Daniela Casa HHV Records 2 Items

At the end of the '60s in Italy - but also abroad, especially in France and England - a very particular trend began to spread, that one known as 'Library music' or 'sonorization': as suggested by its name, those were real music libraries intended for the accompaniment of audiovisual productions such as television programs, advertisements, documentaries and films. Since they were created in total artistic freedom condition, they are often difficult if not impossible to catalog, as they're not anchored to a specific musical genre; this freedom also allowed the authors to compose, sometimes in the most complete anonymity, experimental and avant-garde music, capable of anticipating the sounds that only many years later would have been widespread on a larger scale. Daniela Casa (1944 - 1986) was a singer and composer, wife of another library music artist, Remigio Ducros, who wrote "America Giovane" (Young America), an LP that ideally precedes this second chapter. Originally released in 1975, "America Giovane N. 2" is today - like almost the entire Edizioni Leonardi catalog - extremely rare and among the most sought-after by collectors. Musically, it shares with the aforementioned "America Giovane" a remarkable stylistic variety: from folk to psychedelia, from funk to rhythm 'n blues but, unlike the first volume, on this record there's a more or less evident jazz aura ("Fix" and "Soft Bird" are practically two short free-jazz excursions!) that makes it even more interesting and unique. "America Giovane N. 2" is part of a reissues series, made in collaboration with Edizioni Leonardi (Milan, Italy), of extremely rare library music LP's published between late '60s and early '70s, most of which have never been released again until today, and that are finally made available again for collectors and sonorization music lovers. First official reissue ever on black vinyl.

Filed neatly and undisturbed within the micro-genre of 1970s Italian artsploitation, amongst
films soundtracks such as Girl With The Crystal Plumage, A Quiet Place In The Country and
House With The Laughing Windows, this obscure library LP is one of the few fully formed
concept albums from the recently reappraised discography of Rome’s most versatile and
adventurous female production music composer Daniela Casa. Once destined for a shelf life
within the storage rooms of defunct TV studios and educational facilities Daniela’s previously
strictly commercially unavailable music has in recent years been given new focus at the
hands of open-minded disc detectives and sonic salvage hunters earning Casa’s distinctive
feminine take on experimental instrumental mood and movie compositions a place next to
her widely respected masculine counterparts such as Alessandro Alessandroni, AR Luciani,
Pierro Umiliani, Morricone and Nicolai.
Sharing tight studio space and strict syndication schedules with all of the aforementioned
artists (under commission from Romano Di Bari’s fervently independent Flipper music factory)
Daniela Casa embraced a liberating wind change in affordable music technology which opened
doors for uninhabited solo compositions in home studios taking advantage of communal
recording consoles and domestic synthesisers which nurtured a lesser-documented creative
family tree (or rather secret society) and paved the way for individualistic projects from the
likes of Magnetic System’s Fabio Frizzi and Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti. Here, on this repress
of the impossibly rare, one-time subscription-only album, Arte Moderna, we find Daniela at
her versatile best creating a wide thematic suite (based on paintings and sculptures in an
abstract art gallery) for which she would deploy mostly organic and acoustic instruments
to construct a set of unorthodox compositions straddling avant garde, free jazz and Giallo
tension (with some brief moments of brooding electronics and italian pop).
Veering from her stylistic pop interests (which clearly included a fondness for the music of
Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin) Daniela Casa’s Arte Moderna saw her adopt a less era
specific approach combining neo-classical elements and piano improvisations akin to the
likes of France’s Francois Tusques or Burton Greene, or America’s Mal Waldron without
compromising her strong narrative personality for this unique abstracted picture music.
Unintentionally but profoundly political in her prolific existence Daniela Casa’s contribution
to a predominantly male industry earned her a small clutch of inspired idiosyncratic Italian
female bedfellows such as Nora Orlandi, Giullia De Muittis (aka Kema), Fiorella Fratini, Emma
De Angelis and Maria Teresa Luciani, who, with faceless anti-celebrity as its essence, never
benefitted the wider critical focus that much of this music now duly commands on the
collectors circuit.
Finders Keepers Records, in continued collaboration with the Di Barri company, with the
Casa/Ducros family blessing, are now proud to shine new light on this sonic sculptures and
provide a fresh context where educated music listeners are ready to fill the gaps between
Delia Derbyshire, Ennio Morricone, Suzanne Ciani and Harry Partch and patronise a very
welcome considered alternative to the recent rise in popularity of Italian Giallo soundtracks
from a seldom savoured feminine creative vantage point. Daniela’s musical paintings can
now be unveiled to the public for the first time, with Modern Art sounding as contemporary
as it did when it was recorded forty years ago. The gallery is now open for limited sittings,
discerning ears and open minds.