presents
1992 The band starts their musical career by recording two demo-tapes and touring all the most important clubs in Italy for two long years. Soon, they show the italian audience their impact and energy and start building their profile as a unique live rock band.
1994: after two intense years of tours NEGRITA finally release their debut album: “NEGRITA” (Polygram/Mercury) immediately revealing the essence of the band: irresistible guitar riffs, “stainless” rhythm section, powerful bass grooves and incisive vocal lines delivering relevant messages to the audience. The debut album immediately gets a very good feedback from both media and the people, thanks to the smash hit “CAMBIO” - which reaches the top of all charts very fast, and also thanks to a very long and successful tour consolidating Negrita’s kicking live shows.
1995: Negrita release their second project “PARADISI PER ILLUSI”, an intriguing EP (6 tracks) picturing the band’s growth both in music and in lyrics and increasing their sales notably at that time. The following tour touches not Italy only but also some European countries such as Swiss, France (“Printemps De Bourges Festival”), Belgium and Turkey ( “European Rock Festival”).
1997: it’s time for a new album: “XXX” ,composed in Italy, recorded in New Orleans (Daniel Lanois’ Kingsway Studios) and mixed in Los Angeles. For the first time NEGRITA look for and find new musical inspiration outside the italian territory. Choosing New Orleans as the right place for the new album NEGRITA go back to their roots. The search for that authentic blues vein allowed the band to reach a new pureness in melodies, new slower but deeper rhythm patterns and a new kind of emotional impact immediately awarded by the audience: “XXX” gets over 80,000 copies in Italy and furtherly consolidates NEGRITA’s success and profile.
1999/2000: January 28 1999: Negrita release their fourth album “RESET” and take a leap into a bigger scenario: “Mama Maé”, the first single, immediately becomes an “anthem”, a real hymn for the band’s audience; the album goes straight to no.3 of the charts and sells more than 100,000 copies (platinum award) in a few weeks, becoming Negrita’s best seller so far. As usual, a long and successful tour follows, taking the band throughout the territory through more than 60 gigs, at the end of which the band is nominated for the MTV European Music Awards as best Italian act, and also gets 5 nominations for the Italian Music Prize (PIM) in the following categories: best song, best album, revelation of the year, best tour, best video clip...
2001/2002: NEGRITA release their fifth album “RADIO ZOMBIE”, a new challenge for a band in a never ending change and growth. Despite the worrying conditions of the italian music market, this new album reaches the GOLD status (more than 50,000 copies in Italy, top 5 charted), confirming that the band’s position in the market is solid and the audience is faithful and eager for new rock/funk/blues vibrations. The Radio Zombie tour reaches more than 200,000 people, and this encourages the band to enter the studio very soon and to give life to some new tracks.
2003: it’s time for a greatest hit and NEGRITA do it their own way: “EHI! NEGRITA”, the best of their repertoire in 19 tracks, a long journey into the band’s world, enriched by three new tracks. One of these unreleased tracks, “Magnolia” enjoys a terrific radio and video airplay (top 5 charted, top 15 for 29 consecutive weeks) and ensures NEGRITA a wider audience immediatley turning into a new tour, longer than ever, and a new commercial success: “Ehi! Negrita” goes over 70,000 copies and opens the way for the commercial release of a fantastic DVD titled “VIAGGIO STEREO”, 110 mins of pure rock energy, including an entire live show, backstage, pictures and video clips. Again, NEGRITA is nominated for both MTV European Music Awards and Italian music Awards as “best italian act”.
2004: After a month tour in South America the band is working on a new CD.
2005: 28th January: “L’UOMO SOGNA DI VOLARE” is released. It’s the result of a shared project – a director, a photographer and the producer Fabrizio Barbacci also take part in the plan. It’s a voyage trough the artists’ mind and soul, born from the South American tour. The band plays in a series of musical events and concerts in Chile, Argentina, Brasil bringing a light luggage with them filling it with new hints, emotions and ideas during the trip. The album is realized among Arezzo, Rio, Salvador de Baja, Motril and Figueres(Spain) sharing opinions with musicians, meeting artists and common people from other countries It’s a mix of different sounds from Funk to Blues – with the richness of Brazilian drummers such as (Peu meurrey ands Itajata jose de Sa) – from elecctro-raggae (“Mother”) to Punk (“Il mio veleno”), from The Beatles (“Tutto bene”, sung by Drigo) to the latine atmosphere of Teresa; from Balcanic influences- Cesare comes from Croatia- to Jamaican and Sicilian’s (“Il Branco”). After “Sale” - a song to be downloaded online- on February comes “Greta” the first “real” single, followed by a video clip shot during the South American tour. The second single “Rotolando verso sud” enjoys a terrific radio and video airplay (top 3 charted). On July the band takes part to the “LIVE 8” in Rome. On August the CD sells more than 50, 000 copies (gold award). On October comes the Nomination for Best Italian Act (MTV Music Awards). The new album by E. Bennato contains a song performed by Negrita. On November iTunes and Negrita share a project for a new campaign to promote digital music: the band gives to their fans, as a gift , hundreds of “itunes collector’s card” to download freely the unpublished song “Corazon Traditional”. “Rotolando Verso Sud” wins the best video Italian Award 2005. On November the album reaches the 100, 000 copies sold (Platinum Award). On December the band takes part to a concert against death penalty. Then they perform in Alcamo to promote culture with other 50 Italian artists. At the end of the year the CD is top charted for 31 weeks, “Rotolando verso sud” for 23 weeks and is 3rd on radio airplay charts.
2006: On September a 70 dates tour ends. The band’s image is linked – as was in the past- to humanitarian projects. The song “Sale” is among other nine in a competition to nominate the best song in dealing with the message of Amnesty International. Pau and Cesare take part to REZOPHONIC a CD sold to build 70 wells in Africa. In March 2006 the book “Chi vuol salvare il mondo” (ed. Riuniti) a sort of ‘dialogue’ of Pau with the new generations,.is published. In November the DVD and the book “VERSO SUD” are released.
2007: The band records and works on the new album in Buenos Aires and in Tuscany. In October 2007 they go on tour in Spain with the Argentinian band Bersuit getting a great response from the Spanish audience and critics.
2008: While working on the new album, the bands members carry out several new projects like “Zona Bastarda” (Dj sets with Pau and Mac), and “Rock Notes” (a recital, guitar and voice, taken from the book written by Drigo, “Rock Notes”, 2007, Mondadori ed.). September 2008: the new single “Che rumore fa la felicità” is released in preview on the official site of the band www.negrita.com and downloadable from iTunes, and it will be air-played from sept. 19th. The single announces the release of Negrita’s new album “HELLdorado” (coming out on October 31st), a new musical and conceptual journey on the contradictions of the contemporary world: a 360° exploration on sounds and lyrics (in Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese), whereby Africa, LatinoAmerica, Jamaica and Spain are the grid references for the wide musical universe of the band in these last years. All mixed with a rock’n’roll attitude quite uncommon both in Italy and abroad. Thanks to its international collaborations and inspiration it addresses a worldwide community and speaks to everyone.
HELLdorado is the western world we live in, it is the joy and the pain in a constant status of eternal contradictions
2009: Helldorado hits the Italian radio networks with the two singles: “Che rumore fa la felicità” and “Radio Conga” receiving a wide approval by public and critics. On February “HELLdorado tour” 11 dates all over the national territory is acclaimed as one of the best one of Negrita’s career and most of the dates register a SOLD OUT.