Luigi Grechi

Luigi Grechi nasce musicalmente alla fine degli anni sessanta al Folkstudio di Roma, il mitico locale di Trstevere che fu in quel periodo l’approdo di tutta una generazione musicale d’avanguardia ( Ci capitarono, fra gli altri, Odetta e Bob Dylan ). Del tutto disinteressato alle mode e inguaribilmente attratto dalla musica dal vivo più che dalle sale di registrazione dobbiamo attendere qualche anno per la pubblicazione del suo primo album “ Accusato di libertà “ (PDU 1975 ) E di libertà Grechi dimostrava veramente di intendersene parecchio: lo troviamo infatti in quegli anni a suonare in giro per festival alternativi e radio libere, locali e cantine: si dice, anche, a leggere i Tarocchi ai passanti e a viaggiare su giu per l’Italia, l’Irlanda, gli Stati Uniti. A Milano fa anche il bibliotecario, come già suo padre e suo nonno, ma questo non gli impedisce di continuare a suonare e ad incidere brani corrosivi e spiazzanti come “ Elogio del tabacco “ o “ Il mio cappotto “, splendididi esempi di discografia non allineata che, seppur lontanissimi dalla hit parade cominciano a procurargli stima ed attenzione da parte di un pubblico di nicchia dal palato fine. Verso la fine degli anni ottanta lo troviamo con qualche disco in più all’attivo e con l’attività di bibliotecario ormai alle spalle. E’ di questo periodo “ Il bandito e il campione”, brano portato al successo dal fratello Francesco De Gregori ( Grechi, per chi non lo sapesse, è un “nom de plume”), grazie al quale Luigi Grechi si aggiudica il Premio Tenco nel 1993 come miglior canzone dell’anno. Passato dalla PDU alla Sony continua ad incidere: “Dromomania”,”Azzardo”,” Girardengo e altre storie”,”Cosivalavita” e oggi “ Pastore di Nuvole”, il suo ultimo ispirato lavoro. L’accusa di libertà continua a pendere sul suo capo. Partecipa a festival itineranti con i poeti della beat generation, accompagna alla chitarra Lawrence Ferlinghetti, torna negli Stati Uniti a suonare coi suoi amici Peter Rowan e Tom Russell, si avventura nella Valle della Morte e, con identico impegno e passione, per le autostrade italiane. Quando ha tempo vive in Umbria tra la pianura e le colline.“Luigi the cruel had fallen from the sky, suddenly he was there… the rover, the unpredictable, with the railway as abode and a knapsack as atelier… Luigi the bird wandered on his bike all over the hill district, he was here and there… he wrote with great effort, Luigi, the thoughtless, his gaze painfully lingering on the paper for an hour or more… setting off was a vital joy for his migratory bird’s heart… Luigi got onto his bicycle, waving his hat, he was already far away. Night, stars. Luigi was in China. Luigi was a legend.”Hermann Hesse from "The last summer of Klingsor"Whoever knows Luigi Grechi may think these words have been dedicated to him… whereas when Hermann Hesse wrote The last summer of Klingsor Luigi wasn’t even born, of course. And yet, just like his namesake, he has also become a sort of a legend, as media have only obliquely and sporadically dealt with him, and his name is rather passed on through word of mouth, within a sect of diehard fans of good songwriting. The legend starts with Luigi being very busy playing with his friend Jonathan, and reading the tarot cards to passers-by in Piazza di Spagna, in Rome, back in 1970: the correspondent of “Ciao 2001” magazine passes by and the young Grechi, although anonymously, gets his first front cover. His last too, as even the first prize for the best song of the year at the Tenco Award, for his Il bandito e il campione – The bandit and the Champion – won’t grant him the same honor again. Yet, Luigi doesn’t know anything about it, he’s just shuffling the tarot pack and tonight he’ll be in Trastevere, as usual, at the Folkstudio, he’ll have a drink with his friends, he maybe will play…Years go by, Luigi is now in Milan, he is cataloging books in a library: on TV quiz shows people are asked, twice or three times at least, to answer millionaire questions such as “what’s the name of Franceso De Gregori’s less famous brother?” … all bits of a legend, coming one after the other like stones along the path, like riddles to be solved; he is caricatured, renamed L’uigi (!) and used as the main character of a crime-quiz-story in Settimana Enigmistica, the best known Italian puzzle magazine. Meanwhile, between a book and another, Luigi Grechi releases three albums for PDU (Accusato di libertà, “Charged with freedom”) and his legend curtly becomes part of a short story; Luigi thus hops over to all Italian provinces, getting great and small opportunities, although the ‘80s italian showbiz doesn’t have much to offer to him. Nonetheless, Luigi stubbornly goes on writing and seizes every opportunity to play: he quits his job at the library, he records a new album for CBS and he writes Il bandito e il campione. We are now in the year 1990 and Luigi has just finished his Miramare 89 tour with his friend Francis Kuipers, as a guest of his brother Francesco: we don’t have to wait long before De Gregori also records this lucky song in his CD of the same name, which will be a top hit for months, selling over 450,000 copies. Thanks to this and to an award at Sanremo Songwriters Festival "Tenco" in 1993, Grechi’s name is brought in again and he can thus go back to recording studios and successfully increase his activity: new CDs are released, “Girardengo e altre storie” and “Cosivalavita”, until the most recent ones, “Pastore di Nuvole” and “Campione senza valore”. Luigi Grechi now lives in Umbria and besides his usual concerts he also teams up with the publishing library City Lights Italia that has made him share the stage with poets such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Martin Matz, Ann Waldman, John Giorno, Ed Sanders and many others: this is a new page of adventure that opens up to bring music and words, songs and poetry more together