I Nomadi (the Nomads)

The only Italian beat group that has continued the activity with the same approach and with at least one member of the original line up to nowadays, I Nomadi (the nomads) have had furthermore a constant follow up by their fans, obviously with periods of success and others less, but always capable to fill of people ("il popolo dei Nomadi") their concerts. Characterized since the beginning by their front-man, the long-hair and big bearded Augusto Daolio, with his very peculiar voice, the Nomadi has started to publish their first disc, Donna la prima donna (woman the first woman, a cover from "Donna the Prima Donna" of Dion Di Mucci & The Belmonts, 1965), but since the second one they embraced a different way, more oriented towards the protest song. As their first success "Come potete giudicare" (how can you judge us, 1966) another cover, with different lyrics, by "The Revolution Kind" of Sonny Bono. Other songs had been written for the group by Francesco Guccini, one of the most known Italian chansonnier, from Modena (Emilia) as some of the Nomadi.

In particular, Guccini gave to them "Noi non ci saremo" (we won't be here) a song about the nuclear war, "Un figlio dei fiori non pensa al domani" (a hippie does not plan his future, 1967) a cover with different words by Death of a Clown of The Kinks, and above all their major hit of their first period, a protest song (original) even banned by the Italian radio and TV, Dio è morto (God is dead, 1967) about the contradictions of that period (or maybe also of the present one) that has became a classic in Italy.

After this period, declining the appeal of the beat movement, I Nomadi have diverted their production towards more popular songs, starting with a cover of Nights In White Satin by the Moody Blues, became in Italian Ho difeso il mio amore (I have defended my love, 1968, with different words and meaning) and, in the following decade, their biggest success Io vagabondo (I vagabond) one of the few songs that more or less all the Italians sing when they want to sing together. Pop songs, very melodic, but peculiar and easy to distinguish thanks to the penetrating voice of Augusto Daolio.

A period that has ended almost in the middle of the decade, when I Nomadi decided to return to the inspiration of their sixties, starting with an LP of covers of Guccini's songs, and afterwards with others, more up-to date, protest songs. At the end of the seventies they started their very long travel together with their fans, a travel made of hundreds of concerts and many LPs and CDs and many fan clubs all around Italy.

During these forty years (and more) some of the original members has left the group, and unfortunately also Augusto Daolio died on 1992 because of a fatal illness, but the original keyboardist, Beppe Carletti, remained as the focal point of the "nomads" up to now, the group has published their last CD (Orchestra, 2007) after other 14 CDs startig from the 2000 year, and they are continuing their activity as ever.

See more information about I Nomadi and the music in the sixties in Italy on Music-Graffiti website.