring back, after more than 40 years of obscurity, the music of Èl Bés Galilì. We have collected in one single “definitive” edition, both the 11 studio tracks of the eponymous album Èl Bés Galilì (1980), recognised by critics as one of the most significant albums in Italian folk of those years, and 12 tracks recorded live at three concerts held by the group in 1981, which clearly document the captivating live performances of the band from one of the most intense seasons of Italian folk music revival.
The group was founded in 1975, with the name of Il Paese delle Meraviglie (Wonderland), by four young musicians from Brescia with a shared passion for traditional style acoustic music, Bernardo Falconi, Guido Minelli, Marisa Padella and Placida Staro, and then Luisa Pennacchio from 1977 onwards. They absorbed the various influences of the folk music of that time, from the “psychedelic” of the Incredible String Band, to the revival groups in England and France, to the Italian experience of the Almanacco Popolare and, not least of all, ancient music.
The group regularly performed concerts over a three-year period, especially in the Lombardy area, before recording began, in 1978, what would be their one and only discographic work. The new dialectal name Èl Bés Galilì (The Snake Cockerel, a fantastical magic animal from popular tradition in the Brescian area), adopted in 1979, was meant to underline their growing preference for reinterpreting traditional Brescian vocal and instrumental music. The album was published to great success in April 1980.
Once the album appeared, the group continued for a further two years, availing themselves first of the collaboration in 1980 with Giuliano Illiani, the founder and leader of Canzoniere Popolare Tortonese, and then, during the concert season of 1981, of the Brescian guitarist Giuseppe Casciotta, before finally disbanding after seven years, in early 1982.