Furio Chirico

The drums conceived under a passional point of view, not as a mere rhythmic instrument, but rather as a melodic and virtuous way of expression.
Now fourty-eight, Furio developed an interest in percussion at a very early age: he recorded his first album at the age of fifteen, after working as a session player with many Italian pop singers. Only seventeen-years-old, he joined one Europe's finest progressive rock bands, The Trip ( which featured the famous British guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in its first line-up ) and in 1974 he was one of the founding members of Arti e Mestieri, a well-known Italian "mediterranean progressive rock" band.

There he found his natural habitat: a band that allowed him to express his astonishing style, full of explosive rolls and mind-blowing fills.

The line-up recorded five albums. Among them "Giro di valzer per domani" and "Tilt", which were very successful, even in Japan. Over the years, Furio has earned a reputation as one of the best Italian drummers and he became involved with every musical style.

But what makes him so special is the development of a symmetric drum-kit, where the high-pitched toms find place in the center of the set, while the low-pitched ones are positioned on both sides, allowing him to exploit his total ambidexterity and indipendence. Furio's first experimentations with that set-up date back to the middle Seventies. In the same years, he opened his drumming school in Turin, the "Associazione Arti Acquario", one of the most renowned schools in Italy. And even one of the most innovative ones, since aside from covering every area of drumming, it offers harmony training and English courses. The association has organized clinics with players such as Billy Cobham, Terry Bozzio, Gary Chaffee, David Garibaldi and Ian Paice and many others.
On December 8th, 1998 he performs at "Batnight", an important event organized by "Batteur Magazine", where he plays with artists such as Dom Famularo, Mel Gaynor, Steve Ferrone, Neil Conti and many others. A CD featuring recordings of the event, called "Batnight: dix des meilleurs batteurs du monde", is available for sale.
Two instructional videos published by Electromantic Music show Furio's incredible drumming. "Passional Drumming" and "Singin' Drums" still are the best selling instructional videos in Italy.
The year 2001 saw the release of Arti & Mestieri's new CD "Murales"; the English version of "Singin' Drums", and of Furio's first solo CD, "Furiosamente". Furio can also be heard on Arti's newest release "Articollezione".