Agricantus

Agricantus (from the Latin: the singing of the corn field) is a Sicilian musical group playing mixed genres. Founded in Palermo, Italy, in 1979, the group has included many artists, including, in alphabetical order, Tonj Acquaviva (vocals, drums, sequencer and percussion), Mario Crispi (wind, vocals), Danila Laguardia (vocals), Massimo Laguardia (frame drums, percussion, vocals), Pippo Pollina (vocals, guitar), Mario Rivera (electric bass, vocals), Salvo Siciliano (guitar, keyboards).

The band has been formed by various lineups. The musical work was then taken up by two distinct autonomous lineups: In the 2010 Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr took the name Agricantus with the addition of “by [Tonj] Acquaviva” in its published titles. In 2012 Mario Rivera, Mario Crispi and Paolo Dossena took the name Agricantus with the addition of the word “reunion” in its published titles.

History
Agricantus has performed a mixture of musical styles, languages and dialects, modern sounds and archaic musical instruments, through three decades of music. They reached their artistic maturity in the second part of the 1990s, following a particularly prosperous period for world music production in Italy. Their history can then be divided into these main periods.

1980-1991
Their artistic career was initially inspired by the revival of Andean music and South American folk culture exemplified by the Nueva Canción Chilena.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the band was part of the popular Sicilian folk scene (Rosa Balistreri, famous folk-singer, Ignazio Buttitta, famous popular poetry, Ciccio Busacca, famous street story-singer, and other artists) drawing encouragement and inspiration to pursue their own path and engaging actively in the promotion of popular music in Sicily.

The group was founded in 1984 in Palermo and performed in numerous concerts throughout Europe and in prestigious occasions such as folk music and world music festivals.

1992-1999
Agricantus developed a mature musical language at the beginning of the 1990s with the release of Gnanzù! which was dedicated to the music of Southern Italy, the result of a research of the oral tradition recorded in the field and re-arranged through new technologies using traditional sounds. This new phase also coincided with the joining of the Swiss singer Rosie Wiederkehr who was the lead singer of the group until 2008.

Since 1995, following a signature of a discographic contract with Compagnia Nuove Indye and the production directed by Paolo Dossena the band produced more "thematic discs" (concept albums) in which there is the frequent use of mixtures between European and non-European languages side-by-side with the Sicilian language, using too electronic musical instruments and ethnic groups from various parts of the world.

Tuareg (1996) can be considered the most representative album, with which Agricantus have received several national awards. At this stage, the band had also developed more collaborations with the world of cinema and had participated in international music compilations. This allowed Agricantus to be seen as part of the panorama of world music beyond Italian borders, particularly with the USA published collection “The Best of Agricantus”.

In 1997 they published “Hale Bopp Souvenir”, named after the Comet Hale-Bopp, an EP that bears witness to the encounter with the Tuareg singer Fadimata Wallet Oumar.

In 1998 they published the second concept album Kaleidos, based on the theme of hybridizing their styles with classical music.

2000-2008
In 2000 Agricantus signed the soundtrack of the film Placido Rizzotto of Pasquale Scimeca which is published by the eponymous CD.

In 2001 they published Ethnosphere third concept album dedicated to the world and the spirituality of Tibetan culture. The album, inspired by some lyrics and music composed by Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr as part of the multimedia project Welt Labyrinth, organized in support of the struggle for the independence of Tibet.

In 2002 the song “Amatevi” (co-written with Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi) is included in the famous compilation of world music/ambient/chill out Buddha Bar IV.

In 2005, during an interruption of production with the label and the simultaneous expulsion of Mario Rivera, they released the album Habibi, which was disavowed by some group members.

The artistic activity then continued with a collaboration with DJ Ravin on the creation of the soundtrack for the TV movie Il figlio della luna (2007) by Gianfranco Albano and Luna khîna published by Rai Trade. This album marked the 2008 end of the collaboration between Acquaviva/Wiederkehr and Crispi.

Individual projects
In 2008, Mario Crispi was expelled from the Agricantus group, giving rise to the formation “Arenaria” and “Insulae” (with Enzo Favata), Mario Rivera intensified its collaborations (Piccola Banda Ikona ) and production (OST of the film “Notturno Bus” ). In the same year Tonj Acquaviva with Rosie Wiederkehr, released the album "Millenium klima" with the name "Agricantus with Acquaviva", work that is now considered one of the continuations of Agricantus.

2010-2014
In 2010, Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr resumed the name Agricantus.

In 2011 Agricantus received an award for Mediterranean culture Bodini, which they dedicated to Amnesty International,  and which was presented at their fiftieth anniversary of the founding, doing a series of concerts and TV broadcasts.

In May 2012 Agricantus played in Barcelona in support of free radio. The performance was published in a CD with songs of all participants in the festival.

On August 7, 2012 on Rai Uno Tonj Acquaviva announced the release of the new concept album Kuntarimari, a thematic work inspired by the tales of the sea with various collaborations of international musicians. In an August 10 interview on Ecoradio, they showcased a preview of the title track of the new album. In October 2012, Agricantus released the CD Kuntarimari in Barcelona through the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, SGAE). In November, the album was presented with a screening of the documentary "Agricantus by Tonj Acquaviva" dedicated to the most prolific composer of the band. The presentation was made at the Tradicionarius, a theater representative of world music in Barcelona, within the festival "Cose di Amilcare," in collaboration with the Catalan festival "Barnasants." The festival director Sergio Sacchi Secondiano "cultural soul" of the Club Tenco, (the festival that in 1996 awarded the Targa Tenco Group Agricantus) made a CD of the performance "Cose di Amilcare" with songs of all participants in the festival.

At the end of 2012 Mario Crispi, Mario Rivera and Paolo Dossena met and decided to resume production of Agricantus through the project "Agricantus Reunion", calling on all artists who in the past had contributed to the creative level in various capacities. These included Acquaviva and Wiederkehr. Acquaviva and Wiederkehr responded negatively to the invitation, because they considered themselves already involved with the project they considered to be Agricantus. Immediately after, unbeknownst to Acquaviva and Wiederkehr, Paolo Dossena, Mario Rivera and Mario Crispi registered the trademark of Agricantus, claiming to be the sole holder of the right to represent continuity with the original project. In the same year, Rivera, Crispi and Dossena created the formation "Agricantus Reunion" involving the musician Federica Zammarchi on vocals, and Giovanni Lo Cascio on drums. With this lineup the band performed some concerts and participated in the video for the single Uommene / Omini produced by Blob (historical program of RAI 3 directed by Fabio Masi), Amnesty International and Legambiente.

In August 2013 Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr released the album Kuntarimari with Discmedi and Warner Music editions España receiving an excellent reception from audiences and critics. In 2014 Agricantus Reunion publish Turnari, early release of the single 'Nsunnai and its video, nonché dal Concerto del Primo Maggio 2014 tenuto a Piazza San Giovanni a Roma, as well as from the Concerto del Primo Maggio 2014 held in Piazza San Giovanni in Rome, where Federica Zammarchi is considered to be the new voice of Agricantus Reunion.

Following controversy triggered by the contemporary use of the name between Mario Crispi, Mario Rivera, Paolo Dossena on the one hand, and Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr on the other, the two sides testified to the bitter legal conflict, which is still ongoing.

Presently, Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr have opted to use the name "Agricantus by Acquaviva" while the group with the registered trademark performs as "Agricantus Reunion".

Album

 * 1993 - Gnanzù!
 * 1996 - Tuareg
 * 1998 - Kaleidos
 * 1999 - Faiddi
 * 2001 - Ethnosphere
 * 2005 - Habibi
 * 2007 - Luna khina

EP

 * 1995 - Viaggiari
 * 1997 - Hale-Bopp souvenir
 * 1998 - Amatevi
 * 2002 - Jamila (with Francesco Bruno)

Collections

 * 1999 - The best of Agricantus
 * 2002 - Calura

Original soundtracks
Agricantus special guest in Trancendental/Pivio & Aldo De Scalzi scores
 * 2000 - Placido Rizzotto
 * 2007 - Il figlio della luna
 * 1997 - Il bagno turco (insieme a Pivio e Aldo De Scalzi)
 * 1998 - I giardini dell'Eden (participation with the bonus track Amatevi)

Videos

 * 1996 - Carizzi r'amuri
 * 2005 - Habibi

prizes

 * 1996 - Targa Tenco: Tuareg - best dialect album
 * 1996 - P.I.M. Premio Italiano della Musica (la Repubblica) – best band of "frontier music"
 * 1996 - Premio Augusto Daolio – Tuareg - best album sensitive to social issues

After the separation, there are now two distinct groups: Agricantus Reunion and Agricantus by Tonj Acquaviva:

Album

 * 2014 - Turnari

Singles

 * 2013 - Omini
 * 2014 –  'Nsunnai
 * 2013 – Uommene (con Pietra Montecorvino, Federica Zammarchi, Roberta Alloisio, Roberta Albanesi)
 * 2014 –  'Nsunnai
 * 2014 – Backstage Turnari

Video

 * 2013 – Uommene (con Pietra Montecorvino, Federica Zammarchi, Roberta Alloisio, Roberta Albanesi)
 * 2014 – 'Nsunnai
 * 2014 – Backstage Turnari

Album

 * 2008 - Millennium Klima
 * 2013 - Kuntarimari

Videos

 * 2009 – Bukuto
 * 2013 – Divinità

Prizes

 * 2011 - Bodini Prize (Culture for Mediterranean)