In the early 1970s, Stefano Torossi using the alias Fotriafa composed the music for Un tema: Tante variazioni, the second of three albums of instrumental library music he did for Italy’s Lupus Records between 1971 and 1972.

The sixteen-track LP includes eight versions of “Domani” on side A and “La papera,” “Notte violenta,” “Balletto,” “America, America,” “Trombe a ventaglio,” “Ridarello,” “Mantecato,” and “Sud America” on side B.

Stefano Torossi’s “Mantecato,” officially credited to Fotriafa, is on YouTube:

“Notte violenta” also appears on Suono libero Volume 2, a compilation album from Italian label La Douce released in vinyl in 1997 and again in 1998, in both vinyl and compact disc.

It seems “Notte violenta” is the only track from Un tema: Tante variazioni currently available and possibly the only one ever issued in CD–none have ever been issued as a digital download. However, “Notte violenta,” like “Mantecato” and one more cut, “America, America,” have been posted online.

Fotriafa (aka Stefano Torossi)’s “America, America” from Un tema: Tante variazioni is here:

The first album Stefano Torossi did for Lupus Records was Qualche tema lungo in 1971. He also did another one for the small Italian record label, Tensione e distensione, part of the trilogy of albums numbered LUS 215, LUS 216, and LUS 217–Fotriafa is only used for the Un tema: Tante variazioni LP.

The alias was also used for I Marc 4’s 1970 eponymous release on Nelson Records (GLP 1005), featuring an album of compositions credited to Stefano Torossi, and Guerra di cielo, di mare, di terra, a 1971 LP on Octopus Records.

When asked about the meaning of “Fotriafa,” Stefano Torossi explained that unlike his “Farlocco” pseudonym that can be translated as “fake,” “phony,” or “simpleton,” the Fotriafa alias used in the early 1970s: “means nothing.”

Update: May 2015

Two additional cuts and an excerpt from Un tema: Tante variazioni, including “Domani (VI versione)” and “Sud America,” have recently been uploaded to SoundCloud. The first composition by Stefano Torossi under his Fotriafa alias is the solo organ version of the LP’s main theme, while “Sud America,” the last track on the album, is a percussion-heavy piece of library music psychedelia.

Fotriafa (aka Stefano Torossi)’s “Domani (VI versione),” “Sud America,” and a sound clip of LP excerpts are here:

Additional Early 1970s Albums Awaiting Reissue

Besides the three Lupus Records albums, many others by Stefano Torossi from the early 1970s have never been reissued. For example, Telemusica N. 1 and Ora Beat! as well as three other vinyl-only releases from Italy’s Metropole Records patiently gather dust, literally unavailable to interested fans. Flirt Records’ Non tutto ma di tutto is also out of print and essentially unavailable.

Montecarlo Records’ Beat in Ampex and Michelangelo e il rinascimento on Canopo are a couple of additional titles worthy of an official revisit in the new millennium. The UK’s Arison Records is one of the few labels to have reissued Torossi music from this period, issuing two of the three Rotary Records albums (Tecnologia, Giochiamo insieme, and Jazz Video) in CD and all of them as digital downloads.

A handful of tracks from a few of the original vinyl releases from Stefano Torossi in the early 1970s have either appeared in later compilations or have been ripped to MP3 by dedicated fans possessing the few albums still in circulation and then posted online.

“Woodstock,” an album cut from from Lupus Records’ Qualche tema lungo, was uploaded to YouTube last month:

A video containing the entire third Lupus LP from Stefano Torossi, Tensione e distensione, was online earlier in the year. However, it seems only a few tracks from that album are currently available now, including “Streghe,” “West,” and “Trisiti colline.”

Five cuts from Tensione e distensione are also on Obsession dramatique, a compilation LP released by Sonimage Press in France in 1973.

Stefano Torossi Lupus Records’ Sampler Online

None of the tracks from the 1971 Fotriafa LP from Octopus Records, Guerra di cielo, di mare, di terra, is available anywhere at this time. This site remains optimistic more music will be reissued in the future, especially in light of the successful CD reissue of Stefano Torossi and Giovanni Tommaso’s 1970 Echoing America in 2013 by Cometa Edizioni Musicali and the Golden Pavilion 2012 reissue of the 1974 Feelings LP. Ideally, the model will be similar to that used by SONOR Music Editions earlier this year for the reissue of Sandro Brugnolini’s Underground, bundling a digital download with limited-edition vinyl.

In the meantime, a compilation of Stefano Torossi’s compositions that originally appeared on Lupus Records’ Qualche tema lungo, Un tema: Tante variazioni, and Tensione e distensione is on YouTube: