If it were a film, it would be a choral comedy in the Sardinian language, with scenes shot between sheepfolds, fiery stages and festive squares. If it were a wine, it would be a robust Cannonau, with an aftertaste of earth and freedom.
Instead it is a band: it is called Istentales and for thirty years it has been singing about the Sardinia of the countryside and its contradictions, of its deep roots and its stage lights.
Born in 1995 with hands dirty with earth and a head full of sounds, Istentales are a musical group, a thirty-year long story that speaks of Sardinia, identity and rock beats. Their name, taken from a star in the Orion constellation that guided shepherds at sunset, says it all: to be a point of reference, to stay lit while the world changes.
"The emotion is always the same as thirty years ago , because the 30 years spent calmly having fun, treading the squares, the stages of all Sardinia are gratifying and then the people who listened to you 30 years ago are still there now", says Gigi Sanna with conviction, "the public has changed in the sense that there is a generational change, but if you know how to set the songs, if you make them understand them calmly, even if everything goes faster than usual, they still manage to appreciate them and sing them along with you. The Istentales have made many changes in 30 years, we have brought other session musicians, other people who have collaborated with us, but the beautiful thing is this, that despite everything, the essence, the strength, the determination and the pride has always remained the same, so culture, tradition and language are never lacking".
And today that star still shines, the “Badde boys” from Nuoro celebrate their thirtieth anniversary with style. A live album (“30 years always with you”), a book that is also the group’s autobiography and a tour that will once again set the squares ablaze with all the energy accumulated in decades of music, meetings and social battles.
In the new album – an anthology of what they have become over the years – there are exceptional guests : Elio e le Storie Tese who sings “A muso duro” by Bertoli and even translates “Shpalman” into Sardinian thanks to the Tenores di Neoneli, with the magic of Matteo Muscas’ launeddas intertwining the sounds. It is a sonic orgy that mixes tradition, experimentation and self-irony, the group’s trademark.
