Franco Mussida – The planet of music and Iòtu’s journey

Franco Mussida was born in Milan in 1947. An artist who has experimented with and recounted music in different contexts. He is one of the founders of PFM – Premiata Forneria Marconi, with whom he has released dozens of albums, composed, played, and sung many of his national and international hits including “Impressioni di Settembre”. Franco, along with the members of his group, is one of the fathers of PROGRESSIVE not only in Italy but internationally. He has dedicated over 57 years of his life to his group’s artistic experience, more than 40 of which were with PFM. He has collaborated, played with singers, artists, and intellectuals including: Fabrizio De André (he oversaw the artistic production of De André – PFM), Lucio Battisti, Francesco Guccini, Paolo Conte, Lucio Dalla.

In 1984 he founded the CPM Music Institute in Milan, one of the most prestigious Italian institutions for Popular Music. For over thirty years, he has added social and research work in prisons and communities, using music as an educational tool. Among the projects he has carried out is “CO2”, a project in 12 Italian prisons awarded in 2017 with the medal of the President of the Republic. Since 2012, Mussida has made known his research on the effects of music on emotional structure, through visual art and essays. In this regard, between 2013 and 2020 he wrote 5 essays. The latest ones: “The Planet of Music” (Salani Editore, 2019) and “The Gold of Sound” (Nomos, 2021). Furthermore, he designs and creates experiential exhibitions, permanent installations in prestigious museum locations in our country, including the Triennale di Milano, and the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, where in 2015 he received the Lorenzo de’ Medici award alongside Anish Kapoor. His research work on the mystery that turns music into emotions continues to this day in San Vittore prisons, a place he has been frequenting since 1987, and in the community of San Patrignano.