Artist

I RAMINGHI

Franco Mussita (bass, vocals)
Angelo Santori (keyboards)
Angelo Serighelli (guitar)
Romeo Cattaneo (drums)

A band from Bergamo born in the late 60's, that, as many others, was halfway between a psych-inspired beat and early progressive. Their production was all released on the small Bentler label, consisting in three singles and an album, made between 1970 and 1975.

Some of the album tracks are very good, like Buio mondo nero e giallo, also on single, and La nostra verità, others a bit boring like Every day Jesus with a monotonous choir, but the album is representative of all those bands that turned to progressive while maintaining a strong 60's feeling.

The long waited 2005 official CD reissue of their only album also includes a full 1975 live CD. This shows the strength of the group in concert and also includes a small surprise, the unreleased Mi svegliai al mattino, later recorded as Zora in the album of the same name by Antonius Rex.

In their long career, ended in the second half of the 70's, I Raminghi had many line-up changes, all around the leading figure of "Herr" Mussita. Among the others were part of the group Valerio Cherubini (guitar), Titta Colleoni (organ), Michele Capogrosso (drums), the last two were also in Terza Classe and Perdio.

Guitarist Angelo "India" Serighelli also released a solo album and some singles, while both he and leader Mussita collaborated with Antonius Rex on Zora.
Together, Mussita and Serighelli under the name Mussi & India issued a single entitled Canto d'amore indiano, close in style to a 1974 Italian hit single, Soleado by Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble, with wordless vocalisms, and a B-side which can be vaguely described as progressive.
Serighelli formed in 1985 the hard rock group Wizard, with which he played throughout northern Italy, and in 2001 a Hendrix tribute band called Valindstef, he sadly died in May 2008.
Franco Mussita passed away in July 2021.

An ultrarare album, housed in a beautiful gatefold cover, Il lungo cammino dei Raminghi was reissued in late 90's on the same label and with the same cover as the original. 
This reissue was made by one of the group members, allegedly in 450 copies. The first 100 copies were sold by an authorised dealer with a numbered insert, the others were sold later, intially in small quantities then in large batches causing a drop in both the sale price and the value of this issue.
Original and reissue are very similar and can be identified by the label (see pictures below) which, in the original, has the SIAE stamp and the Bentler logo higher than in the reissue.
The 2015 reissue by BTF contains an unreleased bonus track, Non farlo, and a poster.

A  mini-gatefold cover CD version of the album (with no extra tracks) has been issued by the Korean M2U label in 2004, it has no. M2U 1018. It's been the first CD reissue of the album ever made.
The official Italian reissue has been released in 2005 by BTF, with an extra live CD and mini-gatefold cover with a nice illustrated booklet. The recording of the 1975 concert had already been published on cassette by Franco Mussita's label Emmebi Records.

It has to be pointed out that the label of some singles carries the writing "lead vocals Herrmussita", this was the nickname of Franco Mussita!
The correct years of release of the records, not appearing on the labels, have been confirmed by Mussita himself.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Raminghi - promo picture	Raminghi - promotional poster

Thanks to Fabio Locatelli, Alos, Giovanni Ottone, Mauro Costa, John Elvis Gualtieri for pictures and information on the group. Also thanks to Franco Mussita for the correct dates mentioned in the discography.