[ENG] Madame Butterfly and Mr. Bear (aka MB & MB) are a folk-pop duo composed of Valery Mai and Vincenzo Mascolo. The project, started in Apulia (Italy) in the summer of 2010, is based on their own life experiences. In March 2013, after many live performances and the composition of several songs, they won the contest "Win a Hit at Mastering.it" . "What a wonderful" is the first group's single. It's a catchy melody that hides a sense of irony against the brazen hypocrisy of a sugar-coated life. The song has the gorgeous collaboration of the drummer Alessandro Storto and the violinist Emanuela Lioy. Performed by: -Valeria Maielli: Vocals -Vincenzo Mascolo: Tambourine, acoustic + electric bass and guitars, vocals -Alessandro Lo Storto: Drums -Emanuela Lioy: Violin Music and Lyrics: Vincenzo Mascolo Cover Picture: Fiorenzo Capuano Cover Art: The Gorky Recorded, mixed and mastered by Marco Maffei at Mastering.it Executive production: Mastering.it Studios (Italy). Artistic production: Marco Maffei. Code: RadioSpia03 - (P) & (C) RadioSpia 2013 Preface: "Madame Butterfly & Mr. Bear, as well as their brazen "sweet & romantic" folk-pop-rock music, definitely represent a positive anomaly in the contemporary Italian indie scene. They embody an elegant acoustic vibration as light as the flight of a butterfly and as comforting as a Viking bearskin, which flies over a kind of less reassuring sounds such as rock / experimental / metal, with nonchalance". ---------- [ITA] Madame Butterfly and Mr Bear (MB & MB) è un duo pop-folk composto da Valery Mai e da Vincenzo Mascolo. Il progetto è figlio delle loro esperienze di vita e nasce in Puglia, Italia. Dopo una intensa attività live ed la composizione di diversi brani, il duo partecipa al concorso "Win a Hit at Mastering.it" nel marzo 2013, guadagnando il primo posto. "What a wonderful" è il primo singolo del gruppo, una melodia accattivante che cela un sottile senso di ironia nei confronti della ipocrisia sfacciata della vita cosiddetta "patinata". Il brano è stato impreziosito dalla collaborazione di Alessandro lo Storto alla batteria e di Emanuela Lioy al violino. La produzione esecutiva e tutte le fasi tecniche sono state effettuate ai Mastering.it (Italy), la produzione artistica è di Marco Maffei. Prefazione: "Con il loro folk-pop-rock sfacciatamente “sweet & romantic”, i Madame Butterfly & Mr Bear sono decisamente un’anomalia dell’attuale panorama indie italiano. Un’elegante vibrazione acustica, leggera come un volo di “farfalla” e confortante come una “pelle d’orso” vichinga, che con disinvoltura sorvola altre poco rassicuranti sonorità come rock/sperimentale/metal, etc". ---Review---- "Madame Butterfly & Mr. Bear, as well as their brazen "sweet & romantic" folk-pop-rock music, definitely represent a positive anomaly in the contemporary Italian indie scene. They embody an elegant acoustic vibration as light as the flight of a butterfly and as comforting as a Viking bearskin, which flies over a kind of less reassuring sounds such as rock / experimental / metal, with nonchalance". A modulated signature of "moving romantic folk", never worried to be vintage while honoring the traditional "good country music" (from Simon & Garfunkel through Neil Young and Harry Nilsson towards a certain Leonard Cohen's repertoire) with original ballads. This is what marks the musical identity of MB & MB, mostly. The band was born from a fateful meeting, in 2010, between two musicians with many different experiences: Vincenzo "Mr. Bear" Mascolo (hyperactive composer, frontman of Screaming Flowers, Bedford, The Frikk) and Valery "Madame Butterfly" Mai (soprano with appearances in polyphonic choirs, lover of Anglophone pop-music, student in Jazz at Conservatory). Their name shows a sort of (random?) collision between two sounds as far as distant planets, which gave life to an interesting musical project offering a repertoire suitable for an audience who looks for melodic and folkie American atmospheres enhanced by a European sensibility. MB & MB have played live in many concerts and contests, thanks to their original repertoire, perceived with classy compositions and with their two voices, who can harmonize really well. Sometimes, the duo has also integrated a band, hosting various components to make the mix of their two voices with Vincenzo's guitar more dense. Among the guests, we find the violinst Emanuela Lyoi, who played an important part in the song What a Wonderful, produced by the label "RadioSpia Records". This song was released on dec 8th 2013, after winning the national contest "Win a Hit at Mastering.it" , which saw a difficult selection made by expert artists: Andrea Chimenti, Valentino Corvino, Goivanna Russo, Mario Longo and Mara Campobasso. I am sure that "What a Wonderful" will conquer all, especially those who are in search of the perfect music to escape from everyday life, taking refuge in a dreamlike dimension that feels like warm hugs". (Valentina Scuccimarra, music critic)