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Band Bio & Profile

Who we were, who we are

Banaau was formed in 1990 by guitar player Andrea Massimo and keyboard player Lino Cicala. Starting as a duo, the formation was soon broadened to include Drums, Bass, Voice and Flute.
The idea behind Banaau music was to create musical landscapes inspired by famous texts taken from poetry and literature. The very first Banaau “song” was The Hollow Men. It was written on the very well known poem The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot and was a monumental song in its own, lasting about twenty-five minutes. Concepts expressed in the poem were meticulously translated into ever changing melodies, harmonies and rhythms. The result of this work was something pretty close to what is commonly called symphonic prog, although Banaau never liked such a strong connotation. While it is true that some Genesis-style nuances can be found in Banaau music even now, Banaau are actually open to whatever musical solution might be appropriate for the text used.

After this song, Banaau confirmed their love for Eliot’s poetry by putting into music another of his famous texts: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. This one was even a longer composition, lasting about forty minutes. The song was titled Love Song. Next, a shorter text was chosen; the third song composed was inspired by The Conqueror Worm by E.A. Poe and was titled The Worm. Despite being shorter (it was about ten minutes) it delivered more complex harmonies and continuously-changing rhythmic situations to underline the “drama” of the text. This last song was also a first prize winner.
In the following years the band devoted itself to touring its musical project around and gigs were met with enthusiasm. The Worm was recorded and was released as a single but was not distributed. After the recording of The Worm the band begun experiencing problems. Composing and arranging such songs was indeed a major task requiring a considerable amount of time and devotion to the project. For this reason, the drummer (who were at that time involved with other bands) decided to leave in 1992, shortly followed by the bass player.

Guitar and keyboard players reverted to the original duo, looking for substitutes but to no success. After some attempts to continue with such a limited formation, the project was set aside as each one dedicated himself to other musical projects with other artists. In 2011 guitar player Andrea and keyboard player Lino met each other again after losing contact for about twenty years. Andrea had been working on new songs in the previous years as he was attempting to revive its original idea, albeit, at this time, as a “solo” project. It was fortunate he met Lino again and Lino was more than enthusiast to restart everything from scratch. They begun working again together on these new songs and the result of this was the release in 2015 of the album The Burial.

In 2016 Banaau begin to work on a new project that gets submitted to Black Widow Records. The project is met with great interest and in May 2018 Banaau sign for Black Widow Records. In June 2018 a new album is released and the name of the band is changed to Hollowscene. The new album is titled after the name of the band and makes its debut at the Prog On Festival in Milan.

The Line-up

The core of Banaau is formed by Andrea Massimo (guitar) and Lino Cicala (piano & keyboards) who compose most of Banaau's music and arrangements. In 2022 Banaau have estabilished a more definitive line-up that will be active in all future projects. Banaau are therefore formed by:


Banaau also hosts additional musicians for their gigs and recordings, so as to expand their musical landscape even further. Special thanks go to our very special guests:

Gallery (now and then)

Over time, several musicians have taken part in our project. Some have remained, others have left. But all of them remain in our hearts. The gallery below is a tribute to each and every one that walked, even if only for a little, by us:

Odds and Ends

Banaau... whats' that?

Banaau is a Hindi word meaning "to do". This is to enforce the concept that art is something that must be pursued everyday in a very concrete way.

More on "The Burial"

The Album is inspired by part One of the Waste Land by T.S. Eliot and contains five tracks: Prologue, Summer Surprised Us, What Are The Roots, Madame Sosostris, Unreal City.

The "Line Up"

The current Line Up comprises vocals, guitar, keyboard, flute, bass (and bass pedal), drums.

Facebook

Do not miss our latest news on Facebook. Leave you comments! Your opinion and advice are always welcome! ...And "like" our page if you please!

Feel free to contact us at staff@banaau.com for any question about our music and our band.

A final word...

We would like to thank the people that support us and work "behind the scenes". There is a lot going on around this project; writing music and getting the band together is only ONE of the many things to do (well... actually two things). All of this is possible because many talented people donate their precious time and energy. Each of them is really precious to us!