»“Sharp horn sections meet high speed Rap. Roy is celebrating fire works of Ska, Mestizo, Latin and Swing and leaves room for political awareness. SuoNoGlobal!” « Badische Neue Nachrichten

Roy Paci is presently involved in music, cinema, TV and charity projects, such as the Amnesty’s International campaign against violence on women, Emergency’s project for children and Amref’s superband Rezophonic whose aim is bringing water to the region of Kaijido in Africa.


HIS MUSIC
After his first experiences with some Sicilian jazz bands Roy Paci’s first project is a 7-piece outfit called As Sikilli with whom he appears at his first national and international Festivals. In 1990 he moves to South America and plays with the national Argentina’s Big Band, with cumbia bands, with Musica Popolar Do Brasil together with Selma Reis. In Montevideo he forms a trio called
T-Rio Blanco with Jorge Accarez and Angel Vare. In Senegal he plays with the makossa band Papa Matelot Sabow. Back to Italy he enters the alternative pop scene playing for some years with the popular Italian ska band Persiana Jones.
In 1994 his first experimental project Rosariosa Acme Project is the only Italian band taking part in the Cracove’s Jazz Junior Festival and finally ranking 4th.
In the same year Roy Paci forms the band Qbeta with other sicilian musicians and meets one of the most important Italian bands of the time, Mau Mau. Their friendship will result into 4 albums together and their presence at the most important European ethnic festivals: BAM (Spain), Paleo (Switzerland), Midem (France), Peter Gabriel’s Womad (Canary Islands).
Roy Paci’s strong interest towards the art of improvisation leads him to the creation of a duo with the double-bass player Fred Casadei. Hajjaj, this is the name of the band, improvises soundtracks to old films and to B-movies. A new 4-piece outfit comes to life in the same period, Taranta, a mixture of new jazz-balcanic-kletzmer music.
Roy Paci also works for other artists as trumpet player and music arranger. His enormous talent is showed on the most diverse productions: from reggae (Africa unite) to ska (Fratelli di Soledad) to ethnic (Lou Dalfin) to rock-folk (Parto delle Nuvole Pesanti). He even takes part in a dance project called Radio Trance together with Mau Mau.
Together with one of Mau Mau’s member Roy Paci founds his maybe weirdest project: Banda Ionica, a band which collects the most notable southern Italy funeral marches. Their album “Matri Mia” will even rank among the European top 10 world music records.
In 1998 Roy Paci meets three guys from Rome with whom he forms his first jazz-core band ZU. The four-piece outfit releases two albums and tours throughout Europe. The following year Roy meets Manu Chao, with whom he records the fortunate “Proxima Estacion.. Esperanza” and plays some live shows (including the Radio Bemba’s tour which touches Genoa during the famous G8 demonstration). Among the other Spanish artists he works with there’s Macaco, captained by Dani El Mono Loco, with whom he records “Rumbo Submarino”.
His probably most famous band up-to-date was born the following year: Roy Paci & Aretuska, a kind of a solo project where Roy surrounds himself with young Sicilian musicians. Their first release “Baciamo Le Mani” (joke on typical mafia expression meaning “kissing your hands”) comes out in 2001 and it’s a mighty fusion of rock n’steady, ska, soul, funk and Mediterranean melodies enriched by the participations of several artists such as Africa Unite’s Bunna, 99 Posse’s Meg and Macaco’s Dani. After having created his own record label Etnagigante (huge Etna) the second album “Tuttapposto” (another joke meaning “All fine”) comes out on Etnagigante/V2. Calypso, rock steady, swing and Caribbean sounds, brand new songs and rearrangements of Sicilian traditional songs. Among the collaborations on this album there’s the great Tony Scott. After the release of the album a new long tour brings Roy Paci & Aretuska to the most important European countries.
Roy Paci never stops: before winning the prestigious “Carosone” prize in 2003, he has time to cooperate with other bands such as the dutch The Ex Orkestra and the trio Trionacria.
Then again a new adventure with Corleone, a band whose aim is re-discovering the Sicilian tradition renewing its sound. Cooperations include another eclectic character called Mike Patton.
End of 2004 sees Roy Paci & Aretuska’s third album “Parola d’Onore” (word of honour). Its sound can be summed up in one word which is the title of one of the songs “superreggaestereomambo”! The album is received with enthusiasm by both the critics and the public, who crowds the numerous gigs throughout clubs, squares and festivals. Roy Paci & Aretuska first appearance in the UK is at Womad Reading Festival, where the band plays in front of 10,000 people under one of the main tents!
In summer 2006 two new projects are born: Il Terrone, l’Ebreo, Lo Zingaro and Ananga Ranga. “Il Terrone” (disparaging way of indicating a person coming from the southern part of Italy) is obviously Roy Paci, “l’Ebreo” (the Jewish) is Frank London, eclectic klezmer musician, and “lo Zingaro” (the gipsy) is Boban Markovic with his Orkestar. On this project the Sicilian tradition meets jewish melodies and typical Serbian dances. Ananga Ranga is more based on improvisations and visual animations: presented at the Lugo contemporary fair, it then goes on thanks to the massive appreciation demonstrated by the public.
Meanwhile Roy Paci & Aretuska tour Italy, Spain (Sevilla Festival), Hungary (Sziget Festival), Belgium (Fiesta Mundial). Their fourth and latest album comes out on June 1st in Italy and it’s called SUONOGLOBAL, a pun on “global sound” and “no global”.

Some of Roy Paci’s cooperations during his quarter-century career include the Italian artists Vinicio Capossela, Piero Pelù, Samuele Bersani, Luca Barbarossa, Teresa De Sio, Giorgio Conte, Nicola Arigliano, Cesare Basile, 99 Posse, Bluebeaters, Mau Mau , Subsonica, plus the international acts such as Manu Chao, Eric Mingus, Carlo Actis Dato, Sean Bergin, Ned Rothemberg, John Edwards, Amy Denio, Han Bennink, Walter Weibous, Flying Luttembachers, New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, Zap Mama, Trilok Gurtu, Tony Levin, Macaco, Mike Patton etc.
Roy Paci deems he has taken part in around 300 discographic projects of all genres so far.