Roy Paci & Aretuska
Roy Paci was born and raised in Augusta (Sicily) in 1969, since then he has been tearing up European and Latin American concert stages in solo and with his band "Aretuska" for the better part of the past decades. His hybrid yet personal sound marries its Mediterranean roots to Latin idoms such as Samba and Cumbia, as well as Ska, Reggae, R & B and Jazz.
Trumpet player, composer, arranger, singer and producer, he begins to play the piano at a very young age to land on the trumpet when he was nine years old and joins the marching band of his village. At the age of 13 he is already the first trumpet and joins the Sicilian big bands of Gianni Cavallaro and the "New Royal Big Band" of traditional Jazz, performing in the most renowned Jazz clubs and in several Italian Jazz Festivals. He also is part of "As Sikilli", Stefano Maltese's new jazz project and recorded three albums with him.
In 1990 he embarked on several trips to South America, the Canaries and Senegal, continuing to develop his musical influences. He joined the Big Band of "State of Argentina" and takes part in an ensemble of Cumbia. He performs alongside Selma Reis, learning about Brazilian popular music and forming "T-Rio Blanco", playing with Jorge Accaraz and Angel Varela, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Back in Italy, he continues his exploration - sometimes pioneering - of music, venturing into an endless series of collaborations and tours throughout Europe and overseas and discovers the SKA. In 1994 he gives life to the "Qbeta", he binds to the most famous "Mau Mau" and creates the duo "Hajjaj", of improvisation only, with which he plays live silent movies and B-movie.
In 1999 starts one of the most important and inspiring collaboration of his career with Manu Chao, who wants him at his side for his very successful "Proxima Estacion Esperanza" and the triumphant world tour “Radio Bemba”.
Meanwhile he created one of the most solar and explosive projects of the Italian music scene: from the ancient name of Syracuse (Aretusa) the Aretuska were born, a band with an instrumental repertoire composed of covers of historical groups of the ska and rocksteady scene (Toots & The Maytals, Skatalites) alongside the most popular jazz standards. The group received support and in May 2000 entered the studio to record the first album, "Baciamo Le Mani" (ViceVersa / ExtraLabel - 2001), a powerful fusion of rocksteady, ska, soul, funk and Mediterranean melodies, enhanced by the voices of artists like Bunna from Africa Unite, Meg and Dani from Macaco. At the same time, the live repertoire is enriched with new sounds that springs from the need to revitalize the Sicilian music tradition.
After countless concerts throughout the island, the time has come to export Sicilian rocksteady beyond regional boundaries: the Aretuska make themselves known nationally and internationally playing in major European festivals. Several participations in prime time Italian television programs follow, such as "Stasera pago io" with Fiorello (Rai 1).
In 2003 it is Etnagigante, a record label that Roy has founded in the meantime, to produce the second album "Tuttapposto" (Etnagigante / V2), which ranges between calypso, rocksteady, swing and Caribbean rhythms, new songs and rearrangements of Sicilian traditional classics . Another record, another long tour in the main European countries. "Cantu Siciliano” first and "Yettaboom" then make themselves appreciated as singles. In the same year a cover was also released, "Besame mucho", for Leonardo Pieraccioni's movie "Il paradiso all'improvviso".
At the end of March 2005, "Parola D'Onore" was released, the third part of the group's Trinacria musical idea. An album "superreggaestereomambo" that shows ever more clearly the influences taken all around the globe: among others, they bring sounds and words, Diego Cugia and Frank Dellé of the Germans Seeed. The release is greeted with enthusiasm by critics and the public, which crowds the numerous live dates in clubs, squares and festivals. It is worth remembering the first appearance of Roy Paci & Aretuska in England, at the Womad Reading Festival.
The group also participates as a guest in the broadcast "Quelli che ... il calcio" and, in December, in Tilburg in the Netherlands, wins the first edition of the European Sound Clash.
2006 starts in the best way, Roy Paci & Aretuska enter as official band in the cast of the broadcast "Zelig", broadcast on Canale 5, of which Roy Paci is also musical director. The song "Viva La Vida", single from the last album, becomes the theme of the program. The Aretuska perform in Italy and abroad: the big success at the Territorios Sevilla in Spain, at the Sziget Festival in Hungary and at the Fiesta Mundial in Belgium.
Then, in June 2007, after three albums, Roy Paci & Aretuska completed "SuoNoGlobal”, a record in which Roy collects what he had sown over the years as a trumpet player, composer and arranger. "SuoNoGlobal" is gold disc and boasts five duets (the enthralling "Toda Joia Toda Beleza" with Manu Chao, "È Meglio La Vecchiaia" with Erriquez of Bandabardò, "Giramundo" with Pau dei Negrita, "Tango Mambo Jambo" with i CorVeleno, "Siente Ammè" with Raiz) and even a song in trio, "Mezzogiorno di Fuoco", which sees the participation of beloved artists: Caparezza and Sud Sound System. The album professes its mission from the title: to blend different sounds, idioms, worlds and musicalities. The sound has no nation or religion, it is NO Global.
The band also performs at the Blue Frog Festival in Mumbai. Immediately after the end of the tour, Roy Paci & Aretuska celebrate their first ten years of activity with the release of the "BESTiario Siciliano", a collection of the greatest hits of the group plus three unpublished works. The box also contains a DVD with all the videos, the backstage of the world tour and some live tracks.
At the beginning of 2009, Roy and his Aretuska moved to Brazil for a long stay aimed at laying the foundations for a new record that ended with a live on the island of Morro de São Paulo. The growing affection of the public is asking the band to carry on the live activity: from May to September Roy Paci & Aretuska continue to overheat the squares with a tour (the Global Warming Tour) of over 50 dates between Italy and abroad. In the autumn the band arrives in the USA for a mini tour in New York and New Jersey. On the return journey, the time has finally come to close in the recording studio and finish the work on the upcoming album, of which Roy Paci also takes care of the artistic production. The highly anticipated new album is titled "LATINIST" and comes out on May 4th 2010, anticipated by the single "Bonjour Bahia", from April 16th in Italian radio stations. A release that will once again be able to transport the public into the phantasmagorical world of Roy Paci & Aretuska and that will prepare the ground for a live experience among the most engaging of the national and international music scene.
The following years are marked by intense live activity and the release of two singles: "Until the end of the world" (Etnagigante - 2012) with the participation of Clementino, a countdown until December 21st, the date that according to the prophecy of the Maya would mark the end of the world, an ironic way of exorcising this gloomy prediction; "Italians Do It Better" (Etnagigante - 2014) with the participation of Saturnino and Dr. Ring Ding, a reflection on the period of crisis that the country is facing and on the positive aspects of Italy that, despite everything, should never be forgotten. Roy Paci and the Aretuska continue to bring to the stage, in addition to the most recent pieces, the revisited historical repertoire. The sound is renewed and enhanced thanks to the introduction of electronics, to consolidate the power always expressed during the lives. Very few Italian groups can boast such complex and capillary tours and performances that they receive, not only in the aficionados, always great enthusiasms.
He has made soundtracks for cinema, TV and theater receiving various awards including the prestigious Silver Ribbon and a David di Donatello nomination.
With his band Aretuska, he has set European and Latin American stages on fire creating a hybrid but personal sound that marries his Mediterranean roots with Latin rhythms like samba and cumbia, as well as ska, reggae, R & B and Jazz.
His active projects are Roy Paci & Aretuska, Banda Ionica (which realized and released the first ever made funeral marches record), Corleone and Orchestra del Fuoco.
Among the latest releases, it is January 17, 2017 "Fight for Freedom: Tribute to Muhammad Ali" (Etnagigante) in collaboration with Remo Anzovino: the album is the original soundtrack of the film "From Clay to Ali, the metamorphosis" (Sky , 3D and the Republic), by Emanuela Audisio published on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the birth of Muhammad Ali. At the end of September of the same year, preceded by two singles, "Tira" (with text written by Daniele Silvestri) and "Revolution", "Valelapena" (Etnagigante / Artist First) came to life in the sixth album by Roy Paci & Aretuska.
In February 2018 he participates in the 68th edition of the Sanremo Festival with Diodato with the song "Adesso".In the last season of Greek Tragedies at the Greek Theater of Syracuse he was an actor and author of the music of "I Cavalieri" by Aristofane directed by Giampiero Solari.
On July 20th the last single Roy Paci & Aretuska entitled "Salvagente" (Etnagigante / Artist First), with the participation of Willie Peyote, one of the most brilliant Italian rapper of the moment. A track with a funky groove in which the winds undoubtedly make a master, where the notes do not look at differences in age, gender or ethnicity and give us the opportunity to appreciate with the mood of those who welcome any kind of confrontation.
In February 2019 he duet with Negrita and Enrico Ruggeri at the 69th edition of Sanremo Festival and started working on his first theatre show "Carapace", written in collaboration with the director Pablo Solari, who will see him on stage as an actor as well as a musician, accompanied by the Corleone Ensemble.
At the moment Roy Paci supports various charitable initiatives, such as the campaigns of Amnesty International and Pangea against violence against women, the Emergency project for medical assistance to civilians in war zones and the superband Rezophonic, which supports AMREF in the construction of water wells for the populations of the Kajiado region, in Kenya.
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