‘The grass is always greener on the other side’ as the saying goes. Living in London you have access to a range of music and performances on a regular basis, but there always seems to be events and gigs outside of London that you wish you could go and see – whether it’s near or far away. The lure of this greener musical grass was enough to convince me to make a trip down to Rome in December to go and see Gli Originali, an Italian music project regrouping some of the country’s finest hip hop artists with a 20 piece live band directed by Franco Micalizzi.

Micalizzi is renowned throughout Italy, and parts of the world, for his work composing scores for a string of Italian and American b-movies in the 70s. The scores have earned him a reputation as they are amongst the finest examples of orchestral jazz funk from the era. Micalizzi was working at the same time as the great Ennio Morricone, and while Morricone is renowned for his more minimalist, tense and classically inspired scores, Micalizzi’s work was much more upbeat and frenetic, with a big Afro-Caribbean influence. While the movies are rarely known outside of Italy, the scores have become prized possessions for producers, DJs and collectors.

The concept for Gli Originali couldn’t have been simpler – after 20 years Micalizzi put together a live band composed of some of Rome’s finest musicians, called it the Big Bubbling Band and set up to recreate themes and tracks from his most famous scores live on stage. This was in 2004 and after a successful show it was decided to evolve the project into something bigger by uniting the scores of Micalizzi with a new generation of musicians who have been inspired by and also used the scores – Italian hip hop artists. Gli Originali was then born, with some financial help from Red Bull. The Big Bubbling Band would perform Micalizzi scores which were reworked by Italian producers, alongside famed Italian MCs Kaos, Moddi, Turi and Colle der Fomento, the breaking crew of Next One and the Poets of Rhythm and Italy’s finest tablist Tayone. A first show took place in Milan in May 06 and proved to be a huge success, paving the way for a new performance in Rome.

The venue, Teatro Palladium, was fit for the occasion – a revamped theater with the feel of a nightclub but look and layout of a music hall. The band took to the stage at 10.30 but not before I had the time to realize that sponsorship from Red Bull meant more than just logos and names on the flyer – it also meant that you couldn’t drink anything but Red Bull in the venue… which is a bit of a bitch if like me you don’t like the taste of it or don’t fancy being up till 6 in the morning. I guess there’s always a price to pay for the involvement of a company like Red Bull in events like these, but this one seemed a little extreme, especially coupled with Italy’s non-smoking laws. No smoking, no beer… the show had better be good.

After a long ovation for the maestro’s arrival on stage the concert began with renditions of some of Micalizzi’s most famous themes – each new theme was introduced to the audience with a chat between the host and maestro, while edits of movie scenes played on a giant screen during the renditions. After a couple of uptempo pieces, the first reworked theme was introduced with a choreographed number by The Poets of Rhythm and lyrics from Moddi.

A few numbers on and it was time for Tayone, the man I had come to see, to take the place of honour on stage for the rendition of the main theme from the movie ‘Lo Chiamavano Trinita’ (Call Me Trinity), a famous Italian parody of the ‘spaghetti western’ format with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. Tayone started by doing a duet with the bass player before leading the theme with his flute solo, a solo that is as legendary as those of Morricone’s in Italy. And he pulled it off amazingly well, as the various horns sections took it in turn to solo with him before the piece reached its final and ended in rapturous applause.

The night continued on, mixing original themes played only by the band with reworked versions involving the breakers, MCs and Tayone. Whilst the breakers did add an interesting dimension to the show, especially with some nicely choreographed pieces which played on the movies the scores came from, the MCs didn’t do much for me. It was nice to see the reaction they created, especially Colle Der Fomento, a rap duo from Rome who got the warmest reception of the night alongside Tayone. Having people rap over 70s funk scores just wasn’t that interesting, especially compared to what the breakers or Tayone brought to their pieces.

Tayone came back on stage another 3 times during the evening. Once for a drum freestyle which was quite simply breathtaking – as the theme unwound Tayone freestyled with the drummer and percussionist, showing off some seriously amazing skills which put him firmly on par with the likes of D-Styles and Ricci Rucker when it comes to drumming. The end of the freestyle was particularly impressive, as Tay really showed the turntable’s percussive abilities by mimicking and then improvising on the patterns given to him by the drummer and percussionist. Another theme saw him perform a trumpet solo, again in duets with the horns section, but unfortunately the sound wasn’t quite right and his solo was drowned by the sound of the band.

Aside from the sound problems which did affect Tayone and some of the MCs, the night was as interesting as I’d hoped it to be – and well worth the trip. The reworking of classic funk infused film scores is definitely an idea that has a lot of potential, not only musically but also visually. It doesn’t just bring together two generations of musicians, it’s also a live extension of film scores, which are themselves audio-visual pieces of interest. A more in depth added visual element to such a project would be really interesting. The choreography was definitely on point, adding a visual element to the music, but it’s a shame that more interesting things weren’t done with the MCs, especially when you consider how much of a difference the addition of Tayone made to the themes he contributed to.

Having gone primarily to see Tayone, it was great to see how he was integrated into the mix of live instruments, dancers and MCs. With the turntable having center place on the stage amongst the band, it really showed that we’ve gone well past the point of debating whether or not the turntable can be an instrument. It is, and is recognised as such by musicians worldwide, as exemplified by Tay’s interaction with the band and his role leading some of the themes. People just need to get on with working on projects like this, and Tayone is a prime example of someone who’s involved in a myriad of different musical projects, which are linked by his playing the turntable. The tool isn’t important, the music is, and in the case of Gli Originali Tayone most definitely showed that he could make some seriously funky music.

The night was wrapped up by a long encore which brought together all the artists on stage for an impressive finale. And when everyone was gone once more, the host managed to pull them all back as midnight had struck and it was Micalizzi’s birthday, with the entire venue singing him a happy birthday, and showing how revered and respected the man is within the Italian scene.

The only real downside to the event was the Red Bull sponsoring – not only was there a restriction on what you could drink in the venue, but the after-party boasted beers and alcohol for 10 Euros a pop, something you only really expect to see at over commercialised events. I guess it’s a small price to pay to have them help make projects like these a reality, but there’s only so much snide marketing and corporate bullshit you can take before the audience this kind of event attracts gets turned off by such tactics.

For more information on Gli Originali visit redbullhomegroove.it and the myspace page. Look out for a new solo project from Tayone in 2007, as well as the first album from the Bungalow Zen project and the first I Fluxer album, which is out now. Check his myspace page for full details.

Massive thanks go out to crs at t-turn for the hook up, and to Tayone, Hentsix, Paura and the rest of the crew.