No Strange
No Strange was an Italian rock group influenced by psychedelic music that combined elements of rock and cosmic music.
The group was born in 1980 in Turin with the name of No Strani, on the initiative of Salvatore D'Urso (better known as Ursus) and Alberto Ezzu.
In 1984, the collaboration with the producer and record producer Giulio Tedeschi of Toast Records began. These years also saw the production of the tapes Rainbow (self-produced, 1983) Lysergic Tomahawk (Roller coaster Italy, 1984) and the participation in the 1985 compilation Eighties Colors edited by Claudio Sorge and published by Electric Eye. Also in 1985, their first self-titled album was released[1].
In addition to D'Urso and Ezzu, many other musicians will alternate over time, including Franco "Franz" Presutti, Gilberto Richiero, Loris Canalia and Antonio "Tony" D'Urso[1].
The band has always favored study activity and musical research. Live appearances have been rare. Preferably on special occasions, such as the "Bom Shankar Event" held in La Loggia (Turin) on 20 March 1988, performed with Laura Tommasi on wind instruments and Sandro Becchis on guitar, the recording of which was published in the compilation Oracolo[1].
With the entry into the band of Lucio Molinari, percussionist, and his brother Pino Molinari on keyboards, No strange will also record the album "Flora di Romi" released at the beginning of 1991.
The group ends its regular activity in 1993[1], to reform in the spring of 2008, with the participation of Salvatore "Ursus" D'Urso, Alberto Ezzu, Pino Molinari, Lucio Molinari, Tony D'Urso, Laura Tommasi and Paolo Avataneo. In practice a fusion between the different formations that operated in the eighties to which the backing vocalist Rosalba Guastella was later added.
In November 2011 Cristalli Sognanti was released in double format (digital and analog).
In 2014, Armonia Vivente was released on a double CD and double LP, again for the Area Pirata and Psychout Rec record companies.
In June 2015, the 10-inch 33 rpm Universi e Trasparenze was released, in which the band paid homage to some names and groups that have inspired them over the years: Popol Vuh, The Nice, Le Stelle di Mario Schifano, Terry Riley and La Monte Young. Change in the live line-up with the addition of Matteo Martino to the synthesizer and sampling.
In May 2017, Alberto Ezzu, Salvatore D'Urso "Ursus" and Fabrizio Della Porta published the book "No Strange e Sogni Correlati" for Area Pirata. Artists, musicians and poets of various nationalities and from different eras take part in the volume, to reconnect a common path starting from the 60s, up to the present. The central theme of psychedelia also passes through languages such as comics and graphic composition.
At the end of 2017 the new work on vinyl "Il Sentiero delle Tartarughe" is released, again for the record companies Area Pirata and Psychout Rec., with the new three-piece formation to which the contralto Paola Scatena is added on vocals.
Another LP in 2019, again for the record companies Area Pirata and Psychout Rec., "Mutter der Erde", dedicated to Jutta Nienhaus, with the four-piece formation, Alberto Ezzu, Salvatore D'Urso "Ursus", Matteo Martino and Paola Scatena with some notable collaborations, including the singer of Armenian origin Rita Tekeyan, the singer/performer Simona Colonna, the violinist Stefania Priotti, the bassist Riccardo Salvini and the drummer Gabriele Maggiorotto.
Meanwhile, still in 2019, two more works by Ezzu are released with two of his parallel projects: Alberto Ezzu Lux Vocal Ensemble "L'Uscita delle Anime verso la Luce dl Giorno" in LP for Psychout Rec.; and a new work with the newly formed ensemble AlmaMantra, with Alberto Ezzu on vocals and various instruments, Anna Siccardi soprano and flutes, Stefania Priotti on viella and Paola Scatena contralto and percussion. Repertoire of medieval music revisited in a meditative key for the record company His Sunt Leones.
In 2021 the LP "…e continuarò ad esistere" is released again with the record companies Area Pirata and Psychout Rec. The absence of Matteo Martino, busy with other solo electronic projects, and the increasingly important collaboration of the singer Paola Scatena is noticeable on the album.
In 2022 Alberto Ezzu's solo work "Quaderno delle Poesie Elettroniche Ultraterrene" was printed in double CD containing only electronic music, for Rubber Soul Records Turin.
In 2023 the double CD "Universi, Sovrapposizioni e Risonanze" was printed, which contains four unreleased tracks in addition to the 10" Universi e Trasparenze, the LP Il Sentiero delle Tartarughe and the LP Mutter der Erde, previously released only on vinyl.
In October 2023 Alberto Ezzu, again for Rubber Soul Records Turin, published a CD together with the singer, cellist and flautist Simona Colonna which is entitled "Le Vie Dei Canti" and is Ezzu's first work other than No Strange in which songs appear.
On November 4, 2024 the vinyl "Chiedilo a te stesso" was released with the lineup that includes, in addition to the historic Alberto Ezzu and Salvatore D'Urso "Ursus", Paola Scatena on contralto vocals and Simona Colonna on flute and cello. On the B side of the LP a Renaissance organ recorded in a Piedmontese church.
In May 2025, the record company Onde Italiane (www.ondeitaliane.it) released a 45 rpm from the "No Strani" period (1981). The album contains three songs composed and played by Alberto Ezzu and Salvatore D'Urso: 1) Psycho Dream; 2) Dance Joy; 3) Uomo scimmia.
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