Gianni Battilana : Congas & Percussions (Italy)
Giani Battilana was born in 1957 in Bologna and started studying latin percussion in the early 80's with great teachers, such as Lefty Medina, Candelo Cabezas, Roberto Evangelisti and Paulo La Rosa. He started his career as a conguero with Italian salsa pioneers like Jairo Bolano's Tribu Tayrona, Carlos Ugueto's Yemaya, and many other minor projects in Milano, Bologna and Rome in the 80's. After that he got deeply into Afro Cuban music and played with top players like Jesus Miro (Munequitos de Matanzas) and Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez (Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michel Camilo, Chick Corea, etc.....). Gianni collaborated later on with the Cuban Percussion School in Florence "El Cabildo" with Valerio Perla, and worked as a teacher in schools in the Bologna, Modena and Ferrara area. He was a founder and member in such bands as Ahinama, Asi and Son Con Clave, played with the Cuban singers Wilma Bryson, Virgen Delgado and Ruth Abreu, and participated in experimental rumba projects with Venus and Stevie Insua (Cuban Folklor) and Roberto Faenzi, where he developed his passion for latin jazz. In his career he has played with many Cuban salsa bands, such as America y Su Tumbancha, Carlos Merlet y Puro Sabor, Mario Crespo, and with the Columbian Jairo Bolanos "Tribu Tayrona". As a freelance player he has collaborated with such bands as Bongo Bata, Mambo Kids, Mezcla Latina, Croma Latina, Jimmy Bosh & Luisito Rosario, and taken part in big Latin festivals in Rome, Milano, Urbino, Bologna, and Verona. Right now he's playing in several projects: Poco Loco Trio with Maurizio De Gasperi (piano) and Davide Lanzarani (baby bass), Cuban Connection with the Poco Loco trio plus Ruben Chaviano (violin) and Emanuele Smimmo (drums), and Hamlet's Latin Jazz Experience.