Il Gran Teatro Amaro

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In the second half of the 1980s, Francois-Régis Cambuzat and Roberta Possamai founded a band called “The Kim Squad”, named after the Kipling novel “Kim”. They were quite successful in the Italian independent scene and released two albums,the title of the second one was “Uccidiamo Kim” (“Let’s Kill Kim”). Music in the style of Nick Cave or Crime & the City Solution. In 1989, they played at a festival in Groningen/NL where they met with resident Robert van der Tol. After a Russian tour with The Thin White Rope, they had to look for a new guitarist and bassist, and they recruited Stephan Lienenkämper (a student at Utrecht conservatory from Münster/GER) on bass and Robert van der Tol on guitar. The band was electric and ahead of a tour of Italy.
In the beginning there were actually two bands : the electric one (5 people), more serious because they were playing the songs of the album; and the acoustic one (3 to 4 people) to play in bars, on the street, at parties, vernissages, funerals, whatever, to make some money. Francois Cambuzat came up with the name for the acoustic set, “Il Gran Teatro Amaro”, he would say in interviews “It’s a theatre and it’s bitter, like life”. Then they suddenly lost their drummer, the next Russian tour was cancelled anyway, No drummer, no tour, no money.
Francois Cambuzat and Roberta Possamai came to live in Groningen for a few months, and the band gradually developped their repertoire. The “electric band” was abandoned, and they had their first “official” gig at University Theatre in Groningen. Instead of playing in noisy bars, they peformed their new repertoire in front of an attentive audience.
They toured Italy four times a year, profiting from The Kim Squad’s reputation, amazing, surreal gigs in the deep Italian South, in Calabrian monasteries and on Sicilian village squares. Permanent touring provided the band with strength and professionalism, and they always played unamplified, under every circumstance, completely acoustic. Francois Cambuzat was the crucial personality of the band in many respects. He would throw glasses or chairs to shut people up, sit at their table and drink their wine, tell stories to help people understand the songs; his power drove the band. Together with Roberta's female charm, it was irresistible.
Here is a video from a 1991 performance at the Anthony Theatre in Amsterdam, "Parco degli Aranci"
Parco degli Aranci

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After a year of playing together they knew they needed a CD, and therefore money, a producer, a studio and a record label. The money was borrowed from family resources, the producer (Frank van der Weij) was found because they liked the soundtrack of the Dutch movie "Abel" (by Alex van Warmerdam) which was recorded in his studio. He liked the band instantly after seeing them live (and he became crucial in shaping their recorded sound). Recordings were done in early 1991, in an new expensive studio of Frank van der Weij’s choice in Den Bosch, shortly after the first real non-stop Italian tour ( this tour, by the way, was the first they set up as a kind of theatrical performance, with old-fashioned shaded lamps, a guirlande with coloured lights, everything operated by foot-switches, spoken-word pieces, solo-pieces etc.). What they still needed was a record label.
"Port Famine"was recorded at Soetelieve, Bois-le-Duc (NL), recorded, produced and mixed by Frank van der Weij for Manufatture Criminali. Distributed by RecRec as RecDec 43
Il Gran Teatre Amaro had their first concerts in Berlin, through contacts there they went to Hamburg and got in touch with Freibank Music Publishing where Frank Lüdtke was working. He fell in love with the band instantly (later with Roberta as well…), and became the band’s manager, pushing the band forward with energy and enthusiasm. Things started to roll. Daniel Waldner of RecRec, the famous Swiss independent record label, became interested after seeing the band live, they were signed and “Port Famine” was released. The album received very favourable reviews across the continent, and serious touring started. People in Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Italy worked for the band.
Francois Cambuzat remained the conceptual head of Il Gran Teatro Amaro. The title Port Famine was his idea (as well as the titles of the next two albums). The famous Russian lyrical poet Sergei Yesenin became the band’s symbol. Yesenin in 1925 allegedly cut his wrist and wrote a farewell poem in his own blood, then the following day hanged himself from the heating pipes on the ceiling of his room in the Hotel Anglettere at the age of 30. Politically, the band felt like being part of the radical left-wing movement (again following Francois Cambuzat’s example).
When Stefan Lienenkämper had to spend more time for his last year at the concervatory and couldn’t tour like before, he was replaced temporarily by Giulio Caruso (who introduced arco playing to IGTA’s music, songs like Lustucru, Derniere Aube, Tout Seul would have been impossible without the bow…), and later by Frank van Berkel, a friend of Frank van der Weij’s from Rotterdam.
To be continued...
Their second album, "Hotel Brennessel", was recorded in May 1993 at Schloß Stolpe,, on an island called Usedom, former East Germany, just a five-minute swim from the Polish border. Recorded again by Frank van der Weij straight onto 2-Track using a couple of good old mikes. No overdubs. RecDec 56.
"Hotel Brennessel", live at the Silo, Groningen/NL, in 1995
Hotel Brennessel

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Another two years later, "Piazza Orphelins", their third album, was released. Recorded and mixed by Frank van der Weij at Studio Leroy and Studio Orkater, Amsterdam, in June 1995. RecDec 69. Francois-Regis Cambuzat and Frank van Berkel left the band.
In 2002, the remaining band members, Roberta Possamai and Robert van der Tol, released Gran Teatro Amaro's last album, "La Vie en Rouge" (with Mischa Kool, Tiedo and Gat). Recorded by Gran Teatro Amaro on location at Grunnegersproak, Groningen. The album was distributed as G3GTA 1 on the Spanish G3G records label. They toured Spain (12 concerts), and that was it: one of the greatest bands ever in the field of unclassifiable music disbanded.
"How nice the music might be, only on the stage everything fell into place, with urgency and strength, driven by our personalities. We always played unamplified, even the vocals, but created a theatrical atmosphere with a decor and props. This allowed us to have an intimacy, a contact with the audience which would be impossible to achieve with amplifiers." (Robert van der Tol)
And what happened to the members after Il Gran Teatro Amaro had ended?
Robert van der Tol lives in Groningen/NL and works as a composer and musician on various projects. He collaborates with the Dogtroep Theatre Company (www.dogtroep.nl).
Frank van Berkel lately has been working as a composer and musician for theatre plays, films and television. He is based in Rotterdam. (www.frankvanberkel.nl)
Francois-Regis Cambuzat has a new band, "L'Enfance Rouge", an avant-rock band (www.enfancerouge.org). Recently they also established a MySpace site (www.myspace.com/enfancerouge).
Stefan Lienenkämper lives as a contemporary composer (also of film music) in Berlin. (www.lienenkaemper.de)
And Roberta Possamai, the wonderful singer, accordionist and also composer of some of the most beautiful Il Gran Teatro Amaro tunes? After a longer stay in Hamburg, she is said to live in Italy today but it is unclear if she has any new musical projects.
Francois-Régis Cambuzat chante Charles Trenet: "Je chante"

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