Sept. 11 – A son of immigrants, he is of Calabria origins and for this reason he is “very determined.” However, he always lived in France: born 35 years ago in Aubervilliers, in Île- de-France, he had made of France his musical home. Yet, he sings in Italian. Migaso – aka Antonio Martino – with his group of “bandits,” composed of Nicolas Borg on bass, Benjamin Corbeil on drums, and Matthieu Lesenechal on keyboard, has become the “mediator” of the Italian language in France. Surely he achieved as much by making tradition and culture his strongpoints, but also thanks to his work. And today he is ready to present his latest album, “Luminescenza,” which combines rock, electro and blues. To be released on September 24, it will be available for digital download and streaming on all platforms. In Italy it will be distributed by Believe Digital Italy. “Recording an album allows you to turn a page in the book of life – says the group’s frontman – this album is influenced by many different sounds: this is why it’s difficult to define, even if the dominant artistic line remains rock. In some arrangements (for example in ‘Luminescenza’), I let myself be influenced by the ‘T Rex.’ For guitar solos, we looked Hendrix, Santana, and Satch, as I’m a big fan of theirs and I like their expressiveness. For the texts, I use a lot of poetic license but I listened to a lot Battisti and de Andrè for example. More recently, Biffy Clyro have been very important for the album, and finally, I have unconsciously looked at AC/DC and Iron Maiden for inspiration.” “Luminescence is a physical phenomenon that occurs in nature, when a material emits light in response to external stimuli – Migaso says about the album – that’s how I can sum up why I wrote the 10 tracks that make up the CD: we were driven by external stimuli, and we felt the need to make music. I wanted it to be an album charged with symbolism, which causes the listener to forget that rock cannot coexist with the Italian language. With the Briganti, we locked ourselves in a tiny basement recording studio: I wanted a special environment, away from the comfort of music production today, where the result is summed up in two or three clicks. The place was perfect, a real underground rock laboratory to vent all my madness.” Concerning the choice of the Italian language, the artist explains: “People kept telling me that I had to sing in English, but I felt within me the need to stay connected to my roots and my culture. We have become ‘mediators’ of some sort for the Italian language, because we haven’t accepted the rules of the game and we affirmed our freedom of expression,” said Migaso. The songs of his latest album – which comes four years after his debut album – are all in Italia : a stylistic choice that is strongly influenced by the origins of the singer and guitarist. In particular, the song “Il Brigante” is a rock adaptation of an old popular song. “The real mission is to basically open minds to ensure that everyone has a chance to be who they are without having to wear a mask in order to survive in a system that perhaps is over. We consider ourselves messengers and our job is to bring people hope and dreams.” The songs reflect a sort of “Calabria blues.” “My father and mother came from a small village in the province of Cosenza, Grisolia. Like many Italian immigrant families, whenever school was out, we would make our way back to southern Italy. In those summer months I learned to speak and write Italian and of course I also learned the Calabria dialect. In Calabria you can eat, drink and sing to the rhythm of the tarantella and popular songs. People have a hand on their hearts and we are all one big family. I grew up in a musical environment captured by songs like ‘Buonanotte Cosenza’ or ‘ Laminare,’ which have only three chords. These sinor chords speak of longing and suffering, a little bit like American Blues.” Migaso comes back often to Italy, “because coffee in Paris – he jokes – is not very good.” But today his commitments are all related to music and the promotion of his new album: “on September 24, our second album comes out digitally, and we’re planning a European tour. I’m writing the scenarios for the next video and new ideas are already coming to mind for a third album.” The young musician is enthusiastic about his music and “his” Paris, but that does not forget Italy nor Calabria, as distant as they are “alive” in his music. He, finally, doesn’t hide his big dream: “I would like to work one day with Zucchero.”
