Italy’s recorded music heritage is diverse and complex, divided—both in reality and in concept—into productions aimed at a wide range of audiences; it is a heritage spanning a century of history. A true national discography has never existed in Italy; the “National Discography of Italian Song” project, spearheaded by the ICBSA, aims for the first time to address the challenge of “mapping recorded music production.” This meeting seeks to take stock of the project and foster reflection and discussion regarding the progress of the national discography—including from a retrospective perspective—in line with recommendations made by the IASA (International Association of Sound Archives).

The meeting thus aims to serve as an opportunity to guide a systematic study of recorded music production in Italy: on the one hand, the contexts, current productions, the market, repertoires, and their location and preservation were analyzed; on the other, the subject was approached from a historical perspective, with considerations regarding heritage collections, their distribution, and their use.

The work proceeded as follows:

 

Opening of proceedings and introductory remarks

Massimo PISTACCHI (Director, Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage – ICBSA)

Alfonso ANDRIA (President of CUEBC – European University Centre for Cultural Heritage)

Maurizio FALLACE (Director General for Libraries, Cultural Institutes, and Copyright)

GEOGRAPHY/SHAPES

Chaired by Peppino Ortoleva (University of Florence)

Paolo PRATO (Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome) The secondary exploitation of audiovisual content: a brief history and philosophy of the newsstand channel.

Roberto GIULIANI (Santa Cecilia Conservatory, Rome) – Towards a mapping of audiovisual research archives in Italy (repositories, contents, and functions)

Franco FABBRI (University of Turin) The Challenges of Distribution: A Synchronic and Diachronic Overview of a Crucial Issue for the Independent Record Industr

Luciano CERI (Head of the National Discography of Italian Song Project – ICBSA), The National Discography of Italian Song

THE STORY/CONTENT

Chaired by Roberto Giuliani

Adriano MAZZOLETTI (Journalist, Rome) Jazz and improvised music: electromagnetic media and their preservation

Giuliana FUGAZZOTTO (University of Bologna) From Musical Tradition to Professional Career: I Quattro Siciliani and the American Recording Market of the 1920s

Elisabetta PASQUINI (University of Bologna) Discography at the University

Giorgio ADAMO (University of Rome Tor Vergata) Oral-tradition music in the recording market: regional connotations, cultural dynamics, trends, and distortions.

Discussion and conclusion of proceedings