Gli spazi della Canzone

A book about the Neapolitan Song (in Italian):  Gli spazi della canzone Luoghi e forme della canzone napoletana (coming out in September, for LIM/Fondazione Roberto Murolo)

ibigjfgeNeapolitan Song is a world famous repertoire of popular music: born, as other urban genres, between the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century it has seldom undergone critical scrutiny. The book which will appear in Italy by the end of the year, tries to investigate Neapolitan Song in relationship to the urban metamorphoses of the city after the unification of Italy (1860) and in the light of the ideology the song brought in itself. The basic idea is that Neapolitan Song was part of a big project of modernization of the city which involved culture as well as city planning: the two worked in fact together, the second setting the streets free of the local folk culture in order to transform Naples into a real capitalist environment and, the first, providing the new social scenario with a proper form of entertainment. The Song grew as an important part of the identity of the local emerging bourgeoisie but it was, at the same time, taken up and continuously revised by the lower classes. The book tells the whole story of Neapolitan Song so far, investigating its different sub-genres, discussing its protagonists and the cultural industry that launched them, analyzing the meaning of the lyrics and the peculiarities of the music.

Volume!

To whoever may be interested: an international Popular Music magazine called Volume! (edited by Sheila Whiteley and Jedediah Sklower) has just started and will be published both in French and English. The current issue (by now in French) deals with the relationship between music and countercultures, includes contributions by some prestigious Popular Music  scholars (like Sheila herself, Andy bennett, Simon Warner and others) and an essay I’ve written about he Naples scene, namely about what has happened to the Neapolitan music and to the Neapolitan Song when countercultures have reached Italy after World War II. The English version will be published in 2013 (see the ‘Partnerships and Essays’ section in this website). Here are two links where you can find some information:

http://www.cairn.info/revue-volume-2012-1.htm

http://volume.revues.org/1643

Welcome!

This website is for all the peole who share some interests with me. Much of its content is related to the Italian context (fortunately not the one which is  often in the world news today) but there  will be much more in English in the future and in the “works in progress” section you will find some information about an important international project I’m working at: it’s about Ewan MacColl, the most famous English folk singer and, if you are interested in such things, have a look at the Hamish Henderson Folk Club in the “link section” too.

Thank you!