Italian Sonorities and Acoustic Communities

In his 1984 book Acoustic Communication, Barry Truax defined acoustic communities as  "any soundscape in which acoustic information plays a pervasive role in the lives of the inhabitants. . . . The community is linked and defined by its sounds. To an outsider they may appear exotic or go unnoticed, but to the inhabitants they convey useful information about individual and community life." 

Sounds move, cross borders, and link bodies that might otherwise not be linked, that might otherwise be divided from each other. But sounds also stay put, engendering familiarity and intimacy, creating spaces of shared identity. This interdisciplinary conference focuses on Italian sonorities broadly defined in order to discover hitherto unexplored perspectives and expressions regarding such movements and identities. 

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PROGRAM (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017
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6:00-8:00 pm 
Welcome & Reception
ANTHONY JULIAN TAMBURRI, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
JOSEPH SCIORRA, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Performers
CRISTINA PÉRSICO, Neapolitan Song
ANGELO ZEOLLA, Spoken Word
DOMENICO PORCO, Calabrian Organetto 

FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2017
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9:30-10:45 am
Recorded Sound   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: GIULIA GUARNIERI, Bronx Community College
"Parla Comme T'Ha Fatta Mammeta"? Multilingualism, Codeswitching, and Oral Performance in Ethnic Italian Records, ISABELLA LIVORNI, Columbia University 
Redefining Bel Canto: Vocal Manifestations of Italian Opera in the Evolution of Frank Sinatra's Recordings, ANTHONY CAVALUZZI, SUNY Adirondack 
"That's Amore": Sprezzatura and Parody in an Italian American Pop Song, TAD TULEJA, Independent Scholar

11:00 am-12:15 pm
Keynote: Mediations on Italian American Soundfulness, JOHN GENNARI, University of Vermont

1:30-2:45 pm
Italian Folk Music Revival in Italy   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: ROBERT OPPEDISANO, Independent Scholar
Evolution and Dissemination of Italian Community Music, MARIE DICOCCO and CELEST DI PIETROPAOLO, Independent Scholars
Sociocultural Aspects of Sounds, Rituals, and Dance in Southern Italy, JANET MICHELLO, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY 
La Notte della Taranta: Musicking as a Social Act and Metaphor for Social Relationships, GEORGE DE STEFANO, Independent Scholar

Histories and Border Crossings   LA GALLERIA
Chair: CHRISTINE ZINNI, The College of Brockport, SUNY
Italophilia vs. Italophobia: Five Centuries of Cultural Exchange Viewed through the Prism of Language, EDWARD TUTTLE, University of California, Los Angeles
What did Early Modern Italy Sound Like?, DARIO DEL PUPPO, Trinity College 
From Bayreuth to Fiume: Gabriele D'Annunzio's Visions of an Italian Tragic Theater, MATTIA ACETOSO, Boston College 

3:00-4:15 pm
Women and Workers   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: DONNA CHIRICO, York College, CUNY
"Female Voices and Whispers": Gendered Migration Narratives of Italian and Greek Women Immigrants to Australia after World War II, DANIELA COSMINI, MARIA PALAKTSOGLOU, DIANA GLENN, and ERIC BOUVET, Flinders University
Oral History and the Documentation of the Italian Worker, GIULIA GUARNIERI, Bronx Community College, CUNY 
From Appennini to Appalachia: Oral Histories of Italian Americans in Appalachian Coal Fields, ENRICO GRAMMAROLI, University of Rome Tor Vergata

Southern Italian Soundscapes   LA GALLERIA
Chair: JACQUELINE MAGGIO-MAY, Florida Humanities Council
Conjuring Southern Italian Soundscapes, TIZIANA RINALDI CASTRO, Independent Scholar
Southern Italian Oral Culture in a Postmodern World, DAVID MARKER, Independent Scholar

4:30-5:45 pm
Disco, Hip Hop, and Mina   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: GEORGE DE STEFANO, Independent Scholar
Ideas of Italy: Mina and La Canzone Italiana on Tour in the 1960s, RACHEL HAWORTH, University of Hull  
Disco to Hip Hop: Italian and American Diasporic Journeys, CLARISSA CLÒ, San Diego State University 
Can the Subaltern Rap? A Gramscian Revision of Contemporary Italian Hip Hop, ENRICO ZAMMARCHI, The Ohio State University 

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2017
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9:30-10:45 am 
Sound in Film   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: ANNEMARIE TAMIS-NASELLO, Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY
" 'O Sole Mio" and the Neapolitan Synecdoche in Film, GIULIANA MUSCIO, University of Padua 
Listening to Cinema: Music in the Films of Martin Scorsese, JACQUELINE MAGGIO-MAY, Florida Humanities Council 
Words of Justice in Italy: Interpretation and Misinterpretation in the Real Courtroom and in the Movies, MARIA GIUSEPPINA CESARI, Italian Ministry of Justice

11 am-12:15 pm
Oral Histories and Recorded Voices   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: MELISSA E. MARINARO, Senator John Heinz History Center
Orality and Microhistory: Italian Americans in Florida, VINCENZA IADEVAIA, VIVIANA PEZZULLO, and FEDERICO TIBERINI, Florida Atlantic University
The World in a Voice: An Oral History of a Southern Italian Migrant, VINCENT ANDRISANI, Simon Fraser University 
Italian/American? Second-Generation Voices in Search of an Identity, ANN DIBELLA JABLON, Marymount Manhattan College, and LORI DIBELLA WALLACH, Queens Memory

Tango y Los Italianos   LA GALLERIA
Chair: FRED GARDAPHÉ, Queens College, CUNY
Beyond Borders: Tango as Transnational Movement of Sound and Steps, LOREDANA POLEZZI, Cardiff University 
Dancing the Diaspora: Tango as a Little Italy, ROSEMARY SERRA, University of Trieste

1:30-2:45 pm
Accordions and Feste   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: JAMES S. PASTO, Boston University
Ethnography as Storysinging: The Spoken Word and the Currency of Piano Accordion Music, CHRISTINE ZINNI, The College at Brockport, SUNY 
Lasciateci Suonare: Listening to the Sounds of Italianitá on Accordion, DAMIEN LAFRAMBOISE, Memorial University 
A Fickle Soundscape: The Fisherman's Feast in Boston's North End, MICHELE SEGRETARIO, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

3:00-4:15 pm
Discourse and Language   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: TAD TULEJA, Independent Scholar
The Sounds of Racism and Counter-Racism: Contrast and Comparison Structures in Tuscans' Discourses on Recent Immigrants, ROBERT GAROT, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY 
Is There an Italian American Vernacular English?, JAMES S. PASTO, Boston University 
Sounds of Silence: The Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Community as Linguistic Minority among Italians and Italian Americans, DONNA CHIRICO, York College, CUNY 

Nature, Memory, and Place   LA GALLERIA
Chair: CLARISSA CLÒ, San Diego State University
La Voce d'Italia: A History of Italian-Language Radio Programs in Rhode Island, ALFRED R. CRUDALE, University of Rhode Island 
Resounding Nature in the Works of Michelangelo Antonioni, Pinuccio Sciola, and Filippo Minelli, ANTONELLA SISTO, Brown University 
The Transmemoric Process: A Journey of Italian Québécois Artists, ANITA ALOISIO, Independent Scholar

4:30-5:45 pm
Italian Folk Music Revival in the United States   CONFERENCE ROOM
Chair: DIANA GLENN, Flinders University
"Quel Mazzolin di Fiori": I Campagnoli and the Italian Folk Revival, MELISSA E. MARINARO, Senator John Heinz History Center 
The Villa Palagonia Music Ensemble: Reimagining Italian Folk Music for American Audiences, ALLISON SCOLA and JOE RAVO, Villa Palagonia Music Ensemble
Beating the Drum: Italian Traditional Music Advocacy in the Diaspora, LUISA DEL GIUDICE, Independent Scholar

Free, open to the public, and held at the Calandra Institute

RSVP by calling (212) 642-2094. 

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