This morning Raoul Casadei, the King of Liscio, who tested positive for Covid and had been hospitalized since March 2 at Bufalini in Cesena with pneumonia, died.
Confirmation of the news came from the hospital management. Casadei had turned 83 in August. Her entire family is infected: they live in the 'Cesenatico compound'. She had been hospitalized when the saturation was very low. Her daughter Carolina had written on social media a few days ago:
"Friends, many of you are contacting us and we thank you! Raoul's situation is stationary. Continue to send us all your positive energy... it's very important. We need an optimistic twist like him! Thank you so much".
The career of the king of Lissio
He was, for everyone, the 'King of Liscio', Raoul Casadei. The man who transformed Romagna folklore into a genre recognized and appreciated in every corner of Italy. Who on that sort of national anthem, 'Romagna Mia' written by his uncle, Secondo Casadei, built a legendary career in the name of joy, cheerfulness and authenticity typical of his land. He passed away at the age of 83 - celebrated last August 15 - after being admitted, on March 2, to the Bufalini hospital in Cesena for Covid.
As his daughter Carolina had said, he was doing well, until they saw a low saturation on the pulse oximeter. The doctors noticed a bit of pneumonia and recommended hospitalizing him. After about ten days of fighting the virus, his conditions worsened.
The curtain sadly falls on a life marked by music, by family affections, with his large 'tribe' gathered in the 'Recinto Casadei' of Villamarina di Cesenatico and by the legacy of the orchestra founded by his uncle Secondo in 1928. Inventor of the 'lissio' – as they say from Bologna onwards – and author of 'My Romagna', a manifesto song with over 4 million copies sold that didn't hesitate to put a guitar in the hands of a teenage Raoul and have him participate in the Casadei Orchestra's shows in dance halls and clubs in Romagna.
from romagna mia to ciao mare, all his hits
“In the 80s,” Casadei said on the eve of his 300th birthday, “I was an elementary school teacher. Then I inherited my uncle’s fortune and at the beginning of the 350s I had incredible success. I sold more records than anyone in my record company,” Produttori Associati, which boasted people of the caliber of Fabrizio De Andre’. I played XNUMX/XNUMX concerts a year. Incredible.”
“I was the forerunner of today's anchormen”
A success played on the soft and cheerful notes of Romagna folk and on an innate ability to speak, from the stage, with the audience. Won over by that intertwining of joyful sounds and good feelings, by the story, in music, of the values of friendship and love.
“I was the forerunner of today's anchormen. Unlike the others who went up on stage, sang and left, I entertained with stories and anecdotes, with the simple and immediate language that I had learned to use with children at school. And then I made people dance. Especially those who didn't know how to do it, today I would call it social-dance".
Able to involve people, not only in the traditionally folk-oriented venues. With his 'Musica Solare', alongside smooth sounds from Spain and France, Casadei's notes, in the 35s accompanied the days on the beach of tourists who came to the Riviera Romagnola - relaunched by the loudspeakers of Publiphono - dragged to dance also on a 10-meter motor vessel renamed the 'Nave del Sole' which began its adventure on June 1984, XNUMX and continued until the early XNUMXs.
A sort of floating 'dance hall', with the 'King of Liscio' and his orchestra - in whose ranks for a decade Moreno Conficconi, 'Moreno il Biondo' fresh from the Sanremo Festival with Extraliscio, also performed - to enliven the boat trip. Topped with piadina, a glass of Sangiovese and a plate of roasted 'sardoncini'.
After 40 years, from 1960 to 2000, Casadei left the leadership of the band to his son Mirko - who continued on the path of contamination by mixing liscio with the rhythms of ska and taranta, among the many awards received, was awarded, in 2019, the 'Premio Romagnolo dell'Anno' and participated in the film 'Tutto Liscio', released in 2019, in which he played himself in a cameo. Among his best-known songs are 'Ciao Mare', 'Romagna e Sangiovese', 'Simpatia', 'Musica Solare' and 'Romagna Capitale'.
Article published on March 13, 2021 - 12pm
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