ArtistInfo

Renato Marengo

*1943 IT, Naples
Producer

Journalist, author, writer, director, recording producer. Neapolitan, his father was the first viola in Teatro San Carlo's orchestra. He grew up between Aida's sceneries and orchestra pits. He became necessarily a classical music critic for "Il Loggione" and "Il giornale della Musica", but, dazzled by a meeting with Frank Zappa he was converted to Rock and contemporary music by Cage and Stockausen. From Naples he moved to Venice where he launched "Attuale", a music and images monthly review which Giuseppe Sinopoli, Roberto De Simone, Crepax, Pier Paolo Preti, Dorfles, De Buono, Jodice and other sound, images and comics operators wrote for. In Milan he collaborated with Gianni Sassi with his "Area!, his Cramps, and he met and made an interview for TV to John Cage, Demetrio Stratos, Sciarrino, Bussotti, and Zappa and Battiato, too. Because he couldn't find any space as a music critic, he became critic of "record covers" for Ciao 2001", of whom he will have become general coordinator, and for Popular Photography. Almost by chance he became recording producer of some artists, music of which fascinated him and changed his life: Nuova Compagnia di Canto popolare, Bennato, Roberto De Simone, Infantino etc. On radio he started just talking about this music and let it get heard. Then, among the magazines, radio, TV, records and social commitment he even found the way to change these passions into a job. As a journalist he has been general coordinator for "Ciao 2001", he has collaborated to "TV Sorrisi e Canzoni", "Radiocorriere", "Telepiù", "Tutto", "Popular Photography", "Billboard italiano", "Intrepido", "Monello", "Stereoplay", "Rockstar", "Secolo XIX", "L'Unità", "Paese Sera", "Magazine" and "Telesette". He has directed "Attuale" and "TV Giovani". As an author, presenter and director he has collaborated to other programs, too: on radio: Un certo discorso, Facciata C, Facimmo 'o jazz, Garofano d'ammore, Supersonic, Ribalta aperta, Combinazione suono etc. On TV: Big (Raiuno) Tandem, Sereno variabile, Concerto per Demetrio Stratos, Vediamoci sul 2, Rai 2 per voi (Raidue), Sestante, Dossier,Grand'angolo, TG2 Starter (TG2), Per la NET Crack & Roll, per TMC T'amo TV, Speciale John Cage (Raidue), Una città tutta da ridere (Raitre), Speciali da Sanremo e Speciale Take That per Videomusic, Speciali Mio Capitano (Raidue), Festival del Cabaret di Raitre, Premio Tognazzi (Raitre) etc. He was the creator and promoter, in the 70's, of a music movement called Napule's Power. As a recording producer of several artists from that movement, he realized many works, LPs and CDs by: Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Toni Esposito, Edoardo Bennato, Musicanova, Eugenio Bennato, Teresa De Sio, Roberto Ciotti, Roberto De Simone, Concetta Barra, Patrizia Lopez, Mario Schiano, Antonio Infantino, Opus Avantra, Luciano Cilio and Donella Del Monaco. Recently, even though continuing his own journalist work, left behind definitively recording production, he has come back to radio and TV as an author and presenter of some very successful programs like Song Oe Napule (1998/2000 Radiouno Rai), Strawberry Fields - gli straordinari anni dei Beatles (2000/2001) and Message in @ bottle, una storia del Rock (2001/2002 - Radio1); a sequence of odd TV reportages for the show Mio Capitano with Michael Pergolani (1996) with whom he from that moment "he has gone steady" subscribing together with him these last radio and TV shows and writing books; the book Song 'e Napule for Rai Eri; the special Enzo Gragnaniello, dai Quartieri al Teatro San Carlo (1999) for Rai 3 and the homonymous book for Rai Eri - Guida. Together with Pergolani he produced for BMG the CD compilation Napule's Power and, also with Pergolani, he subscribed the ballet show www.'900.it - da Les Sylphides di Chopin alla tarantella dei 99 Posse (July, 1999) which then will have become a special for Raitre, Saranno Famosi (June, 2000). For Raitre, on January 2001, he also realized the special Caruso per San Giovanni a Teduccio and Concerto Caruso. Being already the responsible for promotion of Casa Editrice Universo, he was the correspondent of Telesette and from October 1999 to July 2000 he was Director of Promotion and Press Office of Teatro Tasso in Sorrento. At the present time he takes care of a column on Radiocorriere TV, for which he is a reporter.

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