Giovanni Lindo Ferretti (born 9 September 1953) is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and author.

Biography

Giovanni Lindo Ferretti was born in Cerreto Alpi (Collagna

Collagna

Collagna is a comune in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 90 km west of Bologna and about 50 km southwest of Reggio Emilia...

), in the province of Reggio Emilia

Province of Reggio Emilia

The Province of Reggio Emilia is one of the eight provinces of the Italian Region of Emilia-Romagna. The capital city, which is the most densely populated comune in the Province, is Reggio Emilia....

, in the western part of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna

Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....

. After completing his studies and working as a psychiatric nurse for five years, Lindo Ferretti traveled around Europe.

CCCP

In East Berlin he met Massimo Zamboni, with whom, in 1982, he founded the band CCCP Fedeli alla linea

CCCP Fedeli alla linea

CCCP Fedeli alla Linea were an Italian band formed in 1982 in Berlin by vocalist Giovanni Lindo Ferretti and guitarist Massimo Zamboni. The band's style was self-defined by the members themselves as “Musica Melodica Emiliana—Punk Filosovietico” Their name, CCCP, stems from the cyrillic script for...

 ("CCCP Loyal to the Line"). CCCP soon became a benchmark of the so-called "alternative music" in Italy. The band dissolved in 1990.

CSI

In 1992, again with Massimo Zamboni and with an original core member of the Italian band Litfiba

Litfiba

Litfiba is an Italian hard rock band formed in Florence in early 1980.Litfiba originated from the meeting of 5 punk, New Wave and simply rock music fans with then no musical background....

, Gianni Maroccolo, he founded a new band called Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti

Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti

Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti, also C.S.I. is an Italian band evolved from former punk/art band CCCP Fedeli alla linea....

 (Consortium of Independent Players), also known as CSI. This band continued until 2000, when Zamboni departed. The bands’ names followed the naming of the political entities of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and its dissolution in the late 20th century. "CCCP" is the Cyrillic lettering for SSSR (i.e. USSR), and "CSI" mimics the Italian acronym for the Commonwealth of Independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

.

PGR

From 2002, he led the band PGR

Per Grazia Ricevuta

Per Grazia Ricevuta, often abbreviated as PGR, is an Italian band led by Giovanni Lindo Ferretti.The band grew out of the ashes of his previous project Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti, which disbanded following the departure of long-time collaborator Massimo Zamboni. Their name Per Grazia Ricevuta...

, an abbreviation of Per Grazia Ricevuta ("For a Received Grace"). This is a stock phrase usually attached to mementos acknowledging miraculous divine gifts. The new band name, in fact, marked his own rediscovery of his Catholic roots.

PGR's lineup changed with the release of the album D’anime e d’animali (2004), and in the fashion of previous incarnations the name was altered. In this case, however, the band's acronym was only slightly changed into PG³R (Però Gianni Giorgio Giovanni Resistono, meaning "Yet Gianni Giorgio and Giovanni Resist"). PGR toured again in 2006, with the tour entitled 'Ripasso / Ribassi - Saldi, fino ad esaurimento scorte’ (Revision / Discounts - Sales while Stock Lasts). With the release of the album Ultime notizie di cronaca in 2009, the band announced its dissolution.

Solo work and collaborations with other artists

In 2000 Lindo Ferretti published the book In Mongolia in retromarcia ("In Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

, in reverse"), co-authored with Massimo Zamboni, about their journey there. This trip also influenced CSI's third album, Tabula Rasa Elettrificata. Also in 2000 he released a solo album, Co.Dex.

In 2003, together with director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Lindo Ferretti wrote the texts and lyrics for the theatrical work Iniziali: BCGLF. The music was composed by fellow PGR member Gianni Maroccolo. A CD of the same name was released in 2004. Also in 2004 he released the album Litania ("Litany"), co-authored with Ambrogio Sparagna, which contains both folk prayers and pieces from the repertoire of CCCP and CSI.

He toured Italy again in 2005 with the theatrical shows Falce e Martello. Falciati e martellati. Requiem per una civiltà ("Hammer and Sickle. Hammered and Sickled. Requiem for a Civilisation"), with Ambrogio Sparagna, and Pascolare parole, allevare pensieri ("Pasturing of Words, Breeding of Thoughts"), with Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Raffaele Pinelli and Ezio Bonicelli.

Politics and recent activities

Radical left political thought marked much of Lindo Ferretti's musical and artistic output, and he had been involved with the extra-parliamentary radical group Lotta Continua

Lotta Continua

Lotta Continua was a far left extra-parliamentary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factories such as Fiat...

. He subsequently revised his political thinking, however, and in the 2006 elections he voted for the right-center coalition.

In 2006, he published his first autobiographical book, Reduce ("Returned/Survivor"), in which he describes his new poetics and views on life through childhood memories, poems and invectives against the contemporary world. He accompanied the release of the book with a new show of the same name, featuring the same artists he had previously worked with on Pascolare parole, allevare pensieri.

Concerning his conversion to Roman Catholicism, he has said, "I was raised by my grandmother and parents as a Catholic. But I was also a child of the 1960s and I voluntarily adhered to communism

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

, that pestilence of the soul that stole the best children from our families. In a certain sense I have returned home. But I cannot bear the idea of being an anti-communist with the same stupidity and spite as when I was an atheist and blasphemer. I want a bit more dignity than that."

His association with the Catholic organisation Communion and Liberation

Communion and Liberation

Communion and Liberation, or CL, is a lay ecclesial movement within the Catholic Church.-Overview:CL grew out of the educational and catechetical methods of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, who founded the movement...

, led to his participation in their 2007 festival

Meeting for friendship among peoples

The Meeting for friendship among peoples is a multi-event festival held every year in Rimini, Italy in a week at the end of August.The first edition took place in 1980.- Description :...

 in Rimini, where he spoke at a meeting about the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St.Charles Borromeo

Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St.Charles Borromeo

The Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo was founded in Rome in 1985 by Fr. Massimo Camisasca and obtained pontifical recognition in 1999. It started with a group of seven priests and ten seminarians but now holds about one hundred priests...

.

Since Sunday, september 4, 2011, he will be the author of a column on Avvenire

Avvenire

Avvenire is an Italian daily newspaper affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic magazines: L'Avvenire d'Italia of Bologna and l'Italia of Milan.-History:...

, an important italian catholic newspaper published by the Italian Episcopal Conference.

Lindo Ferretti currently lives in his native village, where he is a horse breeder.

Discography

For recordings made with CCCP Fedeli alla linea, please see CCCP Fedeli alla linea Discography.

For recordings made with Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti, please see Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti Discography.

For recordings made with Per Grazia Ricevuta, please see Per Grazia Ricevuta Discography.

Solo and collaborations

• Co.Dex; 2000
• Iniziali: BCGLF (Initials: BCGLF); Universal Music Italia, 2004, with Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
• Litania (Litany); 2004, with Ambrogio Sparagna

Books

• Fedeli alla linea. Dai CCCP ai CSI (Loyal to the Line. From CCCP to CSI), Giunti 1997, ISBN 880903919X
• Il libretto rozzo dei CCCP e CSI (A Rough Booklet on CCCP and CSI), Giunti 1998, ISBN 8809213726
• In Mongolia in retromarcia (In Mongolia, in Reverse); Giunti 2000, ISBN 8809016394, with Massimo Zamboni. Out of Print
• Reduce (Returned/Survivor), Mondadori 2006, ISBN 8804560584
• Bella gente d'Appennino (Fine People of the Apennines), Mondadori 2009, ISBN 9788804582649

Filmography

• Anime fiammeggianti (Flaming Souls), 1994
• Tutti giù per terra (All Down to the Ground), 1997
• Intimisto; 2001
• Paz!; 2002
• Perduto amor (Lost Love); 2003
• Il vento, di sera (The wind, in the evening); 2004
• Craj – Domani; 2004