Gianni Papa

Jazz · Jazz Fusion · Eclectic

Gianni Papa got into journalism and radio in Palermo in the early 90s, working for Mondello Radio — a station that broadcast from a toilet cubicle inside a larger radio privata, on 108 FM. Mondello Radio was Fabio Beccali's creation. It lasted roughly a year. The two or three people who ever listened still haven't forgotten what it put out: jazz, punk, and whatever else was forward or alternative enough to qualify. It was a free, independent response to the flat melodic pop filling Italy's thousand-odd FM channels. Then the legge Mammì killed the whole anarchic DIY scene and handed Italian TV and radio to Mr. Berlusconi and... Berlusconi. During the same period, Gianni was music editor at Astolfo, the magazine run by Fausto Maria Amato — Ademaro Bisbini's adoptive son — and worked with Madwonko on the comics supplement Alfonso. Astolfo ran a few issues, cost everyone involved enormous amounts of work, sold almost nothing, and left an unforgettable memory in everyone who made it. Again. In the years between, he did some soul-searching. He became a fan of Papa Legba and Papa Francesco. Radiopeng — formerly Radiozorro — starts now, thirty years and much life later. The focus this time: communication, solidarity, ecologism, immigrant culture, and good music for the sake of it. Whatever happens, there will be unforgettable memories. Please join in.