Petru Guelfucci - Corsica (1991)

«Born in Sermanu in 1955, Petru Guelfucci was always impassioned since tender childhood by the Corsican song. Already adolescent, he joined a folk group called “A manella”. In 1973, he met the talented Ghjuvan Paulu Poletti, one of the principal actors of the cultural movement of the Seventies in Corsica. Shortly after that they formed a band of young people. This band, with, inter alia, Ghjuvan Paulu Poletti and Petru Guelfucci will lead to the foundation of the well known (even today) Corsican group: Canta U Populu Corsu. Crucible of the most known artists to date, this group will revive the nationalist flame within a whole generation. After 15 years of success, Canta U Populu Corsu disappears. Canta was the group of the FLNC and one found all the sensitivities of the nationalist movement there. After its dissolution, Petru Guelfucci continues a solo career, recording albums such as Isula, Memoria and Corsica (The album’s theme song, Corsica, was a great success, as well as another song, Catalinetta). Petru devotes his time also to his other group of polyphonies, Voce di Corsica.» (Last.fm)

«The absence of a percussive anchor to Petru Guelfucci’s pop version of traditional Corsican vocal music launches his operatic, thrown vocal style into the romantic ether without a tether. But aside from a single song, the famous Corsican polyphony is intermittent and used primarily as a dramatic device for thickening Guelfucci’s beautiful solo voice. Still, this is pop mastery at its best, with nods to flamenco, Mideastern genres, and other styles. While the pop vocabulary shifts from song to song, Guelfucci’s vocals stay the same, as if he’s pining for a genre that does him justice. For a hint of what might have been, check out the full-blown Corsican polyphony on the traditional-based I detti di u ventu.» (AMG)

Official site: http://www.petruguelfucci.com/

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