Despite the fact that he’s localized in a somehow remote area for the Italian and international musical geography (the beautiful Apulia, in far SouthEast Italy), this musician\/producer\/professional ice-cream maker has built a humongous legacy of authentic vibes<\/strong>. No wonder then if he has recently gained some international recognition for his taste in music and beat-making skills, thanks to his last year’s opus E La Chiamano Estate<\/em><\/a>, under the moniker of Marcello Sanzio<\/strong>.<\/p>\n With a specific focus on archive music and digging in the crates<\/a>, Francesco has started his career as a raggamuffin deejay, back in 1998. He has since brought the Apulian rap and raggamuffin upbringing into his own evolution, opening his ears and heart to the power of music.<\/p>\n From musica da biblioteca<\/a> to broken-beat, exploring hip-hop and deep house too, Fisotti genuinely loves the groovy things. But let’s say that GSQ <\/strong>(pronounced “Geez-Coo”, <\/em>to be precise), as old friends call him, is just a larger-than-life personality<\/strong>. Entrepreneur, producer, deejay and self-taught instrumentalist\/musician: it’s a waste of time to put a label on his creative force. Hence, we won’t do it.<\/p>\n An explosion of authentic Italian boogie-funk and disco music, Lido Sirena<\/em> is Francesco’s take on the Balearic sound,<\/strong> as exposed by other recent releases. It’s immediately that we think of the likes of Naples’ own 291out<\/a> and Berlin-based Nu-Genea, until the rising stars from the Aura Safari group, just to give you some coordinates.<\/p>\n With the help of talented musicians and multi-instrumentalists from the Salento region, such as the young guitarist Emiliano Roca<\/strong>, the jazz keyboardist Andrea Rossetti<\/strong>, saxophonist Giovanni Chirico<\/strong>, percussionist Roberto Chiga<\/strong>, singer Miss Mykela<\/strong> on the vocals, Fisotti delivers a bouncy and delicate \u201cAdriatic funk<\/em>\u201d mixture, a sparkling and joyous hymn to life, as the summer in Salento is.<\/p>\n To make things spicier for us today, we have an in-depth interview to learn more about Lido Sirena<\/strong><\/em> and its genesis, inspiration and whatnot. Enjoy, folks.<\/p>\n Ciao Francesco, welcome back to SB. Would you like to start from the beginning of your musical journey and introduce yourself, to our readers?<\/strong> From Ventreianca\u2019s days to Francesco Fisotti, you\u2019ve got a long journey under your belt, across several genres of music. How would you describe it?<\/strong> Over the years, as I kept buying records and making beats, I felt the need to detach myself from the usual sources of soul-funk sampling, and to contextualize that language in my own culture, so almost by chance, I discovered Demetrio Stratos, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Goblin, Francesco Di Giacomo, Perigeo, and I entered the vortex of Italian Prog-Rock.<\/p>\n Crazy samples and lots of unknown bands that had released one album in the 70s and then disbanded, and after 40 years those unknown gems have become a cult for many diggers. From there I went to look for European Prog and Jazz groups. SBB from Poland, Ekseption from Holland, the Germans Amon D\u00fc\u00fcl, Buldo\u017eer from Slovenia, Gentle Giant from the UK, and so on.<\/p>\n Continuing my archaeological research of the perfect loop to flip, I entered the world of Italian 70s soundtracks<\/a>, Library Music<\/a> and ambient electronics. I fell in love with Piero Umiliani, Nora Orlandi, Stefano Torossi, Amedeo Tommasi<\/a>, Sandro Brugnolini and all the great masters of the past.<\/p>\n In the meantime, I also collected 12\u201d deep-house and when Yussef Kamaal’s Black Focus came out I also started studying the UK Broken-Beat scene, and then Bugz in the Attic, Kaidi Tatham, Afronaught, 2000black. Another turning point in my research was Nu Guinea’s \u201cNuova Napoli\u201d. After listening to that record, I was shocked and took back those jazz-funk records that I had put aside a bit (still one of my favourite records is Tropeau Bleu<\/em> by Cortex) and I went on to collect 45s of Italian disco funk. Next step? Synth-pop, Grunge or Country? We’ll see\u2026<\/p>\n![\"Francesco](\"https:\/\/strettoblaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/francesco-fisotti-lido-sirena-front-cover.jpg\")
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\nI was born in 1986 in Otranto, a small seaside town in Puglia. In the late 90s, I fell in love with hip-hop culture and with my peers, between cassette tapes, rap lyrics, breakdance and graffiti we spent our adolescence making a mess. In the meantime, I was also very attached to the local reggae and raggamuffin tradition, and growing up I trained artistically in the dance hall as a raggamuffin singer with the name Ventreianca.<\/p>\n
\nAfter years of sound systems, bands, concerts, dance halls, and recording sessions, I listened to Beat Konducta 1-2<\/em> by Madlib and Donuts<\/em> by J Dilla, and suddenly I decided to stop singing and started making beats. “J Dilla Changed My Life” for real, man…<\/p>\n