Submitted By: lil_al_5

Genre: Acid

Date of Set: unknown

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Alexander Robotnick aka Maurizio Dami is an Italian music producer. He makes his debut on the Italian music scene as the founding-member of Avida, a 'dance -cabaret band' featuring Daniele Trambusti and Stefano Fuochi and releasing a 7''track 'La bustina' published by Materiali Sonori in 1981.

In 1983 he then attains international popularity under the pseudonym 'Alexander Robotnick' and his track 'Problèmes d'amour', published first by the Italian label Materiali Sonori and then by Sire-Wea , becomes a 'cult track' of dance music.

In 1984 he joins 'Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici' a multimedia -oriented group and composes sound-tracks for theatre works, videos and video-installations. Still in the 80s he gains a reputation as the creator of ambient music for special events and fashion exhibitions (Pitti Immagine, Prato Expo, Capucci, Missoni). He also composes sound-tracks for films and theatre works by Italian directors such as Alessandro Benvenuti, Antonio Climati, Marco Mattolini, Marco Risi.

In 1987 he turns his interest to World Music, meeting African, Kurdish and Indian musicians who live in Italy and making music with them. 'Data from Africa', the band he puts up with Niba Boniface (Camerun) , stages numerous concerts until 1990. In 1993 he meets an Indian flute player, living in Italy: Boliwar Miranda. With him and Ettore Bonafé (tablas) he founds the band 'Music for Meditation' later renamed 'Masala' and published by Materiali Sonori. In 1994 he starts a collaboration with the Indian-Italian band 'Govinda' leading to the production of two tracks 'Devotion' and 'Transcendental Ecstasy' for Govinda's first album 'Selling India by the pound'.

In Summer 1995 he conceives and organises the I Ambient Music Festival in Florence at Anfiteatro delle Cascine. In 1996 with Nazar Abdulla and Rashmi Bhatt he creates 'The Third Planet' , a multi-ethnic band that blends traditional music from Kurdistan, Algeria and India with modern sounds.

From 1997 to 2001 Maurizio Dami develops several projects of innovative World Music. With 'The Third Planet' he produces 2 albums 'Kurdistani' and 'The Third Planet' published by CNI (Italy) and licenced by Blue Flame (Germany). The band gives numerous concerts in Italy whilst one of its tracks features in 'Nirvana Lounge'. In 1997 his collaboration with Lapo Lombardi and Ranieri Cerelli leads to the 'Alkemya' project, releasing an album with CNI. With the band 'Masala' he produces 2 albums (1998-2000) published by Materiali Sonori, the Italian label the artist has been long associated with.

In 2000 he establishes a label of his own, Hot Elephant Music, to give expression to the different experiences with music developed sofar in his artistic career. In the same period, in collaboration with his friend Ludus Pinsky (Lapo Lombardi) he explores new sounds and technologies, resulting in the production of Underwater Cafè. He also produces E.A.S.Y. vol1 (Elephants Are Sometimes Young).

In 2002 he turns back to the 'Electro' style that so strongly and succesfully characterized his musical début and, on that wake, produces 'Oh no... Robotnick' in collaboration with Max Durante and Teomad. The album,despite its somewhat dark humor, so typical of Robotnick's early tracks, is not enough disco-dance and fashion-conscious and therefore receives mixed reviews. With Max Durante he gives a live concert at DF03 in Bologna (Link), which is enthusiastic by received.

In 2002 he releases 'Melt in Time', the third album by The Third Planet in collaboration with Nazar, Paolo Casu, Arup Kanti Das, Smail Kouider, the present elements of The Third Planet. In April 2003 he can finally get hold of a professional lap-top and sets of to undertake DJing, an activity he had never considered before because Robotnick never liked vynil (but he does like audiocassettes a lot). It's Fabrice Guarnascione (Grossomodo Productions) who offers him the opportunity to make his début as a DJ at Spartacus Club in Aix-En-Provence with Kiko and The Hacker. The night is a success that encourages him to do more DJing. As of June 2003 Robotnick has been djing in a number of clubs around Europe (see Robotnick DJ's page).

In Summer 2003 he works with Kiko and The Hacker on a new track 'Viens Chez Moi' that will feature in the EP 'Les Grands Voyages de l'Amour' (Hot Banana). Robotnick is still strongly fascinated by the old analogic synts and TB303 he works with in Kiko's studio and he soon realises the present impossibility of reproducing, with plug-in software instruments, the typical sound of the 80s that made of him a cult for some.

In October 2003 he publishes 'Rare Robotnick's' a collection of his vintage tracks. The album is distributed by Audioglobe. In Autumn 2003 he started his collaboration with Oliver Way and his booking agency Electronic PM. In the same period he puts together a mixed compilation to be released by Yellow Productions : 'The Disco Tech of...Alexander Robotnick' offers a taste of Robotnick's lap-top DJing style, despite the limits due to the licensing mechanism.

In February 2004 he travels to India, a country he's very fond of and keeps going back to since the early 80s; this time also to define the licensing deal of some of Hot Elephant Music's productions with an important Indian label (Times Music).

In October 2005 starts his collaboration with Creme Organization (NL). They release Krypta 1982 (Rare Robotnick's 2) a couple of 12' including a remix by Bangkok Impact (Clone distribution).

Since 1984 Maurizio Dami has been living exclusively on his work as musician and more recently as DJ too. This doesn't make him a wealthy man but is no reason to make him change his original choice.

Maurizio Dami's future is very much focused on A.Robotnick's project : he will soon start a new collaboration with Kiko for Hot Banana. But he does'nt want to drop the World-Music projects he dedicated so much energy to in the 90s. In February 2005, with Ludus Pinsky (Lapo Lombardi) released Italcimenti - Under Construction, a kind of joke about Italo-Disco, a dance style from the early 80s that recently reached the status of music cult in a number of countries of the Nord-Europe.

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