GB Music is the historic label of the songwriter and producer Giancarlo Bigazzi, who passed away in 2012, for over fifty years on the Italian and international music scene.
Giancarlo was a versatile producer with many skills: direct, selective in the choice of words to include in the melodies he composed as well as other authors he collaborated with; an incorruptible mentor and talent scout who constantly valorised the talents of young singers, in many cases leading them to success: Massimo Ranieri, Umberto Tozzi, Marco Masini and many others...
Available to listen, with a sensitive ear, a capacity for synthesis and intuition in finding the right words, sometimes biting (such as ‘Vaffanculo’ for Marco Masini's song or ‘Pensa’ in the case of Fabrizio Moro), his ‘guizzi’ and perseverance often gave originality to the songs of artists he launched.
The word Malinconoia (from the song sung by Masini) has even become a neologism in the italian lenguage.
One of Giancarlo's prerogatives was undoubtedly curiosity and reflection on social events, as in the case of ‘Si può dare di più’ sung by the Tozzi-Morandi-Ruggeri trio (and mentioned by Pope John Paul II during an Angelus), which already referred to the phenomenon of immigration in the late 1980s; along the same lines in the early 1990s, he wrote ‘Gli altri siamo noi’, a piece that is more topical than ever.
His love for music made him a ‘master of feeling’ and a poet of sentiment, building around him a true dialogue made up of sensations and desires. Witness those musicians (from Greg Mathieson to Marco Falagiani to name but a few) who worked alongside him and thus experienced his passion and talent.
As a producer, he always exposed himself with innovative courage.
In his ‘crafted intelligence’, a constant peculiarity in the composition phase, it was as if the sound was ‘waiting’ for a word; always with the aid of the ‘trombino’ (this is how Giancarlo had renamed the cassette recorder) as if it were a notepad to fix ‘the breath of an idea’, a means to translate his whistle between the notes of the piano.
The figure of Giancarlo Bigazzi is a guide that spans time.
Today, the path he took is continued by his son Giovanni, record producer and visual content coordinator, with the valuable collaboration of Franco Fasano, his first ‘artistic ally’ in the development of the various projects.
The path is enhanced by the communion of intentions with Gianna Albini Bigazzi (Giancarlo's wife and Giovanni's mother) who, in almost fifty years of Italian song history, has embodied for Giancarlo the role of supporter and trusted confidante, interlocutor of comparison, as well as welcoming port for the numerous artists, most of them still unknown, who have come to Villa Cingallegra in the hills of Florence.
GB Music today employs a staff of collaborators, both experienced and younger, according to the production projects, regarding the technical work in the studio, the images, the communication profile and the use of social networks.
One main mission is to enhance Maestro Bigazzi's repertoire through artistic research, where the performance of his songs and the value of remembrance are not an end in themselves, to give his work a contemporary projection, even in revisiting with modern arrangements the many songs that have left their mark on many generations.
Giancarlo's work understood as a renewable energy over time; an ever fertile ground for the discovery of new talents and ideas for new projects.
Even before it is a job, music is first and foremost a passion, an art form that has the means to give a message or in any case to create involvement in listeners.
GB Music's intention is therefore to grow as a cultural platform, also in the creation of events that start from the musical sphere but in their development interact with poetry, figurative art, videos, so that music can become an interactive vehicle between various forms of expression.
To create notoriety and sell what is produced requires attention to commercial and media criteria, which have definitely changed since the days when, in addition to television, the sale of vinyls and CDs was the first vehicle to spread the product and eventually achieve success.
Over the years, the sales channels have changed, even with the advent of digital platforms, but the means and criteria have not changed in the work ‘in the pipeline’, in forging an artist who inspires us and in shaping the songs.
The work moves with attention to the Research between sounds and words, in enhancing talent without altering the artistic personality.
Passion and perseverance are fundamental elements, where one believes in undertaking a challenge, never easy but certainly fascinating.
When one chooses to start a production, it is essential to breathe in the creative atmosphere and from there manage time without conditioning, moving in absolute freedom.
In any collaboration, the motivation for experimentation is fundamental, the attitude of doing and undoing in order to arrive at the most convincing solution, through the various stages: listening, the structure of the song, with the adjustments to the lyrics or new insights, the choice of sounds for the arrangement, in parallel with the singing and interpretation.
If the artist-song product is convincing, then a project takes shape in all its elements, and once the work phase in the ‘home-made’ studio is complete, at that point we move on to the next stages of mixing and mastering, using ‘satellite’ collaborators.
The song, with the artist giving voice to it, is ready to travel anywhere.
Someone once said that painting or sculpture are art forms that you can only admire:
If you want to and can, you can also buy them, hang them and arrange them in your home, but you cannot make them your own.
The song, on the other hand, becomes the one who listens to it and sings it! It becomes (sometimes in the background, sometimes as a protagonist) a living part of the lives of its users.
Who among us has not linked or does not link, often unconsciously, the most exciting and significant moments or the ‘simple’ everyday life to songs that end up becoming our soundtrack?
Ciro Castaldo