Polka BologNoise: DJ Balli, the astronaut.

Fresh, contemporary, wide-ranging, relaxing, intellectual, artistic, hypochondriac… All these attributes often refer to electronic dance music. Dj Balli is different. Dj Balli, from Bologna, is more a producer than a musician deejay: while composing he always takes into consideration “copy and paste” effects, in an extremely conceptual manner as well, and without being afraid to turn the tables.

«Since I’m from Bologna, from a very young age and especially within contexts like the Festa de l’Unità or the summer in Riviera, I’ve been exposed (yes, “exposed”, like you’re exposed to a virus) to the liscio genre and the Bolognese dancing style à la Filuzzi. I’ve been immediately captured by this crazy “dance” music, characterised by a mythical aura. And, in the mind of a kid who was starting to get into hard-rock, the accordion solos did not differ much from Angus Young’s guitar riffs in AC/DC songs. Years passed by: I learnt to play drums, I became a radio speaker, I lived in London for a while. After coming back to Italy, I decided to become a deejay: Dj Balli, specialised in dance music. And the call of liscio ringed again: liscio is my dance music! At first, I wanted to mix liscio with reggae music. I’ve always loved reggae: since I was young, I’ve always listened to Bob Marley and ska. But back then I also started to analyse even its applications to electronic music, with the first dubstep experiments and the techno and hardcore merging (the so-called reggae-core). Just like reggae was the traditional music of Jamaica… liscio would become “my” reggae! And that’s how my record Straight-Edge rastafari manifesto (2003) was born. The title is deliberately an oxymoron: straight-edge is a punk subculture that rejects alcohol and drugs and pushes you to “think as much as possible with your own head” and to overcome the system by boycotting multinational companies and the mafia-controlled drug business; on the contrary, Rastafarianism promotes the marijuana culture, on a spiritual level as well. The oxymoron title was present in the record music through the mixing of breakcore (a faster version of drum’n brass, if ever possible) and liscio. It was a five tracks EP with some short songs that you could put on loop (for Djs) played only with the accordion, Filuzzi style. The record aroused public interest and somehow anticipated dubstep. With this record, I declared my love for liscio. Since then I’ve always tried to follow the events regarding this music genre and, proving my strong sense of humour, I also took part in some dedicated soirées. All the more, during the last years I’ve been captivated by various projects (among them, Extraliscio) that musically focused on the “liscio subject”. I also include liscio in my Dj sets: I’ve started during a small but energic country folk festival near Rieti called “Offeio Roots”, in which every year I’m invited to participate. In this context, I propose an extremely peculiar song selection mixed with various effects, within a sequence that leads to my original tracks, to the songs produced by my label Sonic Belligeranza and to contemporary dub pieces. But let’s talk about the present. Following the vinyl revival, tapes are enjoying a consistent comeback as well. I’ve been called by the French label Skank Bloc Bologna, a small project directed by my old school mate, now a physicist at the Sorbonne, who continues to mainly produce “punk songwriters”. The peculiar name of the label comes from a Scritti Politti’s record of the same name, where the British pop group considers the 1977 Bologna as a social model. I’ve been thinking about creating a mixtape for years, just like the old ones (that favoured the hip hop success between the 70s and 80s), but including only liscio songs. And here comes the epiphany. The trash music deejay Brenno Dj introduced me to a track lost in the Internet recesses, an authorless and title-less track, with obscure origins. It’s a “porn liscio” track! The text is obscene, the music is a parody of the famous 1954 song Tutte le mamme (All the mums) by Nilla Pizzi, and I’ve chosen the title together with Brenno: Son tutte belle le fighe del mondo (All the pussies of the world are beautiful). An extremely vulgar song that becomes surreal thanks to the impeccable liscio component. We had the main song for the mixtape, we only needed a leitmotiv. I’ve let my mind run loose: liscio can be considered an “old-fashioned genre”; the tape is a surpassed format as well, with sounds that seem to echo from a past era and another planet; moreover, we have used a solid amount of effects with delays and echoes in the mixtape tracks (the main effects used in the first dub songs… this takes us back to Jamaica again). All these features create the record’s suspended atmosphere: the sounds seem to come from the dear old telephone line 051 (the phone area code for Bologna). Here we have the second epiphany: the occult purpose of the whole liscio production may be to communicate with aliens! The tape title is Report on accordion-mediated alien encounters in Area 051, signed by the Orchestra Spettacolo Dj Balli! The art cover, a tribute to the historic and sometime trash liscio tape covers produced some decades ago, shows the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca (the church devoted to the Virgin Mary towering over Bologna) depicted as a sort of Roswell, the site where the “liscio-crash” took place, opening a parallel dimension and establishing a connection with the alien liscio. Such a lucid delirium! After all, the Emilia-ness means being “happily out of your mind”; we are people with a strong sense of humour and that don’t take themselves too seriously. Bologna is a pit: you walk in circles, protected by the long motherly porticos, turning your ideas over in your mind, often surreal and funny ideas. I’m a Castellina-Pasi orchestra fan: I think they do the most interesting and exciting liscio. I find the “rave-Casadei” style more accessible to the large public and I perceive it as somehow distant. If I had to choose an instrumental liscio track, I would pick Tutto Pepe (So perky) by Castellina-Pasi: the commercial progressive and techno-trance music cannot put up with its accordion melodies that rise higher and higher, reaching a climax. I’d choose the song La ballata del camionista (The lorry driver ballad) by Raoul Casadei, a song that unifies the whole of Italy almost like Garibaldi did, in which a lorry driver, during his boring and exhausting work, has indeed the opportunity to relax with his various lovers in every Italian city he visits on his run.»

THE LORRY DRIVER BALLAD
(Music by Raoul Casadei, Enrico Muccioli, Al Pedulli
Lyrics by Raoul Casadei)

Naples Foggia Rome Milan Padua Lecce Bologna Forlì
the lorry driver ballad
the lorry driver ballad.
The engine rumbles a thousand lights a joyful heart and so it goes
the lorry driver ballad
nobody will stop him.
On the Fortore bridge
a southern beauty
with a smile and a flower
stole your heart.
(orchestra)
Southern beauty
(orchestra)
Naples Foggia Rome Milan Padua Lecce Bologna Forlì
the lorry driver ballad
the lorry driver ballad.
The engine rumbles a thousand lights a joyful heart and so it goes
the lorry driver ballad
nobody will stop him.
But one day on the Po river
a Polesine beauty
pressed herself against your heart
and fell in love with you.
(orchestra)
A Polesine beauty
(orchestra)
Naples Foggia Rome Milan Padua Lecce Bologna Forlì
the lorry driver ballad
the lorry driver ballad.
The engine rumbles a thousand lights a joyful heart and so it goes
the lorry driver ballad
nobody will stop him.
But on the silver Arno
a Florentine beauty
with innocent eyes
told you about love.
(orchestra)
A Florentine beauty
(orchestra)
Naples Foggia Rome Milan Padua Lecce Bologna Forlì
the lorry driver ballad
the lorry driver ballad.
The engine rumbles a thousand lights a joyful heart and so it goes
the lorry driver ballad
nobody will stop him.
On the Rubicon river
a sweet girl from Romagna,
you know that already,
one day will stop you.
The engine rumbles a thousand lights a joyful heart and so it goes
the lorry driver ballad
nobody will stop him.