Il Balletto di Bronzo -

Il Balletto di Bronzo was an Italian symphonic/psych band that released the 1970 album Sirio 2222, followed by the 1972 classic Ys.

Members: Lino Ajello (guitar, vocals 1969-73), Giancarlo Stinga (drums, 1969-73), Marco Cecioni (guitar, vocals, 1969-70), Michele Cupaiuolo (bass, 1969-70), Vito Manzari (bass, 1971-73), Gianni Leone [aka Leo Nero] (keyboards, vocals)

Background

Il Balletto di Bronzo (The Bronze Ballet) formed in 1969 in Naples, Italy, from an earlier group called Battitori Selvaggi. The original lineup featured singer/guitarist Marco Cecioni, guitarist Lino Ajello, bassist Michele Cupaiuolo, and drummer Giancarlo “Gianchi” Stinga.

They signed to ARC and debuted with the 1969 single “Neve Calda” [Warm Snow] (b/w “Cominciò per Gioco” [It Started as a Game]), a fuzz-toned psych rocker backed with a slower, minor-key ballad. Instrumental versions of both tracks appeared on Espressioni Musicali e Suoni d’Attualità e di Moda – Vol. 2, an RCA library album issued in April 1970. Cecioni departed prior to the band’s first album.

Sirio 2222

Il Balletto di Bronzo released their first album, Sirio 2222, in May 1970 on RCA Italiana.

Sirio marks the group’s initial phase as a psych-leaning hard rock band. Guitarist Lino Ajello dominates the arrangements, while singer Marco Cecioni leads a lineup that disbanded shortly after the album’s release.

The instrumentation centers on distorted guitar riffs, interlaced with blues passages, feedback swells, and bursts of modal improvisation. Strings and harpsichord appear briefly on one track, contrasting with the dominant acid rock textures.

Lyricist Giacomo Simonelli penned all nine tracks with co-compositional input from Michele Della Bruna, Enzo Gioieni, Emilio Iarrusso, and Piero Umiliani on select tracks.

Most tracks blend fuzz-toned psych rock and beat-era rhythmic figures, often shifting between aggressive electric passages and softer vocal-led interludes. “Un Posto,” “Eh Eh Ah Ah,” and “Girotondo” reference late-’60s blues-rock idioms, while “Meditazione” integrates string quartet and harpsichord into a two-part structure. The closing suite, “Missione Sirio 2222,” unfolds in five sections with acoustic preludes, tribal percussion, feedback jamming, and an abrupt group descent, evoking an imagined spacecraft crash.

A1. “Un Posto” [A Place] (3:20) — lyric by Enzo Gioieni, music by Simonelli and Della Bruna
A2. “Eh Eh Ah Ah” (3:57) — guitar-driven blues rock with harmonica and staggered rhythms
A3. “Neve Calda” [Warm Snow] (2:54) — originated as the 1969 A-side debut single
A4. “Ma Ti Aspetterò” [But I Will Wait for You] (3:18) — vocal-led hard rock with sudden electric guitar flourishes
A5. “Meditazione” [Meditation] (3:51) — two-part piece with harpsichord, string quartet, and dynamic contrast

B1. “Girotondo” [Ring Around the Rosie] (3:12) — acid rock structure with tempo breaks and layered vocals
B2. “Incantesimo” [Enchantment] (6:45) — slow-build blues sequence with mid-song psychedelic detour
B3. “Ti Risveglierai Con Me” [You Will Wake Up With Me] (2:39) — brisk minor-key number with organ and electric riff interplay
B4. “Missione Sirio 2222” [Mission Sirio 2222] (9:39) — multi-movement finale depicting a failed space mission; features acoustic intro, tribal drums, group improvisation, and phased descent

Sessions occurred in Rome at RCA Studios with unnamed soundmen.

“Neve Calda” and its b-side “Cominciò Per Gioco” first appeared as a standalone single on ARC (AN 4193) in 1969. Instrumental versions of both were later used on the April 1970 RCA library release Espressioni musicali e suoni d’attualità e di moda – Vol. 2.

Two tracks from the album, “Neve Calda” and “Ti Risveglierai Con Me,” were licensed for use in Mario Bava’s 1970 film Cinque bambole per la luna d’agosto, though only the latter appears audibly during the closing credits.

In November 1970, RCA issued “Sì, Mama Mama” (b/w “Meditazione”) as a standalone single (PM 3549). In 1971, singer Marco Cecioni and bassist Michele Cupaiuolo departed and were replaced by keyboardist–vocalist Gianni Leone (ex-Città Frontale) and bassist Vito Manzari (ex-Quelle Strane Cose Che). The new configuration altered the band’s sonic framework, laying the groundwork for their second album.

Ys

Il Balletto di Bronzo released their second album, Ys, in June 1972 on Polydor.

The album introduced a new lineup featuring keyboardist–vocalist Gianni Leone and bassist Vito Manzari, who joined guitarist Lino Ajello and drummer Giancarlo Stinga. Ys consists of five interlinked movements that follow a narrative arc, with lyrics that evoke themes of psychological descent and metaphysical confrontation.

Leone’s addition shifted the band’s sound from guitar-based acid rock to a densely arranged, keyboard-dominated suite structures with rapid shifts in texture and tone. His arsenal includes organ, piano, Mellotron, Moog synthesizer, spinet, and celesta. Ajello contributes angular guitar bursts beneath the surface, while Manzari and Stinga maintain tight rhythmic counterpoint with abrupt tempo modulations, punctuated by choral interjections and effects-laden interludes.

Polydor initially credited lyrics and music to Nora Mazzocchi; a second pressing added Cristiano Minellono as co-lyricist. Leone composed the music in full, with original lyrics by Daina Dini later revised by Minellono. Label variants differ in font and attribution placement.

The suite opens with the ethereal “Introduzione,” where treated female vocals and sustained organ passages give way to staggered rhythmic shifts, jarring instrumental breaks, and abrupt textural pivots. “Primo Incontro” reprises prior motifs in reduced form, alternating distorted guitar and spinet under Leone’s vocal phrasing.

“Secondo Incontro” contrasts harsh instrumental stabs with fragile Mellotron-led vocals and disorienting a cappella entrances. “Terzo Incontro” adopts a jazz-inflected bassline, layered with flanged organ and non-linear vocal cadences. The closing “Epilogo” erupts with rapid keyboard figures and phased percussion before entering a suspended sequence of halting chord fragments, whispered vocals, and arrhythmic swells. The final section reintroduces earlier themes in a warped, ghostlike setting.

A1. “Introduzione” [Introduction] (11:21) — opens with ambient female vocals and sustained organ drones; builds into overlapping rhythmic sections with organ, fuzz guitar, and group interplay; closes on harpsichord-driven motifs
A2. “Primo Incontro” [First Encounter] (7:16) — alternates jagged guitar phrases with choral bursts and spinet interludes; reprises material from the previous track

B1. “Secondo Incontro” [Second Encounter] (7:39) — features sudden dynamic contrasts between Mellotron-supported vocals and percussive instrumental intrusions
B2. “Terzo Incontro / Epilogo” [Third Encounter / Epilogue] (11:30) — shifts from jazz-rock propulsion to slow-burning atonal sequences with electronic distortion, cyclical piano/bass ostinatos, and layered vocal suspensions

Sessions occurred in Milan at Fonorama Studios with engineers Detto Mariano, Franco Sala, and Gaetano Ria. Michele Muti served as technician; Franco Sala was principal engineer.

Ys appeared in a laminated gatefold sleeve with an attached four-page 12” booklet containing lyrics and surrealist illustrations. First-press Polydor labels list Nora Mazzocchi as sole author in thin-edge font. Second-press labels credit Mazzocchi and Minellono in wider-edge font introduced by Polydor in 1972–73.

Postlude

Members of Il Balletto di Bronzo also played on two 1972 spoken-word albums: Metràpolis by Guido Ballo and Viaggio verso il nord by Roberto Sanesi, both featuring poetic recitations with musical backing. In 1973, the Ys lineup released a final single, “La tua casa comoda” [Your Comfortable Home] (b/w “Donna Vittoria”) on Polydor (2060 053).

Gianni Leone went solo under the name Leo Nero with the 1977 Harvest release Vero, followed by the 1980 album Monitor on CBO Records.

Leone revived Il Balletto di Bronzo in the late 1990s with bassist Romolo Amici and drummer Ugo Vantini of Divae, whose 1995 album featured Leone as a guest. The reformed group toured and released the live album Trys. In 2008, the DVD Live in Rome documented their 2007 performance with bassist Marco Capozi and drummer Adolfo Ramundo. In 2016, Leone contributed to two tracks on Cuma 2016 d.C., a studio project by founding members Lino Ajello and Marco Cecioni under the name Il Balletto di Bronzo di Lino Ajello e Marco Cecioni.

In 2020, the archival The Official Bootleg appeared, recorded live in Rome in 2018 with Leone joined by bassist Ivano Salvatori and drummer Riccardo Spilli. Alessandro Corsi later replaced Salvatori for the 2021 album Il Balletto di Bronzo Plays Beatles, issued as a self-produced trio release. In 2023, Leone, Corsi, and Spilli released the full-length studio album Lemures.

Discography: