1969 saw the professional birth of Daniele Baldelli. He was discovered by atalent scout who was the owner of the TANA CLUB DISCOTEQUE and employed to “puton the records” as the word Disc-Jockey, at least in Italy, hadn’t been coinedyet). After earning his dancefloor stripes, in 1970 he moved to the TABU CLUBin Cattolica. The music he played in those days could perhaps be divided intotwo large categories: white music, mainly from Europe and black music mainlyfrom America. So in that year, there was a mixture of European records, whichwhere almost always cheerful commercial songs, alongside American soul records,rhythm and blues and funk by artists such as Arthur Conley, Joe Tex, WilsonPicket, James Brown, Rufus Thomas, Lyn Collins, etc. Naturally getting hold ofthis material was not always easy.

In 1974-75 BAIA DEGLI ANGELI opened, a club which certainly marked thehistorical beginning of discos in Italy. Situated on a hill in GABICCE MARE(PS) facing the sea, it was designed on various communicating floor levels. Acompletely white structure with a panoramic view, having many innovations suchas a dee-jay console (which was a lift made of glass, that allowed the dee-jayto move from the first floor to a second-floor while maintaining an overallview of the various internal and external dance floors), it had a mechanicalarm with a cage, similar to the type used when repairing high tension wires,full of lighting effects that could even be moved onto the various dancefloors. There was also an internal swimming pool (with dance floor) and anexternal one too, an avant-garde graphic and opening hours that were never seenbefore: people could dance until 5 or 6 in the morning. The disco wasilluminated and there were no slow dances, only beautiful American music thathad never been heard before (six months ahead of the other dee-jays on theAdriatic Riviera).

Daniele Baldelli learned for the first time, by watching the two Americandee-jays Bob Day and Tom Sison, how to execute the perfect mix. In order to mixtwo records, the 12 inch record (that appeared on the scene as a big singletrack record which was more practical and suitable) was put on top of a 45record in its paper cover, instead of laying it on the rubber cover of theturntable: in this way the speed of the playing 12 inch record could becorrected with the simple pressure of a finger without affecting the turntablespeed. The deejay was finally able to slow down or accelerate the beat by hand,overlapping the same rhythms between two different songs. On the Americans’recommendation Baldelli took over when they left and cemented himself into DJfolklore.

COSMIC opened in 1979 in Lazise on Lake Garda. The logo of this new disco wascomposed by the word COSMIC that would advance at high speed towards theviewer, crashing a glass that symbolically had terrestrial landscapes paintedon it . Everything started with the idea that the music had to be the mainelement of the project and the discotheque that was made for 1,200 people andhad a dance floor for 700, also had a lighting and sound system that wascertainly something never seen before. The excitement around the opening nightwas so huge and so over subscribed that it ran for 4 nights in a row. Very soonthe fame of “COSMIC” spread and within a few months reached the provinces ofVerona, Brescia and Mantua. The disco within a year, became the meeting pointfor all “trends” and remained so from 1979 to 1984. In the discoteque parkinglot it was possible to see cars coming from Palermo, Udine, Naples, Turin,Innsbruck, Florence etc.. All of the trend setters of the Peninsula booked aSaturday evening at “COSMIC”, anxious to participate and listen to that musicalphenomenon labelled “AFRO”. Naturally, even if it is still used today, thisterm was inappropriate, unless one considers Afro as the only root whichinfluenced the various musical styles of Daniele Baldelli.

In fact, even if various periods in the history of “Cosmic” can bedistinguished (that of Funky - Disco in the first year to that of Electronic in1980-82, followed by moments more influenced by Reggae, Fusion, Jazz andBrazil), Daniele Baldelli’s Afro style was expressed when he played Ravel’sBolero overlapping it with a track by Africa Djola, or an experimental piece bySteve Reich on which he would mix a Malinke chant from New Guinea.

Mixing T-Connection with Moebious and Rodelius, discovering in the albumIzitso the only hypnotic-tribal track by Cat Stevens, extracting Africa fromDepeche Mode by playing them at 33 rpm or vice-versa by creating music using aReggae voice played at 45 rpm. Mixing 20 or so African tracks on the sameelectronic drum pattern or by playing them together in batucada with Kraftwerk,using the same electronic effects of a synthesiser to overlap pieces by MiramMakeba, Jorge Ben or Fela Kuti and also by uniting the Indian melodies of HofraHaza or Sheila Chandra with the German electronic sounds of SKY RECORD.

Without doubt, one can say that Daniele Baldelli was the precursor, to what isknown as today, as the dee-jay. Starting in 1969 when neither mixer norheadphones for pre-listening existed, up to the invention and use of electronicdrums, synthetizers and the first sampling systems in discos, which only hadfour seconds of memory.

In 1980, Daniele Baldelli even invented the “Dee Jay concert”. Consisting offour turntables, two mixers and electronic drums or live percussion, 80 to 100tracks were mixed in not much more than half an hour: a supermegamix was born,everything being carried out live. Another novelty of “Cosmic” was theequalizer, which was used as a musical instrument, intervening rhythmically onthe keys and cursors, where various frequencies could be manipulated, creatingaccentuation on the “Cymbal” or on a voice or base.

The mix was another characteristic or almost an obsession of Daniele Baldelli,who literally spent his time by listening to his records (today almost 60.000)in order to find the ideal moment where two pieces could overlap and create athird one. Sadly “Cosmic” closed its doors in 1984 but in ‘Cosmic Disco? CosmicRock!’ you can transport yourself back to those halcyon and hedonistic days byLake Garda where Daniele Baldelli really was the king of the cosmic sound.