Italo-disco

Sergio Fausttini will give a lecture-concert on Italian disco music of the 1980s. The session will feature a selection of Italo-disco songs with incursions into the "Sabadell sound" and some other ramifications, until reaching – as Borges used to say – "the apex" of the style, personified in the figure of Sabrina Salerno. 

 While the music plays, and without stopping dancing, we will comment on some peculiarities of the style, such as the lyrics, the authorship, the aesthetics or the video clips. 

 The only non-negotiable premise is that all songs must be danced to. 

Led by Sergio Fausttini.

Sergio Fausttini (a. k. a. Sergi Fäustino) was born in Rimini. His father was a charcoal maker and his mother worked in an oil factory putting PGI Tuscany labels on the oil that came from Jaén. One day, his father invited his best friend over for lunch and, when they finished, the friend said that the pasta mamma had prepared for them was "all right", which was followed by a loud argument that escalated until his father did the only thing he could do: he took the marble urn from Colonnata where the lardo was kept and smashed it on his friend's head. They then hung the body by its feet from the kitchen beam, packed their bags and emigrated to Northern Ireland. In Ireland, Sergio tried to make a living as best he could. He worked as a clerk in a pet shop and sold some mice to Richard Gere, then went on to sell drugs outside schools and later found work as an ambulance driver. It was there that he met Jimmy McShane (a.k.a. Rubi). One day, when Jimmy Sommerville had to have his stomach pumped, Rubi told Sommerville that he was a dancer and Sommerville gave him Maurizio Bassi's contact info. Bassi was looking for a front man for his new project called Baltimora and signed him. Sergio accompanied Rubi back to Italy and became active in Italo-disco circles. Sufficiently removed to be able to look at the scene from a different perspective, he realised that the movement hinged on the concept of mystery, so – recovering his father's profession – he specialised in putting smoke into performances and video clips. He triumphed like crazy and worked with all the greats of the genre, until things went downhill because of house music, which replaced Italo-disco. When it was over, Sergio became interested in dance, but that, as Conan the Barbarian used to say, "is another story".