I Gufi ("The Owls", also spelled just as Gufi) was an Italian musical and comedy ensemble, mainly successful in the second half of the 1960s.

Career

The group formed in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

between 1963 and 1964, and debuted on stage with the show "I Gufi cantano due secoli di Resistenza" (i.e. "The Owls sing Two Centuries of Resistance"). With a repertoire which mixed comical sketches and songs and characterized by satirical themes and black humor, I Gufi had their breakout in 1966 with the show "Il teatrino dei Gufi" (i.e. "The Little Theater of the Owls"), which extensively toured across Italy. The same year they started appearing in a number of

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

television shows, where their blue material encountered some censorship issues.Enzo Giannelli. "Gufi". Gino Castaldo (ed.). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990. After undergoing a legal complaint for foul language for the song "Sant’Antonio allu desertu" (St. Anthony in the Desert), from which they were acquitted, between 1967 and 1969 the group got further success with the shows "Non so, non ho visto, se c'ero dormivo" (I don't know, I didn't see anything, and if I was there, I was asleep) and "Non spingete, scappiamo anche noi" (Don't push, we are running away too). Following the album ''Il Balilla'', in 1971 the group disbanded because of some personal conflicts among the members. For about a decade, the four Gufi pursued solo projects. Gianni Magni embarked on a successful career as stand-up comedian and film actor. Nanni Svampa recorded a few albums re-interpreting songs by

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; ; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and ...

in the Milanese dialect. Lino Patruno became a full-time jazz guitarist, recording and performing with musicians such as Dan Barrett, Bill Coleman,

Bud Freeman Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet. Biography In 1922, Freeman and some friends from high sc ...

and Frank Tate; Roberto Brivio continued to work in theatre. In 1981 Gufi briefly reunited in 1981 for "I Gufi a colori" (The Owls in Colour), a series of television shows on

Antenna 3 Lombardia Antenna 3, formerly known as "''Antenna 3 Lombardia''" and also known as "Antennatre" is a private TV station. It was founded in Legnano in 1977 by Renzo Villa, a clerk of the municipality of Varese, who became a self made TV publisher. Enzo To ...

Personnel

* Roberto Brivio (Milan, 21 February 1938 - 22 January 2021) – guitar, accordion and vocals * Gianni Magni (Milan, 16 May 1941 – Milan, 16 July 1992) – vocals * Lino Patruno (

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

, 27 October 1935) – guitar, banjo, bass and vocals * Nanni Svampa (Milan, 28 February 1938 – Varese, 26 August 2017) - guitar, piano and vocals

Discography

;Albums * 1965 – ''Milano canta'' * 1965 – ''Il cabaret dei Gufi'' * 1965 – ''I Gufi cantano due secoli di resistenza'' * 1966 – ''Il teatrino dei Gufi'' * 1966 – ''I Gufi'' * 1966 - ''Milano canta n° 2'' * 1966 – ''Il teatrino dei Gufi n°. 2'' * 1967 – ''Il cabaret dei Gufi n. 2'' * 1967 – ''Il teatrino dei Gufi in TV'' * 1967 – ''Non so non ho visto se c'ero dormivo'' * 1968 – ''Milano canta n°. 3'' * 1968 – ''Il cabaret dei Gufi, vol. 3'' * 1969 – ''Non spingete, scappiamo anche noi'' * 1971 – ''La Balilla'' * 1981 – ''I Gufi''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gufi Italian pop music groups Living people Musical groups established in 1963 Musical groups disestablished in 1971 Italian comedy musical groups Musical groups from Milan Year of birth missing (living people) Italian satirists Italian satirical musicians