Andrea Labanca

Andrea Labanca is one of the many "geographical" hybrids of modern society: born in the suburbs of Milan in the late 1970s, but proud of his Lucanian origins, of which he retains the anarchic and independent spirit, he now lives in Milan after wandering around for some time. Passionate about music and painting, at the age of thirteen he picked up the guitar against his family's prejudice. After completing his master's degree, he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy, where he developed an interest in the philosophy of science, in particular Professor Giorello's lectures, and in logic (especially probabilistic logic: yes, no, maybe!), combining his university studies with a passion for the performing arts, both as an artist and as a cameraman (Accademia della Scala, MTV, Teatro della Cooperativa, Bebo Storti, Massimo Coppola).
He graduated in Philosophy of Science with a thesis on Albert Einstein ("Time and simultaneity: a definition").
From 1998 to 2003 he founded many bands from trio to five-piece bands that enjoyed some local success.
In 2005, he released his first E.P. "I Pesci ci Osservano" in a singer-songwriter version: five pieces of guitar, voice and synth and some electronic instruments and the piano of his former travelling companion Guido Baldoni.
This demo led him to the acquaintance of Dario Zigiotto, who has worked alongside the singer-songwriter ever since, taking care of his communication.
In 2006 Andrea Labanca met Paolo Ciarchi, and an intense artistic relationship was born, in which the singer-songwriter's linguistic and theatrical games were inserted into a much larger and more complex improvisational cage.
Andrea Labanca calls Paolo Ciarchi 'The Long Look' as Adorno had defined Gustav Mahler.
Indeed, Paolo Ciarchi guides composition and artistic expression towards a total liberation from the song form or the staging of the rock concert.
Paolo Ciarchi also throws a number of hints into Andrea Labanca's work, exasperating a certain propensity for agè, for improvisation.
In 2008, Tino Seghal chose Andrea Labanca for the performance "This is critique!" as part of the German artist's solo show at the Villa Reale in Milan, curated by Massimo Gioni for the Fondazione Trussardi.
2009 saw the release of 'I Pesci ci osservano', ten songs that recount the ineffable sense of loss and restlessness of the passage of time. The songs have a strong leaning towards surrealism even when the facts recounted are closely related or current. From Hemingway's coat to La Bambola afgana, reality becomes an excuse to travel through literature and the construction of other worlds, both linguistic and imaginary. There is no lack of love, even if mocked for its factuality as in "Amai": love is a misunderstanding of writing "The past of loving is amai, every kiss betrayed every kiss stolen, is a never again".
The album is launched by the video 'Ho le borse sotto gli occhi' (I have bags under my eyes), a song that recounts with prophetic irony the tragedy of a man who plays the stock market but then can't find work, to the point of begging a Chinese tycoon to hire him to make 'spring rolls'.
He began a tour that seemed never-ending with different line-ups: trio (with Paolo Ciarchi and Guido Baldoni), duo and often guitar and voice.
Dates range from theatres, to social centres, from exhibitions to performances in emblazoned venues, from Paris to San Francisco.
In no particular order: Diavolo Rosso Asti, La casa 139 Milano, Casa del Jazz Roma, TeatroI, Teatro Binario7 (Monza), La Goutierre, Paris, House of San Francisco, Leoncavallo, Beba do Samba, Magnolia.
In June 2010 "I Pesci ci Osservano" became Fahrenight's record of the week during the programming week dedicated to Political Refugees and conducted by foreign journalists.
In August 2011 Andrea labanca took part in the concert in homage to Enzo del Re held in Mola di bari alongside Vinicio Caposela, Tetes du Bois, Teresa De Sio, Alessio Lega, Rudi Assuntino and many others.
In 2011, he took part in the campaign for public water with a piece entitled "La memoria dell'acqua" (The memory of water), which was well received on local radio and the web, and even made it onto the home page of Repubblica.
http://video.repubblica.it/dossier/referendum-2011/la-memoria-dell-acqua-il-videoclip/70363/68717
In September 2011, he took part in the theatre production "Maria" by TeatroI, text by Aldo Nove and direction by Renzo Martinelli. Here he composed the music together with Guido Baldoni, musical director of the project.
In October 2011 Andrea Labanca's new project to form a band with Guido Baldoni, the Fisheye band, began on an experimental basis. The project started with Guido Rolando "Giubbonsky", Francesco Piras, Fabio Bado (former members of Contrabbanda), and in March 2012 they were joined by Martina Milzoni on bass.
In March the Fisheye band started rehearsing new songs by Andrea Labanca. After a first phase, the artistic production of Gianluca De Rubertis arrives, who according to Andrea Labanca is the right person to guide the new sound of the band towards more "sixteen" and international contaminations.
In January 2012 the tour of "I Pesci ci Osservano" formally ends at the Casa del Jazz in Rome as part of the gli.-... The line-up is that of the great occasions Andrea Labanca, Il maestro Paolo Ciarchi, Guido Baldoni. The concert is a great success and many Roman journalists and sector operators are present.
In February 2012 Andrea Labanca invents "Labanca does not go Sanremo" video in which he declares, in the wake of controversy over the choices of the festival, the video has a certain media success, so Andrea becomes the commentator of SanRemo for "Affari Italiani" with a daily column on the news site. A curiosity, the other commentator is....
In July 2013 Andrea labanca entered the recording studio with the Fisheye band and the artistic production of Gianluca De Rubertis, and after a week "Carrozzeria Lacan" was born.
The album is basically the answer, or rather the answer, to the question "What to do if you've lost everything and nobody told you. Ten non-practical answers."
The album is divided between the classic desecrating irony (see Lacan, Il sogno di Jaques and Mormorano i Cormorani) and a more epochal and cruder tension towards reality and its description (Perderesti tutto, Tintinà), but the message is still one of struggle for survival (La via dell'amore, Dove vado, Soli). The love for survival that always guides the things of the world.
"Love is a frightening word for today's authors, unfortunately this word has become synonymous with man-woman, sexual tension. Apart from the narrowness of this concept it is wrong from a semantic point of view. Love is ideal strength in fighting for survival, for the things you believe in and to dream of a better place than the one you live in, to improve yourself. It is love, even crazy love, that always drives the things of the world. It is love for survival that refines the survival strategies of all beings.
If I had to define this record I would call it post-modern in the sense that I try to speak well of things that suck. I'd like the listener to say "Cool, this record is like walking in New York: you seem to see a porn shop next to a Buddhist temple and next to it a homeless man collecting champagne from a rubbish can".