RIALZU biography

 RIALZU biography

by Gilles Renne (Rialzu) and Alain Lebon (Soleil Zeuhl)

 

It was during the rebirth of the Corsican Independence movement that the only record of RIALZU appeared. RIALZU, a band whose musical adventure plunges me back into the far-away and almost ghostly universe of my youth.

 

RIALZU was created in the early 1970’s at the peak of an incredible musical effervescence : many bands, soon to become legends, were breaking musical taboos and adventuring onto virgin territories by mixing musical styles with incredible creativity and thus laying the new foundations of music yet to be. It was in this atmosphere that, as a teenager, I began teaching myself to play the guitar by trying to decipher the magical notes of my ‘guitar heroes’ from their albums.

I met Christophe Mac Daniel, a young organist from Corsica, at a Jesuit boarding school in Avignon. Together we took our first musical steps by starting up a band (of ever-changing names) with two other boarders : his older brother François on drums and Patrick Bataille on bass. Because of our school-work as well as the long distance from our respective homes, it was only during the summer holidays in Corsica at the Mac Daniels’ that we could play the music that we loved during our rehearsals and the local concerts that we gave.

At the beginning, our repertory consisted of cover versions of bands as different as Pink Floyd, Santana, Chicago…In parallel, our ears became accustomed to more complex music from Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, and especially Magma who later became a major influence on us.

The history of RIALZU really starts during the Easter holidays of 1976 when Christophe came to me with musical compositions for which the lyrics were to be sung in Corsican. With Olivier, my younger brother (now an excellent drummer), the three of us went to work on modeling this music, giving it the feel of lyrical frescos colored by progressive rock, with a wink to Magma - especially in the intro of “U RIGIRU”. I was far from suspecting that what we created would participate in the renewal of the Corsican culture and would later have an historical impact.

 The first concerts that we gave under the name RIALZU (which means REVIVAL in Corsican language), as well as a recording for France Musique (a national French radio), happened during the summer of 1976 in Corsica,  with a new line-up : François gave his drummer seat to my brother and replaced Patrick Bataille on bass. Dumé Gallet (Dominique Gallet, a cousin of the Mac Daniels’) joined the band on the violin and vocals.

 

During the summer of 1977 there was another series of concerts, in which I did not participate being in USA. This absence was made up for by the addition of two singers, Patrizia Poli and Patrizia Gattacecca, who increased the preponderance of voices at the heart of the musical compositions. It was during this period that the well known band CANTA U POPULU CORSU became some sort of cultural godfather for us. Both bands gave a memorable performance at VENACU. Dumé & Christophe will later join CANTA, after RIALZU disbanded, and plunge into the Corsican cultural claiming movement.

 

Then everything accelerates. April 1978, Christophe informs me that in co-production with the studio RICORDU of Ajaccio, we would record an LP in early May. The recording was to be done by the five of us plus Jean-Philippe Gallet (Dominique’s brother) & Françoise Augé (a friend of the Mac Daniels’) both to reinforce the vocals - thus making the band three families of two brothers.

 

We were completely unaware of the difficulties we were to be confronted with. In fact, we had only one day for recording and mixing the album, which is remarkable in itself let alone for the young inexperienced musicians that we were. The tape recorder only had 8 tracks, which was not enough & caused numerous difficulties. The cherry on the cake was that François cut his finger on a tin can and could no longer play certain bass sections.  Without any preparation I had to replace him on those sections and then play the guitar on re-recordings, notably for ‘A MUBBA’ - a composition added at the last minute in order to fill out the B-side that was too short.

It’s over! The night fell at the end of that day but also, not knowing it, it was to be the end of RIALZU’s adventure. It was as if this recording marked the completion of all of those years of apprenticeship, the necessary punctuation between childhood and maturity. Each of us went home, struck by his own destiny.

The sole album of RIALZU, with an enigmatic cover lacking any information, came out one month later (1.000 copies distributed only in Corsica). Plunged into dark melodies, this fusion of Corsican legends and poems, at the height of the Riacquistu era (Movement for the re-appropriation of Corsican culture by the people) left a strong lasting impression by its unprecedented hardy innovation.

Today, listening to this music, I deny nothing. It is the reflection of the merits and imperfections of our youth, of its idealism, naivety, and spontaneity. I’m sure that if we were to try to record it again today, having more experience and greater musical capacities, we would be far from achieving a similar emotional result.

Gilles Renne Bio & Discography

http://jazzalormes.ovh/index.php/artists/gilles-renne/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Renne