Giovanni Lindo Ferretti

Giovanni Lindo Ferretti (born September 9, 1953) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer and author.

Biography

Giovanni Lindo Ferretti was born in Cerreto Alpi (Collagna), in the province of Reggio Emilia, in the western part of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. After studies and working as psychiatric nurse for five years, Lindo Ferretti traveled around Europe.

CCCP

In Berlin he met Massimo Zamboni, with whom, in 1982, he founded the band CCCP Fedeli alla linea ("CCCP Loyal to the Line"). CCCP soon became a benchmark of the so-called "alternative music" in Italy. The band dissolved in 1990.

CSI

In 1992, again with Massimo Zamboni and with original core members of the Italian band Litfiba, he founded a new band called Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti (Consortium of Independent Players), also known as CSI. This band continued until 2000, when Zamboni departed. The bands’ names followed the naming of the political entities in the Soviet Union and its dissolution in the late 20th century. "CCCP" is the Cyrillic lettering for SSSR (i.e. USSR), and "CSI" mimics the Italian acronym for the Commonwealth of Independent States.

PGR

Since 2002, he has led the band PGR, an abbreviation of "Per Grazia Ricevuta" ("For a Received Grace"). This is a stock phrase usually attached to mementos acknowledging miraculous divine gifts. The new band name, in fact, marked his own rediscovery of his Catholic roots.

PGR's lineup changed with the release of the album "D’anime e d’animali" (2004), and in the fashion of previous incarnations the name was altered. In this case, however, the band's acronym was only slightly changed into PG³R ("Però Gianni Giorgio Giovanni Resistono", meaning "Yet Gianni Giorgio and Giovanni Resist"). PGR toured again in 2006, with the tour entitled 'Ripasso / Ribassi - Saldi, fino ad esaurimento scorte’ (Revision / Discounts - Sales while Stock Lasts), and have announced a new album for 2008.

olo work and collaborations with other artists

In 2000 Lindo Ferretti published the book "In Mongolia in retromarcia" ("In Mongolia, in reverse"), co-authored with Massimo Zamboni, about their journey there. This trip had also been influential on the final album by the band, "Tabula Rasa Elettrificata". In that same year he released a solo album, "Co.Dex".

In 2003, together with director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Lindo Ferretti wrote the texts and lyrics for the theatrical work "Iniziali: BCGLF". The music was composed by PGR’s fellow Gianni Maroccolo. A CD with the same name was released in 2004. Also in 2004 he also released the album "Litania" ("Litany"), co-authored with Ambrogio Sparagna, which contains both folk prayers and pieces from the repertoire of CCCP and CSI.

He toured Italy again in 2005 with the theatrical shows "Falce e Martello. Falciati e martellati. Requiem per una civiltà’' ("Hammer and Sickle. Hammered and Sickled. Requiem for a Civilisation"), with Ambrogio Sparagna, and "Pascolare parole, allevare pensieri" ("Pasturing of Words, Breeding of Thoughts"), with Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Raffaele Pinelli and Ezio Bonicelli.

Politics and recent activities

Radical left political thought marked much of Lindo Ferretti's musical and artistic output, and he had been involved with the extra-parliamentary radical group Lotta Continua. He subsequently revised his political thinking, however, and in the 2006 elections he voted for the right-center coalition.

In 2007, he published his first autobiographic book, "Reduce" ("Returned/Survivor"). in the book he describes his new poetics and views on life through childhood memories, poems and invectives against the contemporary world. He accompanied the release of the book with a new show of the same name, featuring with the same artists with whom had previous worked on "Pascolare parole…".

His association with the Catholic organisation Communion and Liberation, led to him participating in their 2007 meeting in Rimini at a talk about the priests of the confraternity "Fraternità Sacerdotale di San Carlo Borromeo" (Priestly Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo).

Lindo Ferretti currently lives in his native village, where he is a horse breeder.

Discography

With CCCP Fedeli alla linea

45rpm/EP

* "Ortodossia" (Ortodoxy); Attack Punk Records, 1984 (on red vinyl)
* "Ortodossia II"; Attack Punk Records, 1985 (on red vinyl). Later reissued by Virgin in black vinyl.
* "Compagni, cittadini, fratelli, partigiani" (Comrades, citizens, brothers, partisans); Attack Punk Records, 1985 (on a picture disc). Later reissued by Virgin on black vinyl.
* "Oh! Battagliero" (Oh, warring man!); Virgin Records, 1987
* "Tomorrow - Voulez vous un rendez vous"; with the singer Amanda Lear, in 7" and 12" releases, Virgin, 1988
* "Ragazza Emancipata" (Emancipated Girl); enclosed in a book published by Stampa Alternativa, 1990

LP/CDs

* "Affinità-divergenze fra il compagno Togliatti e noi – Del conseguimento della maggiore età" (Affinities and Divergences between Comrade Togliatti and Us – On Becoming of Age); Attack Punk Records, 1986 (on red vinyl)
* "Socialismo e Barbarie" (Socialism and Barbarism); Virgin Dischi, 1987
* "Canzoni, preghiere, danze del II millennio Sezione Europa" (Songs, prayers and dances of the II Millennium); Virgin 1989
* "Epica Etica Etnica Pathos" (Epics Ethics Ethnics Pathos); Virgin 1990

Compilation CDs

* "Compagni, cittadini, fratelli, partigiani" / Ortodossia II; Virgin 1988 (a pair of the two namesake EPs)
* "Ecco i miei gioielli" (These are my gems); Virgin Dischi, 1992
* "Enjoy CCCP"; Virgin 1994

Live CD

* "Live in Punkow"; Virgin 1996

With CSI – Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti

* "Maciste contro tutti" (Maciste against All); 1993, with Üstmamò and Disciplinatha
* "Ko de mondo"; 1994
* "In quiete" (In quiet), 1994; ‘unplugged’ concert for MTV Italy
* "Linea Gotica" (Gothic Line); 1996, I dischi del mulo (distributed by PolyGram Italia)
* "Tabula Rasa Elettrificata" (Electrified Blank Slate); 1997
* "La terra, la guerra, una questione privata" (The land, the war, a private affair); 1998
* "Noi non ci saremo vol. 1" (We will not be there 1); 2001, collection
* "Noi non ci saremo vol. 2" (We will not be there 2); 2002, collection

With PGR – Per Grazia Ricevuta

* "Per grazia ricevuta" (For a Received Grace); 2002
* "Montesole 29 giugno 2001" (At Montesole, 29 June 2001); 2003, live
* "D'anime e d'animali" (On Souls and on Animals); 2004

Solo and collaborations

* "Co.Dex"; 2000
* "Iniziali: BCGLF" (Initials: BCGLF); Universal Music Italia, 2004, with Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
* "Litania" (Litany); 2004, with Ambrogio Sparagna

Books

* "Fedeli alla linea. Dai CCCP ai CSI" (Loyal to the Line. From CCCP to CSI), Giunti 1997, ISBN 880903919X
* "Il libretto rozzo dei CCCP e CSI" (A Rough Booklet on CCCP and CSI), Giunti 1998, ISBN 8809213726
* "In Mongolia in retromarcia" (In Mongolia, in Reverse); Giunti 2000, ISBN 8809016394, with Massimo Zamboni. Out of Print
* "Reduce" (Returned/Survivor), Mondadori 2006, ISBN 8804560584

Filmography

* "Anime fiammeggianti" (Flaming Souls), 1994
* "Tutti giù per terra" (All Down to the Ground), 1997
* "Intimisto"; 2001
* "Paz!"; 2002
* "Perduto amor" (Lost Love); 2003
* "Il vento, di sera" (The wind, in the evening); 2004
* "Craj – Domani"; 2004