Dik Dik
Encyclopedia
Dik Dik are an Italian
beat
-pop
-rock
band, established in the 1960s and still in activity. They were most popular in the late 1960s, when they released a string of hit singles with the contribution of renowned lyric-writer Mogol
and songwriter Lucio Battisti
, their greatest successes being Sognando la California and Senza luce, respectively cover of California Dreamin'
by The Mamas and Papas and A Whiter Shade of Pale
by Procol Harum
. While their early production is mostly inspired by The Beatles
, in the 1970s they also experimented in other genres, including progressive rock
. They went on hiatus in the 1980s but later returned to the scenes, mostly in revival television shows and live performances.
, in the Porta Genova
-Lorenteggio area. They began playing in the "Beatlemania
" years, and started out as a sort of The Beatles
clone band, playing under different names, including "Dreamers" and "Squali" ("sharks"). Finally, they chose the name "Dik Dik" after the African antelope
. Eventually, three other musicians joined in, namely Erminio "Pepe" Salvaderi on guitar, keyboards, and vocals, Mario Totaro on keyboards, and Sergio Panno on drums. With this line-up, in 1965 the band released with Ricordi Records
their debut single, 1-2-3/Se rimani con me; 1-2-3 was a cover of Len Barry
's song, while B side Se rimani con me was written by Lucio Battisti
, who was at the time relatively unknown.
In 1966 Dik Dik released their first hit single Sognando la California, a cover of California Dreamin'
by The Mamas & the Papas
, with lyrics by Mogol
. As a consequence of this huge success, the members of the band chose to give up their previous jobs and become full-time musicians. Side B of that single again featured a song by Battisti, Dolce di giorno.
After Sognando la California, Dik Dik released a string of very successful singles, mots of them covers, including Il mondo è con noi (1966), Inno (1967, cover of Let's go to San Francisco by The Flower Pot Men), Senza luce (1967, cover of A Whiter Shade of Pale
by Procol Harum
), Il vento (1968), and Il primo giorno di primavera (1969). In 1969 they performed with Rita Pavone
at the Festival della canzone italiana
in Sanremo
. More successful singles are released in the following years, including L'isola di Wight (1970), Vendo casa (1972), Storia di periferia (1973), Help Me (1974), and Volando (1975, a cover of Sailing by Rod Stewart
).
Their long-playing albums were not as successful. After their first three releases, collections of hit singles (published in 1967, 1969, and 1970 respectively) they released in 1972 their first studio album, Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa ("Suite for an absolutely relative woman"), which was an experiment in progressive rock
. Suite was conceived as a concept album
on "planet woman", with lyrics by poet Herbert Pagani
; it was, anyway, very different from Dik Dik's previous production, and was somehow rejected by the audience, resulting in a commercial flop. As a consequence, the band thereafter returned to their earlier pop-beat style.
From the mid 1970s to the early 1980s the band experienced several personnel changes, with Panno and Totaro leaving in 1974 (replaced by Roberto "Hunka Munka" Carlotto on keyboards and Nunzio "Cucciolo" Favia on drums), and Sbriziolo leaving in 1978 (replaced by two guitarists, Roberto "Roby" Facini and Rosario Brancati). In 1980 Carlotto was replaced by the keyboard virtuoso Joe Vescovi, who had been collaborating with the band since 1974. In the same years, the band lost part of its appeal to the audience, partly as a consequence of ambitious experiments such as I'te vurria vasà (1976), which drastically departed from Dik Dik's tradition, and also as a consequence of the advent of disco music, which caused the decline of several rock-oriented bands.
After a couple of relatively successful singles, such as Laser vivente (1980) and Giornale di bordo (1982), the band essentially went on hiatus, with only Pietruccio, Pepe, and Lallo actively in the project. This trio released a few more singles such as L'amico mio (1983) and Senza luce... reggae (1984), and participated in the Musicaitalia per l'Etiopia humanitarian project for Ethiopia
.
In 1986, Favia and Carlotto gave life to a major spin-off of the band, originally named "Carlotto e Cucciolo già Dik Dik" or simply "Dik Dik", which led to a legal quarrel about the ownership of the "Dik Dik" brand. The quarrel went on until 2006, when "Dik Dik" was finally reserved to Pietruccio, Pepe, and Lallo; Favia and Carlotto thus had to choose another name, "Già Dik Dik" ("Ex Dik Dik").
From the second half of the 1980s, the Dik Dik trio returned to the scenes participating in popular music revival television shows such as Una rotonda sul mare, until in 1993 they performed again at the Festival di Sanremo together with I Camaleonti, another historic band of the Italian 1960s-1970s, and Maurizio Vandelli from Equipe 84
.
Dik Dik are still performing on television and playing live, and have occasionally released singles and albums, often with Vescovi on keyboards. In 1997 they have started their own web site.
In 2010, Pietruccio has published an autobiographical book about the history of the band, I ragazzi della via Stendhal ("The Boys from Via Stendhal"), in reference to the street of Milan where Lallo and Pietruccio grew up and met, Via Stendhal.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
beat
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band, established in the 1960s and still in activity. They were most popular in the late 1960s, when they released a string of hit singles with the contribution of renowned lyric-writer Mogol
Mogol (lyricist)
Giulio Rapetti , in art Mogol, is an Italian music lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Lucio Battisti.-Career:...
and songwriter Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti was an Italian singer-songwriter . He is considered to be one of the best-known and most influential musicians and authors in Italian pop/rock music history....
, their greatest successes being Sognando la California and Senza luce, respectively cover of California Dreamin'
California Dreamin'
"California Dreamin is a popular song by The Mamas & the Papas, first released in 1965. The song is #89 in Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time...
by The Mamas and Papas and A Whiter Shade of Pale
A Whiter Shade of Pale
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well...
by Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
. While their early production is mostly inspired by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, in the 1970s they also experimented in other genres, including progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. They went on hiatus in the 1980s but later returned to the scenes, mostly in revival television shows and live performances.
History
The band was established in the early 1960s by Giancarlo "Lallo" Sbrizzolo and Pietro "Pietruccio" Montalbetti, who grew up in the same neighbourhood of MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, in the Porta Genova
Porta Genova
Porta Genova is a district of Milan, Italy, located within the Zone 6 administrative division. The name "Porta Genova" means "Genoa gate"; the district is named after a city gate of the old Spanish Walls of Milan, namely that leading to Genoa, that used to be in what is now Piazza Cantore...
-Lorenteggio area. They began playing in the "Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
" years, and started out as a sort of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
clone band, playing under different names, including "Dreamers" and "Squali" ("sharks"). Finally, they chose the name "Dik Dik" after the African antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
. Eventually, three other musicians joined in, namely Erminio "Pepe" Salvaderi on guitar, keyboards, and vocals, Mario Totaro on keyboards, and Sergio Panno on drums. With this line-up, in 1965 the band released with Ricordi Records
Casa Ricordi
Casa Ricordi is a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi in Milan, Italy...
their debut single, 1-2-3/Se rimani con me; 1-2-3 was a cover of Len Barry
Len Barry
Len Barry is a retired American vocalist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:...
's song, while B side Se rimani con me was written by Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti was an Italian singer-songwriter . He is considered to be one of the best-known and most influential musicians and authors in Italian pop/rock music history....
, who was at the time relatively unknown.
In 1966 Dik Dik released their first hit single Sognando la California, a cover of California Dreamin'
California Dreamin'
"California Dreamin is a popular song by The Mamas & the Papas, first released in 1965. The song is #89 in Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time...
by The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
, with lyrics by Mogol
Mogol
Mogol may refer to:*Mogol, Jalal-Abad, a town in Kyrgyzstan*Mogol, Tajikistan, a town in Tajikistan*Mogol *An alternative spelling of Mughal...
. As a consequence of this huge success, the members of the band chose to give up their previous jobs and become full-time musicians. Side B of that single again featured a song by Battisti, Dolce di giorno.
After Sognando la California, Dik Dik released a string of very successful singles, mots of them covers, including Il mondo è con noi (1966), Inno (1967, cover of Let's go to San Francisco by The Flower Pot Men), Senza luce (1967, cover of A Whiter Shade of Pale
A Whiter Shade of Pale
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well...
by Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
), Il vento (1968), and Il primo giorno di primavera (1969). In 1969 they performed with Rita Pavone
Rita Pavone
Rita Pavone is an Italian ballad and rock singer who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Pavone is also an actress.-Singing career:...
at the Festival della canzone italiana
Festival della canzone italiana
The Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo is a popular Italian song contest, held annually in the city of Sanremo, in Italy, and consisting of a competition amongst previously unreleased songs...
in Sanremo
Sanremo
Sanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival...
. More successful singles are released in the following years, including L'isola di Wight (1970), Vendo casa (1972), Storia di periferia (1973), Help Me (1974), and Volando (1975, a cover of Sailing by Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
).
Their long-playing albums were not as successful. After their first three releases, collections of hit singles (published in 1967, 1969, and 1970 respectively) they released in 1972 their first studio album, Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa ("Suite for an absolutely relative woman"), which was an experiment in progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. Suite was conceived as a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
on "planet woman", with lyrics by poet Herbert Pagani
Herbert Pagani
Herbert Pagani is an artist and musician.He comes from a family of Libyan Jews who were italianized by the Colonial Administration. He spent his childhood and adolescence between Italy, Germany and France...
; it was, anyway, very different from Dik Dik's previous production, and was somehow rejected by the audience, resulting in a commercial flop. As a consequence, the band thereafter returned to their earlier pop-beat style.
From the mid 1970s to the early 1980s the band experienced several personnel changes, with Panno and Totaro leaving in 1974 (replaced by Roberto "Hunka Munka" Carlotto on keyboards and Nunzio "Cucciolo" Favia on drums), and Sbriziolo leaving in 1978 (replaced by two guitarists, Roberto "Roby" Facini and Rosario Brancati). In 1980 Carlotto was replaced by the keyboard virtuoso Joe Vescovi, who had been collaborating with the band since 1974. In the same years, the band lost part of its appeal to the audience, partly as a consequence of ambitious experiments such as I'te vurria vasà (1976), which drastically departed from Dik Dik's tradition, and also as a consequence of the advent of disco music, which caused the decline of several rock-oriented bands.
After a couple of relatively successful singles, such as Laser vivente (1980) and Giornale di bordo (1982), the band essentially went on hiatus, with only Pietruccio, Pepe, and Lallo actively in the project. This trio released a few more singles such as L'amico mio (1983) and Senza luce... reggae (1984), and participated in the Musicaitalia per l'Etiopia humanitarian project for Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
.
In 1986, Favia and Carlotto gave life to a major spin-off of the band, originally named "Carlotto e Cucciolo già Dik Dik" or simply "Dik Dik", which led to a legal quarrel about the ownership of the "Dik Dik" brand. The quarrel went on until 2006, when "Dik Dik" was finally reserved to Pietruccio, Pepe, and Lallo; Favia and Carlotto thus had to choose another name, "Già Dik Dik" ("Ex Dik Dik").
From the second half of the 1980s, the Dik Dik trio returned to the scenes participating in popular music revival television shows such as Una rotonda sul mare, until in 1993 they performed again at the Festival di Sanremo together with I Camaleonti, another historic band of the Italian 1960s-1970s, and Maurizio Vandelli from Equipe 84
Equipe 84
Equipe 84 were an Italian Beat band formed in 1964 in Modena. The name translates as Team 84, and it was originally suggested by a friend of the band, Pier Parri...
.
Dik Dik are still performing on television and playing live, and have occasionally released singles and albums, often with Vescovi on keyboards. In 1997 they have started their own web site.
In 2010, Pietruccio has published an autobiographical book about the history of the band, I ragazzi della via Stendhal ("The Boys from Via Stendhal"), in reference to the street of Milan where Lallo and Pietruccio grew up and met, Via Stendhal.
Personnel
- Giancarlo Sbriziolo ("Lallo"): vocals, bass, guitar
- Roberto Facini ("Roby"): vocals, guitar
- Erminio Salvaderi ("Pepe"): rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Pietro Montalbetti ("Pietruccio"): lead guitar, vocals, bass
- Mario Totaro: keyboards
- Roberto Carlotto ("Hunka Munka"): keyboards
- Joe Vescovi: keyboards
- Sergio Panno: drums
- Nunzio Favia ("Cucciolo"): drums
- Rosario Brancati: guitar
Albums
- Dik Dik (1967, Dischi Ricordi)
- Il primo giorno di primavera e altri successi (1969, Dischi Ricordi)
- Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa (1972, Dischi Ricordi)
- Storie e confessioni (1973, Dischi Ricordi)
- Volando (1976, Ri-Fi)
- Amico (1978, Ri-Fi)
- Live (1989, Durium)
- Come fossero farfalle (1991, Carosello)
- Come passa il tempo e i più grandi successi (1993, Dischi Ricordi)
- Isole in viaggio (1997, Duck RecordsDuck RecordsDuck Records is the record label of Eric Clapton. It is distributed via Reprise Records.Pilgrim from 1998 was one of the records released via Duck Records....
) - Sogno Beat (2000, Duck RecordsDuck RecordsDuck Records is the record label of Eric Clapton. It is distributed via Reprise Records.Pilgrim from 1998 was one of the records released via Duck Records....
) - L'isola di Wight e altri successi (2000, MBO Music)
- Uno in più e i grandi successi beat (2000, MBO Music)
- Ingresso gratuito (2003, self-published)
- Sold Out (2008, self-published)
Singles
- 1-2-3/Se rimani con me (1966, Dischi Ricordi)
- Sognando la California/Dolce di giorno (1966, Dischi Ricordi)
- Il mondo è con noi/Se io fossi un falegname (1967, Dischi Ricordi)
- Guardo te e vedo mio figlio/Senza luce (1967, Dischi Ricordi)
- Inno/Windy (1967, Dischi Ricordi)
- Il vento/L'esquimese (1968, Dischi Ricordi)
- Dimenticherai/Eleonora credi (1968, Dischi Ricordi)
- Zucchero/Piccola arancia (1969, Dischi Ricordi)
- Il primo giorno di primavera/Nuvola bianca (1969, Dischi Ricordi)
- Primavera primavera/Sogni proibiti (1969, Dischi Ricordi)
- Io mi fermo qui/Restare bambino (1970, Dischi Ricordi)
- L'isola di Wight/Innamorato (1970, Dischi Ricordi)
- Vivo per te/Quattro bicchieri di vino (1970, Dischi Ricordi)
- Vivo per te/Dove vai (1970, Dischi Ricordi)
- Ninna nanna (Cuore mio)/Incantesimo (1970, Dischi Ricordi)
- Vendo casa/Paura (1971, Dischi Ricordi)
- Viaggio di un poeta/Oggi no (1972, Dischi Ricordi)
- Il cavallo, l'aratro e l'uomo/Senza luce (1972, Dischi Ricordi)
- Storia di periferia/Libero (1973, Dischi Ricordi)
- Il confine/Ma perché (1973, Dischi Ricordi)
- Help Me/Sono nato (1974, Dischi Ricordi)
- Piccola mia/Uno strano sentimento (1975, Dischi Ricordi)
- Volando/Ossessioni (1975, Dik)
- I' te vurria vasà/Come una bambina (1976, Dik)
- Un giorno, cento anni/Flowers freedom and love (1977, Dik)
- Io, te e l'infinito/Walking in the Sunshine (1977, Dik)
- Amico/Senza di te (1978, Ri-Fi)
- Strani fili/Hard Stuff (1978, Ariston Records)
- Dimenticare Venezia/Sentimento (1979, Ariston Records)
- Laser vivente/Dolce amara tu (1980, Ariston Records)
- Vuoto a rendere/Mamamadama (1980, Ariston Records)
- Giornale di bordo (1982, LupusLupusLupus most commonly refers to the disease systemic lupus erythematosus.Lupus may also refer to:-Medicine:* Lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune disease with several different forms...
) - L'amico mio/Compagnia (1983, Numero Uno)
- Senza luce...reggae/Alza la vela al vento (1984, Five Record)
- Un giorno d'amore/Primo round (1985, Durium)
- Quando verrà Natale/L'isola di Wight (1990, Carosello)