Orchestral Manoeuvres in The 1970s L'Orchestra Co-Operative, 1974-1983

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the 1970s: L'Orchestra Co-Operative, 1974-1983
Author(s): Franco Fabbri

Source: Popular Music, Vol. 26, No. 3, Special Issue on Italian Popular Music (Oct., 2007), pp.
409-427
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Popular Music (2007) Volume 26/3. Copyright ? 2007 Cambridge University Press, pp. 409-427
doi:10.1017/S0261143007001353 Printed in the United Kingdom
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the

1970s: l'Orchestra Co-operativ
1974-1983
FRANCO FABBRI
Via Guerrini, 13, 20133 Milano, Italy
E-mail: proffabbri@gmail.com
URL: http://www.francofabbri.net
Abstract
L'Orchestra, a cooperative established in 1974/75, based in Milan, Italy, was a uniqu

organisation, involving musicians, sound and lighting engineers, music critics and teachers, an
concert managers. It was started as a kind of artists' union, a federation of folk, rock, politic
song, jazz, avant-garde groups, but in a few months it became a concert agency and a recor
company; it held music courses for amateurs and published music tutorials; it helped managi
the first multipurpose art/social centre in Milan. L'Orchestra promoted studies along various
disciplinary perspectives (sociology, music education, ideological criticism, semiotics) that in some
respects embody and in others help explain the development of popular music studies and of t
International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) in Italy.
A special kind of 'participant observation'

Very little is known - even in Italy - about l'Orchestra, a co-operative officiall
established in April 1975 in Milan by musicians and other music activists (if this is a
good translation for operatori musicali). Since 1983, when its operations came to an en
and regular press coverage ceased, nothing was written about it. A few recent book
covering Italian music and politics in the 1970s (like Casiraghi 2005, or my own Album
Bianco, Fabbri 2002) include references to l'Orchestra, but no full article or essay, no
book, no thesis was dedicated to the subject, compared to the many dealing wit
various aspects of Italian music life at that time: bands, singer-songwriters, record
labels, organisations like Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano, independent radios, politic
and cultural groups and associations.1 However, l'Orchestra enjoys a kind of mythica
status amongst Italian musicians and music critics: it is always mentioned as 'that'
legendary independent label, publishing records by Italian and European groups as
varied as Stormy Six, Gruppo Folk Internazionale and Ensemble Havadin, Quart
Stato, Pan Brumisti, Picchio dal pozzo, Mamma non piangere, Henry Cow and A
Bears, Etron Fou Leloublan, Sogenanntes linksradikales Blasorchester, a few Italian
singer-songwriters (Mario De Leo, Alfredo Lacosegliaz, Alessandro Carrera) and
most of Italian radical jazz soloists and groups active in the 1970s (Guido Mazzon
Toni Rusconi and OMCI, Andrea Centazzo, Mario Schiano, Giancarlo Schiaffini).
But l'Orchestra wasn't just a record label, and its typical all-encompassing attitude
409
410 Franco Fabbri
towards genres (was it the last Italian 'political' label, or the first rock i
folk, jazz or classical?) makes it much easier for all to switch to see
comfortable topics, like other early 'independents' (Cramps) or B
'Italian rock'.2 So, this is the first article about l'Orchestra after more
years. As readers will learn soon, I was one of the founders and l'Orchest
since the co-operative's formal constitution. This puts me - to say the le
peculiar state of 'participant observation'. Some other well-known I
music scholars, like Umberto Fiori and Alessandro Carrera, share the sam
And in some respects Italian popular music studies, and even the local
Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) branch, have t
l'Orchestra and its 'research department'. So, it wouldn't be easy t
popular music scholars who witnessed l'Orchestra's years, but who wer
some degree involved in its activities. After waiting for quite a long t
other, maybe younger scholar, to take l'Orchestra as a research topic,
write this short account, integrating my own memory and diaries with
documents I was able to save (legal papers, diaries, press cuts, pr
catalogues, pamphlets and manuals, recordings), that I believe deserve fu
tigation; they are, of course, available to any scholar who wants to go t
The political context

The years between 1974 and 1983 are amongst the most turbulent in I
history.3 Unlike other European countries, student protests went on f
1968, joining forces with workers' demonstrations in 1969, and forming
vast anti-fascist movement. With Salazarists and Franco still in power in
Spain, and after the Greek colonels' coup in 1967, Italy was in the early
democracy in Southern Europe; Pinochet's coup in Chile (1973) and the r
it by multinationals and the US government encouraged worries that
might be followed to solve Italy's 'anomaly' in the West: a strong com
(PCI), with close to 28 per cent of the votes in the 1972 elections. In 1974
was held, proposed by catholic conservatives and right-wing parties, a
abolishment of divorce, then very recently accepted in Italian law. A vas
votes against marked a left shift in Italian politics, confirmed by the victory
in the 1975 local elections, and with the left taking control of almost all the
and hence of almost all locally governed cultural institutions. The politi
was aimed at so-called compromesso storico ('historical compromise
alliance of communist, socialist and catholic forces, conceived in the afte
Chilean coup - which showed (according to Mr Enrico Berlinguer, P
weakness of any alliance based just on traditional left parties. The stra
actually consist of an effort to include the whole DC (Christian Democr
the alliance, but was interpreted as such by many (from mid-1974 to m
was ruled by governments formed by DC ministers only). In 1976, at
elections, the much expected sorpasso - the PCI becoming the first party
the DC - didn't take place (the PCI peaked at 34 per cent; the DC got 3
but for the first time many important national institutions, includin
State-owned broadcasting company, were open to left-oriented d
managers (in the 1990s, this combination of DC-based national governm
hegemony in local governments and cultural institutions would be nam
tivismo, and quite exaggeratedly accused to be operating since 1948). In
Orchestral manoeuvres in the 1970s 411
'free' radios appeared, colour television was introduced, and a few comm
television stations (then illegal, to be legalised fifteen years later, under the pre
TV-tycoon Silvio Berlusconi) started broadcasting in colour before RAI. While
light was being shed on the stream of terrorist attacks (bombs in banks, on t
during political rallies) that had been going on since 1969 - today proven to hav
carried out by neo-fascist terrorists helped by 'subversive' secret services and
Behind, a covert NATO structure - the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades) and other
terrorist groups became widely known for their kidnappings and killings of ind
managers, politicians, judges, journalists. Left extra parliamentary groups (of
1970s origin) became institutionalised, but new 'autonomous' groups accuse
the PCI and the unions of looking for an agreement with the DC at any cost; M
Moro, president of the DC, worked for a coalition, while being opposed by th
wing of his own party. In 1977, large demonstrations and street fights mark
birth of a new movement, visibly hegemonised by the autonomi; in 1978, Aldo
was kidnapped and later killed by the Brigate Rosse. A government supported b
PCI (but with no PCI ministers, and again just DC-based) was formed (governo d
nazionale), and this was the closest the old communist party ever came to
However, at that moment a new strategy by the PSI (socialist party, prev
considered as a bridge between communists and Christian democrats) became
ent: under the leadership of Mr Bettino Craxi, and with the support of conse
opinion makers, the PSI presented itself as the new centre of Italian politics, an
alternative to the PCI, which was considered to be unreliable due to its historical
relationship with the Soviet Union (although at the same time that relationship was
undergoing a severe crisis, and the PCI was the leading party of so-called euro-
communism, strongly criticised by the Kremlin). The years between 1979 and 1983
were marked by the growth of this new 'centre', with the PSI entering the government
in 1980, a non-Christian democrat (Mr Giovanni Spadolini, from the Republican
party) becoming prime minister in 1981, after Reagan took office as US president, and
finally with Bettino Craxi assuming power in 1983, for the longest lasting government
(it went on until 1986) Italy has had until recently.4 Enrico Berlinguer died of a stroke
in 1984, Bettino Craxi died in 2000, in Hammamet, Tunisia, where he was escaping a
1996 sentence for corruption.
The musical context
A funny combination of festival types (Woodstock, after the movie was dis
in Italy, and Sanremo, the country's largest pop institution) started the sea
open-air rock festivals in 1971. The Festival dell'Avanguardia e Nuove Tende
Viareggio was a hippy gathering (at least, it was promoted by record execut
such), and it was a contest: PFM, soon to become the best-known Italian pro
group, and Mia Martini, an energetic pop singer, won it. In the same year,
edition of the alternative Re Nudo festival took place. In the early 1970s, pro
rock was very popular in Italy (some groups, like Genesis, were stars in Ital
earlier than in their own country, some others like Gentle Giant and Van d
Generator were myths amongst Italian audiences and remained very little k
home), and Italian bands like PFM and Banco were successful. Italian bes
artists included Lucio Battisti (pop-rock singer-songwriter, with an r'n
Fabrizio De Andre (singer-songwriter, more in a meditative, Cohen
chansonnier style: in those years he was known also for his translations of
412 Franco Fabbri
songs, and for collaborating with progressive rock groups), Giorgi

openly political, with a rock-'n'-roll pre-history and a theatrical attitud
newer singer-songwriters like Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditt
Claudio Baglioni (influences ranging from Dylan to Elton John, t
Genesis), other singer-songwriters like Gino Paoli, Enzo Jannacci and
well-known songwriter in the early 1970s, yet to become a singer), cl
singers like Mina and Ornella Vanoni. A strong folk revival movemen
direct influence of Alan Lomax, Ewan MacColl and similar fig
ethnomusicologists /anthropologists were Ernesto De Martino, Di
Roberto Leydi and Gianni Bosio), had been flourishing in the 1960s: r
was ideologically driven to discover struggle songs and battle hym
anti-fascist resistance, and to find links between such songs and previo
(many partisan songs were, actually, parodies of well-known fasc
The Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano (NCI), publishing a journal and rele
collection of folk and political records (under the Dischi del Sole l
driving force of the folk revival movement: singer-songwriters an
like Giovanna Marini, Ivan Della Mea, Gualtiero Bertelli, Paolo Pietr
Amodei and Michele Straniero were members of the NCI, or are related
So, the students' movement in 1971-1972 inherited a large repertory
provided new ones: they were sung at demonstrations, at concerts takin
or after political rallies, or in small concerts organised in schools, fac
picketing during strikes, etc.6 The political movement impacted on the
in many ways: (i) encouraging singer-songwriters and bands (with rec
tracts and national fame) to include more 'engaged' songs in their
offering a new circuit, formed by a few alternative festivals and - ab
thousands of Feste de l'Unita, open-air festivals with restaurants, boo
aimed at raising funds to support the PCI newspaper (fewer similar eve
by other left parties and groups for their own press); and (iii) contra
established music business directly. In general, this wasn't seen as an
almost any political parties and groups then, but a small magazine, Stam
that could be more easily compared to today's anti-global and anarchi
than to the Marxist-Leninist approach of most militants in the early
constantly against tour managers, record companies, superstars, offeri
support to groups that attacked concert venues (where security, at th
almost non-existent) to get 'free music'. Riots and tear-gas (in a clima
political confrontation, policemen weren't instructed to see a differen
attackers and normal attendants) affected concerts by stars as varied
Chicago and Led Zeppelin; visits of foreign rock groups became less fre
some point ceased altogether (from 1977, when Molotov bombs were th
during Carlos Santana's concert in Milan, to 1979, when a successful P
mini-tour showed international concert agencies that Italy was safe a
stars were lacking, other musicians and genres enriched Italian music
years: jazz (the enormous success of the Umbria Jazz summer festival
free concerts, in all possible meanings), modern classical (Musica/Real
Emilia, with Luigi Nono, Claudio Abbado and Maurizio Pollini dis
young audiences about 'consumption music' and King Crimson,7 and lat
nostro tempo in Milan), and ethnic. On 11 September 1973, the Chilea
Illimani is in Rome, for a tour. As they can't go back to their country, now
of Pinochet's junta, they decide to stay in Italy as exiles. A record com
Milan offers a contract; Viva Chile!, Inti Illimani's first Italian album, is also the firs
a series of best sellers.
Spotlights on l'Orchestra
An article published in June 1981 in Laboratorio Musica (Fabbri 1981b) offers a
description of l'Orchestra's structure and activities. Laboratorio Musica, a monthly
magazine edited by Luigi Nono and published jointly by G. Ricordi & C. (the music
publishers) and ARCI (the cultural and recreational organisation of Italian left), was
one of the most visible editorial outputs of the political and musical movement in the
1970s, the other being the quarterly Musica/Realtai, edited by Luigi Pestalozza and
published initially by Dedalo (inheriting its name from the musical activities organ-
ised in Reggio Emilia since the beginning of the decade, involving musicians like
Claudio Abbado, Maurizio Pollini, Luigi Nono, Giacomo Manzoni, as well as mem-
bers of the Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano, musicologists like Pestalozza, Mario Baroni
and many others). Musica/Realtii still exists, Laboratorio Musica didn't last long. Going
back to the article, it was published in the June issue, and it wasn't signed, as a kind of
collective editorial, but it was written by l'Orchestra's president; the title ('Spotlights
on l'Orchestra') refers to three photographs mentioned in the opening paragraphs.
Only one photograph is published with the article: a studio portrait of most (not all)
members of the co-operative in 1981. This photograph - where musicians are dressed
in their stage costumes - is compared to the first collective portrait, shot near Porta
Ticinese, Milan's Rive Gauche, published in 1975 in the news magazine Panorama -
where musicians look like they are coming from the May Day parade - and with
another portrait, shot in 1976 at Milan's Conservatory, where l'Orchestra's musicians
seized the orchestral stage in the town's most important auditorium for symphonic
and chamber music.8
As the article reports, 'This photograph, di governo e di lotta,9 was printed on
poster: today it's easier to find it in German squats than in the offices of Italian cultural
and political organisations, for which it had been conceived'. Photographs from 197
and 1981 are described as 'nicer, as they are less ideological'. Stage costumes in the
1981 photo reveal - according to the article - that all members are profession
musicians (or would-be professionals); it is implied that l'Orchestra, in 1981, is a solid
trustworthy enterprise, and a description follows.10
In the co-operative there are various shared structures and workgroups, into which more tha
a hundred members are divided (some take part in more than one); workgroups are: bands,
'animation' groups, teachers of the music school, the research and study workgroup. All thes
are almost economically independent: they use their own instruments, P.A. systems, vehicles
(or use the co-operative's, but exclusively), they are responsible for their projects, for the
development of their repertory and research, for advertising. Each group has its own rules, an
various types of internal democracy: some have a leader, others a spokesman, others (like the
research and study workgroup) are based on very elastic professional links. Bands produce
concerts and records, which are promoted and distributed by the co-operative's structures; th
same applies to 'animation' groups. The music school elaborates its curricula independently,
and uses the co-operative for organisational purposes and as an institutional reference; the
same applies to research activities. All these sectors are linked together by the board o
administrators, whose tasks include: listening to tapes and approving recording projects,
planning concerts and festivals, discussing and asking for public funding, discussing and
promoting relationships with the press, with radio and television stations.1 Numerous task
quite often aggravated by tours that prevent many members of the board from attending
414 Franco Fabbri
Figure 1. Members of l'Orchestra on stage at Milan's Conservatory, 1976.
meetings, and above all by deadlines. If we add that until now l'Orchestra has no
afford - amongst its full-time executives - an artistic director, a manager for a
research, a real press officer, one wonders how a recognisable musical and cultu
the one that is normally credited to l'Orchestra - could actually be developed.
millions of electors and associations with thousands of members are subject to
question, and the answer can't be very different.12 In fact, there isn't one cultural
by l'Orchestra, but a range of ideas and proposals: it couldn't be otherwise, give
genres and activities covered by the co-operative. If these ideas do not diverg
comprised in the same range, it is owed - more than to real discussion - to their or
to a continuously open flux of information, and to friendship.
This fragment gives an idea of the various activities that kept l'Orchestr
busy: performing live, recording, promoting and selling (concerts a
teaching music (to children and grown-ups), organising festivals, research
ing; it's a good factual description. At the same time, it shows an attempt to
these activities as if they were the result of an organisational plan;13 it adds
for that organisation (an artistic director, etc.) and finally honestly admits th
kept together by political energies ('their original context') and friendship. A
than twenty years, it is possible to combine these opposite views: amon
cultural associations in that period, l'Orchestra was by far the most str
showing that kind of entrepreneurship that during the early 1980s wou
individually - many militants from the 1970s into bar and restaurant or
tour and theatre managers, publishers, marketing and communication
journalists, bending their militant abilities to their own advantage (the
riflusso, reflux). While anticipating that entrepreneurship (since the m
members of l'Orchestra weren't able to adapt to political changes:
presenting themselves (and the co-operative) as guardians of that spirit o
solidarity that animated the Italian left in the mid-1970s ('the original context')
when the Italian left was broken by the fierce competition between Craxi's PS
Berlinguer's PCI. No surprise, then, if the self-confident, almost arrogant tone
article actually announces the final crisis: in 1982, record distribution came to a
halt, some of the best-known groups disbanded, and almost all public fun
ceased. The last significant accomplishment of l'Orchestra, in 1983, was resear
music consumption, that was presented in September at the Second Intern
Conference of IASPM in Reggio Emilia.
A short pre-history
Early informal meetings took place during 1973 and 1974, often at the Raro Folk
in Milan. Members of the bands Stormy Six (Franco Fabbri, Umberto Fiori), G
Folk Internazionale (Moni Ovadia, Mariuccia Colegni), Tecun Uman (Juan
Estrada), Yu Kung (Paolo Perazzini), and others, met during or after concerts, ta
about their own experiences with concert organisers from various politic
cultural organisations. Bands used to play at Feste de l'Unita (PCI) and Fe
dell'Avanti (PSI), in the season between May and September, and at similar eve
organised by political organisations and their cultural branches: PCI and PS
ARCI, Avanguardia Operaia and Circoli La Comune (or the daily Quotidia
Lavoratori), Lotta Continua and Circoli Ottobre, Movimento Lavoratori per il S
ismo and Circoli di Cultura Popolare (or the magazine Fronte Popolare, or the jo
Realismo). Stormy Six, the best known (three LPs released by an Italian m
respectable career as a rock band since 1966, including supporting act for the R
Stones' first Italian tour, and claims that their second album, released in 1972, w
of the year's best), had been invited by the PCI to support the 1972 electoral cam
performing two or three times a day before politicians' speeches. In 1973-1974
were well known nationwide, performing more than ninety concerts. Other g
were less known nationally, but were similarly active in Northern Italy. All of
complained about the very poor conditions provided by organisers: prec
uncovered and dimly lit stages, bad PA systems (quite often the same use
speeches), badly planned performances (it was common to use songs to gat
audience for the politician's speech, or to organise endless rallies with doz
bands, with long intermissions for speeches, no sound checks, interminable st
changes), disturbance from other activities in open-air events (lotteries, restaur
low pay. It was the organisers' custom to agree for a fee, and then (after the co
ask for a discount, 'to support the party'. No cancellation fee was agreed, in c
rain or other reasons to stop a concert.14 Most band members were militants
selves, so they adapted easily to such difficult situations. However, just at tha
new ideas (re-readings from Gramsci, mainly) about the role of art and music in
political struggle were circulating, and a growing number of militant mu
agreed that art had its own reasons, and that badly sung, badly tuned, badly s
struggle songs were useless. Commonplaces originated in the folk revival mov
from the 1960s,15 like prejudices against electric instruments, or suspicions abo
practice of arrangement or the use of multitrack in recordings, were being cri
younger musicians wouldn't accept poor technical conditions on an ideological
On the other hand, it was common to observe that when the same organisers in
bands and soloists (singer-songwriters) of television and chart fame, fees were m
higher and most technical problems were dealt with scrupulously. Something
416 Franco Fabbri
be done: musicians felt that by joining forces they would improve thei
being listened to, in all senses.
So, in the last months of 1974, a meeting of many bands was organis
was decided that an association be formed, open to musicians and any oth
musicale17 (concert managers, sound engineers, music teachers, etc.)
found that the best form for the association was a co-operative, that is,
business organisation with social and cultural aims: not just the n-th co
workgroup or 'spontaneous' assembly of militants. There were exam
fields: many theatre groups at that time were establishing themselves as
(including Teatro dell'Elfo, soon to become a partner for many activitie
Cooperativa Cinema Democratico offered their know-how (and, a few m
their premises to be shared). The choice of the name reflected the wish n
as a circle, a collective, a disguised political organisation: so 'l'Orchestra
far as I remember, after a suggestion for 'l'Orchestra rossa', inspired by
anti-fascist organisation of 1933-1939, Rote Kapelle, and following a sh
that all references to socialist ideas be converted into concrete deeds, n
series of concerts in the small hall of the Casa del popolo, in Via Bel
announced the birth of l'Orchestra.
l'Orchestra - Cooperativa di operatori musicali

The co-operative was established on 2 April 1975. Members who attended the official
foundation assembly were from the following bands: Stormy Six, Gruppo Folk
Internazionale, Organico di Musica Creativa e Improvvisata (OMCI), II Quintetto, Yu
Kung, Collettivo Ticino Riva Sinistra, Nuestra America, Tecun Uman, Quarto Stato,
plus a number of soloists (like jazz musician Guido Mazzon and electronic music
composer Riccardo Sinigaglia) and concert managers (Rita Confalonieri). Others
joined in the following months: Linea 2, Maad, Gaetano Liguori Idea Trio, II Mercato,
jazzmen Piero Bassini, Roberto Bellatalla, Edoardo Ricci, singer-songwriters Mario
De Leo, Alessandro Carrera, Alberto Camerini. By the end of 1976, there were
eighty-seven individual members, including newly added groups Pan Brumisti
and Canzoniere del Valdarno, and after the exit of Yu Kung and Gaetano Liguori Idea
Trio.
Even before the official foundation act, a centralised concert management

agency was set up. Bands collected and shared address books, and re-directed
requests for concerts to l'Orchestra; a standard contract was adopted, to be submitted
to concert organisers. A pamphlet titled Sull'organizzazione di spettacoli musicali
('About the organisation of music shows') was distributed, the first in a series of
documents by l'Orchestra combining concerned reflections and manual-style instruc-
tions about politics, culture, economy, stage management, and sound engineering.18
The fee for a concert for any individual band was based on a number of parameters
and factors: (i) the musicians' salary (that should be - at best - equal to a worker's pay,
calculated on the basis of the most recent national contract for industrial workers, and
assuming a 'reasonable' number of concerts a year); (ii) depreciation allowances and
maintenance costs for instruments and vehicles; and (iii) travel costs, calculated
according to the distance from Milan, and taking into consideration the necessary
number of meals and hotel rooms (parameters were calculated based on a linear
regression model, using one of the first available programmable calculators, an
HP-35). After an initial shock, the method was well received, and later adopted
Figure 2. The Gruppo Folk Internazionale in concert, 1977. Left to right: Maurizio Deh&, Silvia
Mario Arcari, Maria Colegni, Moni Ovadia.
literally (or used as a reference) even by large organisations like ARCI. In Appen
readers can find l'Orchestra's 1976 price list. The following is the editorial that
the 1976 'catalogue'.
Cooperativa l'Orchestra begins its second year with well-balanced accounts and largely a
political and organisational results. They are shown by six lp's released in eight months,
of concerts organised by political and cultural bodies, by the unions, by democratic l
institutions; they are shown by the success - beyond all expectations - of popular guitar cou
(and, from this year, of other instruments) held in Milan; but above all our good resul
witnessed by the growing discussion about music and about themes that since our estab
ment we cared about the most: from elements of musical language to organisational pro
from polemics about folk song to unmasking monopolistic record companies interests,
canzone d'autorel9 to new trends in jazz. Our contribution was modest and there is much st
do, in a struggle that sometimes will see us just as advisers and supporters for politic
organisations (so that they become more active in the field of music), but often will find us
forefront with our proposals, and with the example of a model - that of cultural co-operat
that also in our field is bound to change radically the relationship between 'producer
'consumer'.
Based on these results and on our commitment to continue, we present the list of live acts that
will be available in 1976: those who have already collaborated with us will find some addition
and changes, that witness the progress of the bands' and the co-operative's cultural work. B
418 Franco Fabbri
no changes will be found in the criteria used to calculate concert fees, so differe
based on radio and television fame, rigorously used in the bourgeois circuit, and
from the ones by some self-proclaimed 'alternative' organisers.
We trust that this list of concerts can offer - to those who have never collaborated with
l'Orchestra - a chance for a first contact and a more profound discussion, as we think that
concert is only one moment (often a very important beginning) of a more complex
articulated musical life.
Record production, actually, wasn't a short-term aim for l'Orchestra during the early
meetings. However, in the last months of 1974 it became apparent that Ariston,
Stormy Six record company, wasn't too keen on the group's new project, a concept-
album about Italian anti-fascist resistance in 1943-1945 (more for political than for
commercial reasons; Inti Illimani were very successful, and 1975 would be the
thirtieth anniversary of Italy's liberation from fascism, but Ariston was known as a
pop-oriented no-trouble record label). As the band's contract was to expire in one
year's time, Stormy Six and Ariston negotiated for the contract to be cancelled and for
the band to self-produce the album, provided distribution was carried out by Ariston.
Further negotiations (after the decision that l'Orchestra would be the label) led to an
important arrangement about manufacturing and purchase rights: Ariston would
manufacture the album (and distribute it in all shops), but l'Orchestra would be
allowed to buy any number of copies at the industrial cost, for direct sales at concerts.
At the first renewal of this agreement, in 1976, Ariston accepted to limit its own
distribution to record shops, and leave a new flourishing marketing channel - book-
shops - to l'Orchestra. Later, Ariston sold its distribution to Ricordi, but the contract
was transferred, and conditions remained the same. Rules regulating the relationship
between l'Orchestra and member artists were implemented. The letter in Appendix 2
offers a summary of such rules at the end of 1977.
Un biglietto del tram, Stormy Six' fourth album and the first in the co-operative's
catalogue, was initially sold during demonstrations in Milan at the end of April 1975.
Today, it is considered a classic in its own right (an intersection of folk rock, progres-
sive rock, and political song), and was recently included in various lists of the best fifty
Italian albums ever; some of the songs (like 'Stalingrado' or 'La fabbrica') are still sung
at demonstrations and covered by rock bands (curiously, mostly in ska style; but brass
band or choir versions exist). When it was released, the combination of rock stylistic
and generic traits (also in the packaging: inner sleeve in colour, with graphics and
lyrics; different labels on side A and side B, the former with song titles, the latter
portraying a tramway in Milan in 1945, with anti-fascist graffiti) and political content
was new. The album could then be compared with recent ones by Inti Illimani (very
warm struggle and folk songs from Chile, which lacked any rock connotation, but had
a clear studio sound, well in advance of world music sound aesthetics, and quite
different from Italian political song standards and related pauperistic ideology), and
Area (brilliant avant-garde rock, with jazzy and Balkan stylistic traits, not unlike Don
Ellis, but deliberately quite apart from any link with the political song tradition).
Nothing was spared to produce Un biglietto del tram: Stormy Six could afford the cost
of a 'modern' sixteen-track studio, of an expensive album cover, of having the cutting
made in London (post-production and cutting were very poor in Italy in the 1970s), by
borrowing money and then paying it back with sales after concerts, as allowed by
arrangements between l'Orchestra and Ariston. So, after this successful debut, other
l'Orchestra's bands produced their own albums, starting a fairly long list (see
Appendix 3 for the full catalogue).20
After the 1975 elections, many local governments (including cities like Mil
Rome, and not just traditional leftist strongholds like Bologna) were ruled by
so-called giunte rosse, with PCI and PSI at the height of their collaboration. Aft
months, former militant relations became institutionalised: PCI militants who
manage the local Festa de l'Unita, were now in charge of the local library, or th
cultural department. For many bands this meant being able to perform outs
open-air season, and many new chances were offered to operatori musicali: m
courses, lectures, etc. L'Orchestra was invited to be part of the Consulta cult
Milan's municipality: a consultative body, chaired by the powerful Assess
Cultura (managing fairly big budgets), where all important Milan's insti
(including Piccolo Teatro, La Scala, the Conservatory) were represented. I
Stormy Six were invited to provide stage music for a production by Teatro U
(Cliche, their second album for l'Orchestra, was co-produced with the
company); later the same year they were invited to the Venice Biennale,
co-write a musical comedy, based on the story of Pinocchio, with Teatro dell
(director Gabriele Salvatores would win an Academy Award for best internat
movie in 1991 with Mediterraneo); l'Orchestra published its II manuale di chita
Claudia Gallone and Paolo Nason, and at the end of the year started collab
with other co-operatives (Teatro Verticale and Cinema Democratico) to run a
functional space in Milan's city centre, Teatro Arsenale, where concerts, play
cinema were programmed. Teatro Arsenale also hosted l'Orchestra's music
which now included the teaching of many instruments, plus music theo
ensemble performance. At the end of 1976, l'Orchestra entered the Co
Comunicazione Sonora, a consortium formed by five record labels (Cramps, U
Spiaggia, Divergo, Zoo, and l'Orchestra) to share services - mainly promot
distribution - and save costs. The leading figure in the Consorzio was Gianni
owner and art director of Cramps, the label producing Area, successful p
rockers like Eugenio Finardi and Alberto Camerini, and a collection of experi
music records, including works by John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and others.
follower of Guy Debord) was a very talented marketing-oriented communica
his creature, the Consorzio, was welcomed as a very innovative and strong or
ation. Actually, reality fell below expectations: only l'Orchestra - thank
agreement with Ariston, and then Ricordi - had actual ownership of rec
industrial products, while other labels were rather production and pro
companies, and could only buy records at the wholesale price. This meant tha
the Consorzio was thought to be for (creating a distribution channel for alte
labels) couldn't be implemented. Anyway, 1977 productions by l'Orchestra, in
ing l'Apprendista by Stormy Six and the very successful Daloy Politzei by Gr
Folk Internazionale, benefited from the CCS logo on the cover, and fro
Consorzio's promotion and advertising. In June 1977, l'Orchestra also organis
Milan an important jazz festival, Jazz nel nostro tempo, with well-known Am
and European musicians, like the Steve Lacy Trio, the Anthony Braxton Q
(including George Lewis and Muhal Richard Abrams), the Alexand
Schlippenbach Quartet (with Evan Parker, Peter Kowald and Paul Lovens)
Schiano, Bruno Tommaso, and l'Orchestra members Guido Mazzon and OMCI.
Concerts were well received, but jazz critics - who, following an Italian tradition,
were normally involved in concert and festival organisation - didn't like this new
situation where musicians, by means of l'Orchestra, could bypass them and become
self-organised. Someone spoke of l'Orchestra as the new 'jazz mafia'. This was
420 Franco Fabbri
probably the last but most virulent attack against l'Orchestra by variou
(and organisations) who saw the co-operative as a competitor: politic
groups who disliked the loss of control over musicians, as they beca
dent; cultural organisations jealous of l'Orchestra's visibility; profession
managers who resented l'Orchestra's low concert fees, not to mention t
companies and big concert agencies who felt similarly. Militants of all t
tended to concentrate on l'Orchestra all the sectarian tendencies of that time. In one
of the comics designed by Umberto Fiori (printed in 1977 in the second edition of II
manuale di chitarra, that also included lyrics, pictures of album covers and a very
clear history and description of l'Orchestra written by Alessandro Carrera) two
militants are seen in discussion: 'Someone told me they are trotskyists. I won't go
there ...' 'I was told they are stalinists, paid by the PCI!' In another frame,
a smart-looking fascist says: 'L'Orchestra? Another trick by the reds to make
money ...' Though most of these attacks contributed to keeping the co-operative
together (as when the MLS refused a request by the Stormy Six to present their first
l'Orchestra album at Milan's university, and later their Zdanovist music critic
accused their song 'Stalingrado' of formalism ...), sometimes the discussion was
brought inside the co-operative, by members who were closer to one or other party
or political group.
1977 was also the year of the first concerts abroad: Stormy Six performed at the
Tiibingen Folk Festival, and in Madrid at the first festival of the Spanish communist
party after Franco's death. The German concert was a big success, and would bring
great popularity to the band in that country, with tours, concerts in big halls and opera
houses, and culminating with the record critics' prize for Macchina Maccheronica, in
1980, as the year's best rock album (The Police's Zenyatta Mondatta came second!).
Friendship and discussions with British group Henry Cow (met during Italian tours)
led them to becoming members of l'Orchestra in October 1977 and then to the found-
ing of Rock In Opposition (RIO), an informal league of European rock groups (others
being French Etron Fou Leloublan and Art Zoyd, Belgian Univers Zero, Swedish
Samla Mammas Manna). Records by Henry Cow, Etron Fou and Art Bears (formed by
ex-Henry Cow members Chris Cutler, Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause) would be
published under licence by l'Orchestra; the same would happen for Sogenanntes
linksradikales Blasorchester, a Frankfurt street band led by instrumentalist (and now
well-known composer) Heiner Goebbels. Gradually, as terrorism seized the centre of
the Italian political and cultural scene, and while internal relations in the Italian left
became less and less amicable (Craxi's anti-PCI manifesto was published in 1978),
the main concert activities for l'Orchestra moved abroad. Stormy Six performed in
Federal Germany, Great Britain (at the first RIO festival in London, 1978), Sweden
(RIO Festival in Upssala, September 1979, third after Milan in April the same year),
GDR (political song festival in East Berlin, 1979 and 1980), Austria (Steirischer Herbst,
1979), and France (RIO Festival in Reims, 1980, and other concerts).
In the German Democratic Republic, Stormy Six were received by intellectuals
and by local sympathisers of the 'euro-left' as an alternative to bureaucratic political
song; an anthology titled Alternative was published by the State-owned label, Amiga.
Contacts would later result in the release by l'Orchestra of albums from the Hanns
Eisler complete edition, although the end of l'Orchestra in 1983 would limit the release
to the first three of the planned nine albums. Also the Gruppo Folk Internazionale
enjoyed a considerable international success, mainly in Germany and in Belgium,
after changing from their original folk repertoire to their own compositions, a
Figure 3. Poster for Milan's Rock In Opposition festival, April-May 1979.
progress reflected in the group's name change to Ensemble Havadid, taken from
correct pronunciation of the surname of the band's leader, Bulgaria-born M
Ovadia.
In Italy, the political situation was no longer favourable for an organisatio

l'Orchestra, that bore the signs of its origins in a totally different framewor
striking that no record was released in 1978, the year of Moro's kidnapping
killing. In December 1979, a concert was organised for the Sogenanntes linksra
Blasorchester, and Milan's city council had agreed to share publicity costs. How
the news spread that the band had taken part in a solidarity concert, in Frankfurt,
the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group. It wasn't true: the concert was in solidarity fo
terrorists' lawyers, who had been jailed in contravention of their civil rights,
the German left (including members of the SPD) took part in the rally. But
current climate of suspicion and criminalisation, it was enough for Milan's So
party administration to cancel its support. At a time when many concert org
who had been active in the alternative circuit were now establishing their own
agencies, I'Orchestra tried to 'go institutional' (as Chris Cutler once put it), org
in 1980 a series of concerts at the Teatro dell'Elfo, with performers like
Berberian or Harry Spaarnay. But, as the Spotlights article admitted in 1981, it
easy to run the co-operative business while most of its members were almost
abroad. At the end of 1981 no one seemed to want to host the co-operative's
prestigious music school that was now run in l'Orchestra's office outside of bu
hours. In 1982, it moved to a squatted social centre near Milan's station, where
Six also rehearsed for their last studio album, Al volo. The album was expected
the co-operative's fortune again, as it was to be released under the new distrib
422 Franco Fabbri
channel set up for the first time by an association of 'really' indepe

l'Orchestra, Materiali Sonori (outcome of l'Orchestra members living
Canzoniere del Valdarno) and Italian Records, the label of recently
Bologna-based Italian new wave. A few days before the release of Al
Records signed a distribution agreement with EMI. In September 1982,
disbanded, and so did Ensemble Havadiai after the disastrous fiasco o
ambitious project, Specchi.
To be continued ...
These weren't the last acts. A few more albums were released, distribution of
l'Orchestra's records abroad and of foreign records in Italy continued, and operations
went on, especially for smaller performances, conferences, lectures and research. In
1983, the PCI, in a sympathetic gesture to solve l'Orchestra's cash-flow problems, but
probably with very little expectation, ordered research into music consumption,
formally to orient choices for the Feste dell'Unita.21 Members of l'Orchestra took the
task very seriously; about 1,000 very long interviews were conducted in Milan and
Reggio Emilia, and these were combined with other evidence. That research (Ala,
Fabbri, Fiori and Ghezzi 1985) is still circulating in Italian sociology departments and
demoscopic research companies, and its questionnaire is still used as a reference.
Later, cash problems became too hard to solve, and all operations ceased. In April
1984, all master tapes owned by l'Orchestra (excluding licensed albums) were sold to
Fonit Cetra, then a State-owned company, for a lump sum that paid all the debts. In
1997, soon after re-releasing all Stormy Six albums as CDs, Fonit Cetra was sold to
Warner Italy.
As in nostalgic movies from the 1970s, the final frames can be used to remind us
of what happened to some of the characters in the story. Moni Ovadia, l'Orchestra's
vice-president, is now one of Italy's best known actor-singers, known for his theatrical
plays about Yiddish tradition and the Shoah. Umberto Fiori is a poet (also writing
librettos for contemporary music composer Luca Francesconi, with whom he won a
Prix Italia) and essayist, also known for his articles about popular music (see Fiori
2003); he teaches Italian literature at Milan's University. Alessandro Carrera is a writer
and essayist, publishing books on many different topics (one of the most recent ones
about Bob Dylan); he teaches Italian literature at Houston University (see Carrera
1980, 2001). Carlo De Martini, violinist in the Stormy Six and violin teacher at
l'Orchestra's school, is an opera conductor and violin performer and teacher.
Maurizio Deh6, violinist in Gruppo Folk Internazionale and teacher at l'Orchestra
school, after collaborating with Moni Ovadia for some of his most successful shows, is
leader of the acoustic group Rhapsodjia Trio. Piero Milesi, who played bass and cello
with Linea 2 and then Gruppo Folk Internazionale, is a composer and record producer
(Anime Salve, by Fabrizio De Andre is the best known amongst the albums he has
produced and arranged; 'Modi' is probably his best known composition). Mario
Arcari, multi-instrumentalist in the Gruppo Folk Internazionale and Ensemble
Havadia, has been performing and recording regularly with Italian singer-
songwriters, like Fabrizio De Andr6 and Ivano Fossati. Renato Rivolta, flute and
saxophone player in the Stormy Six, is a conductor and performer, specialising in
contemporary music (works were dedicated to him and his groups by Luciano Berio
and other composers; he conducted the Ensemble InterContemporain). Silvia Paggi,
singer in the Gruppo Folk Internazionale, now teaches ethnomusicology at the
university of Nice, France. Sergio Sacchi and Antonio Silva (from Pan Brumist
members of the Club Tenco, respectively co-ordinating conferences and c
activities, and presenting the Rassegna della Canzone d'Autore, that had it
edition in 2005. Guido Mazzon, Toni Rusconi and all the other jazz musicians fr
l'Orchestra still perform in diverse groups, including the Italian Instabile Orc
where almost all of them perform together. Giampiero Bigazzi, of Canzoniere
Valdarno, is founder and owner of Materiali Sonori, one of Italy's best-known
pendent labels and distributors. I have named just a few. It can't be said we di
learn from our mistakes.
Appendix 1
L'Orchestra's 1976 price list.22 Distance is from Milan to the concert venue. For
example, a Stormy Six concert in Rome (about 560 km from Milan) would cost
370,000 + (340 x 560)= 560,400 lire ($673-28).
Artist Fee (Italian lire) Fee (USD)
Alberto Camerini 40,000+160/Km 48-06+0.19/Km

Alessandro Carrera 40,000+160/Km 48-06+0.19/Km
Collettivo Ticino Riva Sinistra 70,000+250/Km 84-10+0-30/Km
Mario De Leo 125,000+190/Km 150-18+0.23/Km
Gruppo Folk Internazionale 265,000+310/Km 318-38+0-37/Km
Linea 2 195,000+310/Km 234-28+0-37/Km
Maad 210,000+340/Km 252.30+0.41/Km
Mary Pompa 165,000+250/Km 198-24+0-30/Km
Guido Mazzon Quartetto 350,000+250/Km 420.50+0-30/Km
II Mercato 165,000+280/Km 198-24+0.34/Km
Nuestra America 165,000+280/Km 198-24+0.34/Km
OMCI 215,000+220/Km 258.31+0.26/Km
Pan Brumisti 240,000+280/Km 288-34+0.34/Km
Quarto Stato 155,000+190/Km 186-22+0.23/Km
II Quintetto 195,000+280/Km 234-28+0.34/Km
Riccardo Sinigaglia 40,000+160/Km 48-06+0.19/Km
Stormy Six 370,000+340/Km 444-53+0-41/Km
Tecun Uman 224,000+340/Km 269-12+0-41/Km
Appendix 2
Letter from Franco Fabbri, explaining the conditions for record production and
distribution (most probably in view of an agreement with French group Etron Fou
Leloublan).23
Jean Marc Bailleux

Gratte Ciel
12 Rue Decres
75014 PARIS
Milan, October 20th, 1977

Dear Jean Marc,
Here are the data you are interested in.

We have three marketing channels: 1) Ricordi-Ariston distribution (in record shops); 2) Nov
Cultura Editrice Distributrice (in leftist bookshops); 3) direct sales at concert venues.
424 Franco Fabbri
In case 1) we receive royalties every quarter: 324 lire ($0-37) for each lp sold. Ricor
Ariston the number of records they need, and they take the risk of unsold reco
In cases 2) and 3) we purchase records from Ariston (we gave them an exc
manufacture of records and covers), at a cost of 1,350 lire ($1.53) each (initial
cutting and cover colour separations and cliches are paid by us); we have the ri
number of copies, from one to infinity.
We then resell these records to Nova Cultura Editrice Distributrice at 2,220 lire
our groups (for their sales at concerts) at 3,070 lire ($3.48).24
The final price to the public is 3,508 lire ($3.98).
Please note that on top of all figures I have given you 14% VAT must be added, so
is 4,000 lire ($4-53) (records by big companies normally cost between 5,500 [$6-23
[$6.80]); for our calculations, however, it's better to exclude VAT.
So, for every record sold we receive, in the three cases:
1) 324 lire ($0.37)
2) 2,200 - 1,350=870 lire ($0.99)
3) 3,070 - 1,350= 1,720 lire ($1.95)
The group is responsible for the record and provides l'Orchestra with the master
layout: the group also pays specific adverts on newspapers (subject to the gro
anyway), and the cost of records mailed to critics and radio stations.
The group buys its own records for direct sales at concerts at the industrial
[$1.53]); l'Orchestra manages distribution and promotion.
Every six months l'Orchestra provides an account of records sold, and pays 5
income,25 that is:
324 : 2= 162 lire ($0.18)

870 : 2=435 lire ($0-49)
1,720 : 2=860 lire ($0-97)
for each record sold in the three channels.

Below you will find sales, for two of our albums: the first is our best seller (it was released in
April 1975), the second is among our least successful in sales terms (it's a creative music LP, with
a very small market in Italy, released in December 1976):
Product code Bookshops % Direct sales % Ricordi % Total %
OLP 10001 3,138 39.6 2,365 29.9 2,420 30.5 7,923 100
OLP 10009 116 30-4 59 15.5 206 54.1 381 100
I wait for your comments and, I hope, for a propos

Umberto and Rita.
Appendix 3
L'Orchestra's record catalogue (unless specified, albums).
Product code Title Artist Year
OLP 10001 Un biglietto del tram Stormy Six 1975

OLP 10002 Pietre della mia gente Yu Kung 1975
OLP 10003 Soy del pueblo Tecun Uman 1975
OLP 10004 Contro OMCI 1975
OLP 10005 Festa popolare Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1975
OLP 10006 Quarto Stato Quarto Stato 1975
OLP 10007 I padroni della citta Pan Brumisti 1976
OLP 10008 6/5/76 Andrea Centazzo 1976
OLP 10009 Duetti Guido Mazzon/Andrea Centazzo 1976

OLP 10010 Cliche Stormy Six with Guido Mazzon & 1976
Tony Rusconi
OLP 10011 Free rococ6 OMCI 1977
OLP 10012 L'apprendista Stormy Six 1977
OLP 10013 Daloy politzei Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1977
OLP 10014 Capricorno Capricorno 1977
OLP 10015 Gospel Guido Mazzon & Mario Schiano 1977
OLP 10016 L'orco feroce Alfredo Lacosegliaz 1977
OLP 10017 Suonata situazione Mario De Leo 1977
OLP 10018 Happy Days OMCI 1979
OLP 10019 Trio Trio 1979
OLP 10020 Songs & Tales Guido Mazzon 1979
OLD 01/02 Concerts (double live album) Henry Cow 1977
OLPS 55001 Il nonno di Jonni Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1979

OLPS 55002 Les trois fou's perdegagnent... Etron Fou Leloublan 1979
OLPS 55003 Hopes and Fears Art Bears 1980
OLPS 55004 Western Culture Henry Cow 1980
OLPS 55005 Winter Songs Art Bears 1980
OLPS 55006 La cosiddetta banda Sogenanntes 1979
della sinistra rivoluzionaria linkradikales Blasorchester
OLPS 55007 N. 1 Musica bestiame e benessere Mamma non piangere 1979
OLPS 55008 La natura e musica Strumentoconcerto 1979
OLPS 55009 Macchina Maccheronica Stormy Six 1980
OLPS 55010 Triaca oder Drek Alfredo Lacosegliaz 1979
OLPS 55011 To Fall a Victim of Ice Cream Paul Rutherford/Toni Rusconi 1980
Charm
OLPS 55012 Le cartoline Alessandro Carrera 1981
OLPS 55013 Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi Picchio dal pozzo 1980
OPLS 55014 N. 2 Sempre avanti a testa bassa Mamma non piangere 1980
OLPS 55015 Lo strumento fa concerto Strumentoconcerto 1980
OLPS 55016 Cowboy esotico Toni Rusconi 1981
OLPS 55017 Ensemble Havadia Ensemble Havadia 1981
OLPS 55018 Hanns Eisler-Musica da camera Various 1981
OLPS 55019 Hanns Eisler-La Madre (Die Various 1981
Mutter)
OLPS 55020 Hanns Eisler-Suites/Kleine Various 1981
Sinfonie
OLPS 55555 Raccomandato di vinile Various 1981
MILP 70001 Al volo Stormy Six 1982
MILP 70002 Mary P. Container Mary P. Container 1982
MILP 70003 Domestic Flights Franco Fabbri 1983
MILP 70004 Chitarre solo Stefano Delui 1983
MILP 70005 A tung Me Giancarlo Schiaffini 1983
Singles and EPs:
ONP 1001 1789/Carmine Stormy Six 1976
OM 101 Le mille e una notte Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1979
MIEP 5001 Specchi Ensemble Havadia 1982
OLPN 801 La fuga al polo/L'ora esatta Mamma non piangere 1980
OLPN 802 Piazza S. Ambrogio/Aznavour Alessandro Carrera 1981
OLPN 803 Cosa danno/Reparto novith Stormy Six 1981
OLPN 804 Finale/Gocce amare Ensemble Havadid 1981
426 Franco Fabbri
Cassettes:
OC 1 Un biglietto del tram Stormy Six 1975
OC 2 Pietre della mia gente Yu Kung 1975
OC 3 Soy del pueblo Tecun Uman 1975
OC 5 Festa popolare Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1975
OC 12 L'apprendista Stormy Six 1977
OC 13 Daloy politzei Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1977
50 OLPS 55001 Il nonno di Jonni Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1979
50 OLPS 55007 N. 1 Musica bestiame e benessere Mamma non piangere 1979
50 OLPS 55008 La natura e musica Strumento Concerto 1979
50 OLPS 55009 Macchina Maccheronica Stormy Six 1980
Endnotes
1. None of these, unfortunately, is available8. in

Portraits from 1976 and 1981, as well as a
languages other than Italian. A general lack ofnumber of photographs of member bands,
information affects all kinds of Italian popular can be seen at the following URL: http:/ /www.
music, jazz, and traditional music: from an francofabbri.net/pagine/GalleriaOrchestra.htm
international perspective, then, l'Orchestra 9. Literally 'of government and struggle': the ex-
shares the same condition with artists or insti- pression was used from the mid-1970s by the
tutions that enjoy a better academic or pressPCI to describe its own character as a party: a
coverage at home, but are very little knownstrong oppositional party, ready to take part
abroad. in the government without giving up social
2. Though Cramps was an independent label in astruggle. The quote is kindly parodistic, and
very narrow sense, as will be seen later in thisfurther on in the article the current situation of
article, and though it is doubtful that Italianthe Italian left is described as 'neither in the
rock was actually born in Bologna in 1977, as the government, nor in the opposition'.
story has it. 10. Of course, the article pays tribute to the early
3. For a detailed coverage, see Ginsborg (2003). 1980s' ideology: professionalism.
4. Only Silvio Berlusconi's first cabinet after the 11. I tried to translate the article saving its style,
2001 elections (July 2001 - April 2005) lasted which is related both to the times (early 1980s)
longer. and to the supposed readership (local adminis-
5. See Bermani (2003) for an exemplary account of trators, members of cultural associations); for
how 'Bella ciao', the well-known partisan song, example, 'media' would probably sound too
was thought in the 1960s to have origins in a confidently technical at that time, and using the
work song of the same title, while the opposite is plural for radio and television stations - in the
true; more recent evidence shows links with a original le radio e le televisioni - sounded more
pop song from the late 1930s. dramatically apt to describe a very recent
revolution.
6. See Bermani (2003) for almost complete cover-
age of Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano and other 12. Like the PCI and ARCI, it is implied.
sources of social song in the 1960s and 1970s. 13. Readers might compare this rationalisation to
7. An Italian TV documentary shot in 1973 at the essays about music genres by the same author,
Teatro Comunale of Reggio Emilia includes the in the same years: Fabbri (1981 [published
coverage of the final discussion after a concert two months earlier], 1982a, b). For more recent
with Maurizio Pollini (pianist) and Claudio essays, see Fabbri (1999 [in English], 2002b).
Abbado (conductor), performing works by 14. For a brilliant, almost hilarious summary of a
Luigi Nono. A young member of the audience militant musician's life, see Marini (1977).
declares he enjoyed the concert, though he pre- 15. See Straniero, Liberovici, Jona and De Maria
fers the music of King Crimson. The musicians (1964) for the most influential Adorno-oriented
reply angrily, objecting to 'commercial music'. source of Italian left's commonsense on song.
They had probably never heard of the English 16. Amongst the most active promoters at the meet-
band before. Almost at the same time that year, ing one should mention the musicians involved
King Crimson performed at Amsterdam's in the informal talks at the Raro Folk Club (see
Concertgebouw. Many years later, one of above), plus jazz players Toni Rusconi and
Guido Mazzon.
Musica/Realth's organisers, listening to a live
recording of 'Fracture' from that Amsterdam 17. Operatore musicale, an expression that wasn't
concert, asked me: 'I find this minimalist invented by l'Orchestra, but that was for the
composer very interesting. Who is he?' first time adopted somehow officially in the
co-operative's logo, sounded like the more com- Italian), with full-length pieces from l'Orchestra
mon (at that time) operatore culturale. When albums, can be listened to (in Real format) by
asked about his job, Paolo Grassi - founder with connecting to the Swiss Radio's website (Radio
Giorgio Strehler of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, della Svizzera Italiana) at the following URL:
sovrintendente of the Teatro alla Scala, and soon http: //www.rtsi.ch/dischiorchestra
to become President of Rai - used to answer: 21. The research was ordered by Walter Veltroni,
'Operatore culturale'. now mayor of Rome and former vice-prime
18. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a copy minister, and Fabio Mussi, now one of the lead-
of this document in l'Orchestra's archives. A ers of the Ds (Democratici di Sinistra, the final -
shorter, discursive and more polemic version or, anyway, current - outcome of PCI).
can be read in Fabbri (1975). 22. USD figures, at 1976 exchange rate, are added
19. Singer-songwriter genre, see Fabbri (1982a, now b). for better understanding by non-Italian
20. Covers of all but two records issued by readers. The exchange rate in the period 1975-
l'Orchestra can be seen at http://www. 1977 rose from 652-85 lire (1975) to 832-34 (1976)
francofabbri.net/pagine/Orchestra_Discografia. to 882-39 (1977) for one US dollar. Source:
htm. Mp3 excerpts (between 30" and 60" long) Prof. Werner Antweiler, University of British
of one piece out of each record in the catalogue Columbia (http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/etc/
can be downloaded at http:/ /www.francofabbri. USDpages.pdf).
net/pagine/OrchestraMp3.htm. A succinct 23. The original letter is in Italian. USD figures (at
history of Stormy Six (in Italian), photos of 1977 exchange rate) are added now for better
the band, record and concert reviews (also in understanding by non-Italian readers.
English) can be found at http://www. 24. With the exception of sales of each group's own
francofabbri.net/pagine/Stormy.htm. A series records, see below.
of ten radio broadcasts made in January 2001 by 25. Until 1977 percentages were 65 per cent for the
the author of this article (26 minutes each, in artist(s), 35 per cent for l'Orchestra.
References
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Orchestral Manoeuvres in The 1970s L'Orchestra Co-Operative, 1974-1983

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in The 1970s L'Orchestra Co-Operative, 1974-1983

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the 1970s: L'Orchestra Co-Operative, 1974-1983

Author(s): Franco Fabbri

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the

L'Orchestra, a cooperative established in 1974/75, based in Milan, Italy, was a uniqu

A special kind of 'participant observation'

The political context

The musical context

songs, and for collaborating with progressive rock groups), Giorgi

Figure 1. Members of l'Orchestra on stage at Milan's Conservatory, 1976.

l'Orchestra - Cooperativa di operatori musicali

Even before the official foundation act, a centralised concert management

Figure 3. Poster for Milan's Rock In Opposition festival, April-May 1979.

In Italy, the political situation was no longer favourable for an organisatio

channel set up for the first time by an association of 'really' indepe

Artist Fee (Italian lire) Fee (USD)

Alberto Camerini 40,000+160/Km 48-06+0.19/Km

Jean Marc Bailleux

Milan, October 20th, 1977

Here are the data you are interested in.

324 : 2= 162 lire ($0.18)

for each record sold in the three channels.

Product code Bookshops % Direct sales % Ricordi % Total %

I wait for your comments and, I hope, for a propos

Product code Title Artist Year

OLP 10001 Un biglietto del tram Stormy Six 1975

Product code Title Artist Year

OLP 10009 Duetti Guido Mazzon/Andrea Centazzo 1976

OLD 01/02 Concerts (double live album) Henry Cow 1977

OLPS 55001 Il nonno di Jonni Gruppo Folk Internazionale 1979

Product code Title Artist Year

1. None of these, unfortunately, is available8. in

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