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Everything originated from ballroom dancing, says Casadei

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Born in the hinterland of the Po Valley, this lively and cheerful music became the symbol of Romagna thanks to the band of Raul Casadei.
“Liscio here is like country music for the Americans or samba for the Brazilians: a life style and a very popular music”. And we must rely on the words of Raul Casadei,  the king of this music genre.
 
Raul, an exuberant and lively personality ("I was born under the sign of Leo", he claims proudly), was born into a musical family. His uncle was Secondo Casadei, the founder of the homonymous orchestra and of the popular folk tradition from Romagna.

"My uncle", remembers Raul, "set up the orchestra in the late 1928. Then, the liscio characteristic sound was mainly based on two instruments: the sax and the clarinet, the latter having a joyful and merry sound". So Raul, who was an elementary school teacher (but a real music lover too), started collaborating with Secondo. He wrote songs and sometimes played with him.

When Secondo died in 1971, Raul inherited the orchestra.  "I was his natural heir, thousands of people wrote letters asking me to carry on my uncle's "mission". So I decided to leave teaching to undertake such an extraordinary music adventure!".

Raul Casadei is above all a pioneer (purists define him a “betrayer”). In 1972 he wrote “Ciao Mare” and sang it on the occasion of the following Festivalbar. He achieved outstanding success and the song hit the top of the Italian hit parade: this was the beginning of the so-called “ballroom dancing fever”.

This easy and catchy genre was born in the hinterland, just in the heart of the Lower Po Valley, halfway between Parma and Reggio Emilia, at the beginning of the century. It soon spread all over Italy, thus becoming the symbol of a genuine mass culture. “Everybody likes it" wrote musicologist Remo Melloni, “it works as a motivating force to get informed about notes and music papers, and starts the process of music creation”.

At that time, little orchestras went around the villages and started their shows with a special piece called “invitation" which was aimed at attracting people.
Only later ballroom dancing moved onto the Riviera Romagnola, losing "purity" but becoming very popular among tourists who spent their holidays here.

"Twenty years ago ballroom dancing was danced mainly by a rural public, while today large numbers of young people appreciate it and dance it combining fun with a pinch of transgression. Public dance-halls are better than discos", so Casadei.

Ballroom dancing has also been a sort of “gym” for the inter-class culture. At that time, only rich people could afford to go to dance. Common people did not have such a possibility, especially because their working day was very long and they did not have spare time. Ballroom dancing gave even lower classes the possibility to have fun, thus “democratizing” the culture.

The Casadei Orchestra has played ballroom dancing for over sixty years, performing thousands of concerts all over Italy, cutting over thirty records and writing more than four hundred songs. Raul left the stage in 1980: "I had lived a very hard life for ten years, I was tired and preferred giving way to the young generation. But I still write songs and manage my orchestra".

Moreover, the volcanic musician from Sant'Angelo di Gatteo launched a new music genre: the so-called latin from Romagna. What is it? "It is a cheerful music linked with the beaches of Romagna which was born from the extensive research I made about the origins of ballroom dancing and the different Latin and Mediterranean ethnic traditions: clarinet music mixed with bongos and maracas, thus giving birth to new sounds".

In order to spread this new music genre, Casadei created the so-called Sun Boat, which organizes three mini-cruises on the Adriatic Sea every day offering guests dance, fun and shows based on the most popular soundtracks of Casadei, such as “La Canta,” “Simpatia”, “Amico Sole” and “Romagna Capitale”. What about traditional ballroom dancing? "It is over. My modern ballroom dancing will become the national dancing music".
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