Franco Mussida

He first discovered the vibrant power of music at the age of four. He taught himself to play the guitar in secret from his family. At the age of 11, he began studying classical guitar. He became passionate about electric guitar and its genres. From 1960 to 1966, he played in his first band, the “VIbros”. He joined Gian Pieretti and Ricky Gianco’s band, Grifoni. Shortly thereafter, they became Quelli.

He began his career as a composer and session musician, playing with the greatest artists of the time, including Fabrizio De Andre, Lucio Battisti, Francesco Guccini, and Paolo Conte. In 1970, he helped form Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM). He wrote many of the group’s national and international hits, including “Impressioni di Settembre”.
He developed his personal compositional and virtuoso style in thousands of concerts around the world. With the group, he collaborated with artists such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pete Sinfield. Between 1978 and 1979, he was artistic director of the De Andrè – PFM project, overseeing the production of the double live album and some of the most famous arrangements. He produced dozens of albums with PFM.

In 1984, he founded the CPM Music Institute, an MIUR institute, promoting the spread of pop and jazz education in Italy. He promoted the practice of music nationally and internationally, creating the first “Video guitar course” (Fabbri Editori). In 1988, he created a research department on the effects of musical communication, experimenting in communities and prisons. He wrote books and treatises on the subject, including “La Musica Ignorata” and ‘Il Pianeta della Musica’ (Salani, 2019). He collaborates with several universities, including the Catholic University of Milan, La Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Pavia.
He promotes the CO2 Project by installing 12 audio libraries divided by mood in 12 Italian prisons. CO2 received the medal of the Presidency of the Republic in 2017. Since 2012, he has been involved in contemporary art. He designs special symbols using visual art as a tool to show the principles of what he defines as the “Musical Code”.

He has created hundreds of works based on these principles. Between 2013 and 2020, he designed and created 10 experiential exhibitions and installations in museums: the Fortezza Dabbasso in Florence, the Triennale in Milan, the State Museums of San Marino, and the MAC in Lissone (MB). In 2021, he published L’Oro del suono, a book that brings together his visual work. In 2022, a new recording project was released: Il Pianeta della Musica (The Planet of Music). In 2024, he published the book: il Bimbo del Carillon (the Carillon Child), a sincere tribute to music as a universal language, a mirror of the soul and a tool for self-discovery.