Murple -

Murple was an Italian symphonic-rock band that released the 1974 album Io Sono Murple.

Members: Piercarlo Zanco (keyboards, vocals), Mario Garbarino (bass, percussion), Duilio Sorrenti (drums, percussion), Pino Santamaria (guitar, vocals)

Background

Murple formed in 1971 in Rome through the collaboration of bassist Mario Garbarino and drummer Duilio Sorrenti, musical partners from school. They partnered with Pier Carlo Zanco, then a student at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and an avid proponent of the nascent symphonic-rock style. They soon added guitarist Giuseppe “Pino” Santamaria, initially borrowed from a local dancehall group and later absorbed into the lineup permanently.

The band adopted the name Murple in reference to an “invisible naked penguin” — a fictional character created by an American friend of Garbarino and Sorrenti. As the band assembled enough material for an LP, they developed a narrative around the penguin, embedding the story within a continuous musical suite. Murple signed with the German classical label BASF.

Io Sono Murple

Murple released their singular album, Io Sono Murple, in 1974 on BASF.

The album (I Am Murple) consists of two uninterrupted suites that narrate the symbolic journey of a penguin, Murple, as he ventures beyond Antarctica and becomes a captive of human society. The music emphasizes fluid transitions, classical counterpoint, and dramatic tension through alternating soft and forceful passages.

Pier Carlo Zanco commands piano, organ, Eminent, and synthesizers, often layering contrapuntal textures or punctuating climactic transitions. He also adds bowed contrabass and shares lead vocals. Giuseppe “Pino” Santamaria plays electric, acoustic, and 12-string guitars with sharp phrasing and swelling attack; he also shares vocals. Mario Garbarino anchors structural shifts with steady bass lines and accents rhythmic peaks with triangle and bongos. Duilio Sorrenti drives dynamic contrast through congas, timbales, and extended tom-heavy drum patterns.

Side A unfolds as a sequence of six continuous segments. “Antartide” opens with ambient synths and spare guitar phrasing, rising into a rolling rock passage marked by tom breaks and layered organ. “Metamorfosi” and “Pathos” sustain rapid transitions between rhapsodic organ, syncopated guitars, and jagged stop–start structures. “Senza un perché” introduces lead vocals over delicate piano motifs and sparse textures. “Nessuna scelta” builds from choir-backed ambience into rhythmic swells and echoed synths, culminating in “Murple Rock,” an instrumental finale with aggressive fuzz guitar and rapid alternation of meters.

Side B begins with “Preludio e Scherzo,” a solo piano fantasia that alternates arpeggiated flow with chordal flurries. “Tra i fili” returns to sung narration over shifting keys and bass pulses. “Variazioni in 6/8” forms the core instrumental of the suite with flowing keyboard figures and up-tempo interplay. “Fratello” and “Un mondo così” shift between solemn vocal motifs and melodic guitar lines, culminating in the short reprise “Antarplastic,” which closes the suite in soft diminuendo.

Side A (17:37)
— a. “Antartide” [Antarctica]
— b. “Metamorfosi”
— c. “Pathos”
— d. “Senza un Perché” [Without a Reason]
— e. “Nessuna Scelta” [No Choice]
— f. “Murple Rock”

Side B (16:37)
— a. “Preludio E Scherzo”
— b. “Tra i Fili” [Among the Threads]
— c. “Variazioni in 6/8”
— d. “Fratello”
— e. “Un Mondo Così” [A World Like That]
— f. “Antarplastic”

The band recorded the album in 1973. Roberto Marsala produced and supervised the sessions.

Impiglia e Mancini painted the gatefold cover, which depicts a surreal transition from an Antarctic wilderness to a man-made urban-scape. The imagery follows a penguin from a natural habitat toward a circus tent, ferris wheel, and ruined classical columns, suggesting a loss of innocence and forced assimilation. The rear cover shows a distorted green-tinted human–penguin hybrid facing a crowd of penguins under a pale moon. Franco Vitale supplied the inner-gate photography.

Postlude

After Io Sono Murple, the band played on Donna Circo (1975) by Gianfranca Montedoro, formerly of Living Music. Though they had material prepared for a second album, Murple disbanded when BASF ended its pop division. Roberto Puleo replaced bassist Mario Garbarino during the final phase.

Garbarino and drummer Duilio Sorrenti backed Mal before the band’s dissolution. Guitarist Pino Santamaria later played bass in various groups. Keyboardist Pier Carlo Zanco completed his conservatory studies and performed and recorded with Angelo Branduardi. Sorrenti also worked with Branduardi, Claudio Simonetti, Max Gazzè, Gianni Leone, and others. Garbarino left music to study medicine but continued session work, including a collaboration with Jimmy Spitaleri of Metamorfosi.

In 2007, Zanco, Garbarino, and Sorrenti reunited for Quadri di un’esposizione, released in 2008. The expanded lineup with Mauro Arnò (guitar) and Claudia D’Ottavi (vocals) issued Il viaggio in 2014 on CD and LP, blending 1970s-style arrangements with melodic vocal passages.

Discography: