On the the 4th October 2010 Aristodemo Casciani, the celebrated musician and well known personality of Barga Vecchia died in hospital after a fall at his house the previous week.
Aristo who had only recently celebrated his 86th year on the planet left a gaping hole in the fabric of Barga society with his passing. As was said at the time “Aristo was the rock on which Barga Vecchia depended upon”
On the day of his funeral the mood of Barga was probably best summed up by one of the death notices posted up in the city which quite simply had one word thanking Aristo, and signed the ex Mayor of Barga Prof. Umberto Sereni.
Aristo had appeared many, many times on barganews – in fact he has his own category here on the site, his own comic strip DA ARISTO here and even a group playing Italian swing from the 30’s, 40′s and 50′s named in his honour – The Aristodemo’s can be seen and heard here .
Aristo actually retired in 2002, passing on his famous bar to be run by his son in law – Marino but for many years he could still be found inside playing his battered keyboards and thumping out his own particular style of syncopated Italian jazz floating out of the bar and into the piazza.
His bar was without a doubt the unofficial cultural centre of Barga but occasionally just occasionally he did play away from his home base.
There were people in the Barga Jazz Club at the time who were present on the memorial evening when Aristo played his last jazz concert but now with the use of the barganews archives it is possible to bring his music to a far wider audience.
The event was recorded on the 21st April 2003 using some pretty rudimentary sound recording equipment and so it is in parts distorted and fades in and out BUT scroll down some of the files and listen to Aristo as he leads the other musicians down the road through tango, waltz and then back into foxtrot before doing it all again and all that incredible Aristodemo pace.
Lunedi 21st APRILE 2003 – Avanguardia Ribotta Band – at the Barga Jazz Club
Nicolao Valiensi – Trombone – Rossano Emili – Baritone Sax – Alessandro Rizzardi – Tenor Sax – Jack Rizzardi – Soprano Sax – Aristodemo Casciani – Keyboards – Piero Orsi – Drums – JJ Carde – Drums – Udo Moll – Trumpet – Marco Ariano – Drums
