Session 49 // 21.07.2025
Emmanuelle Parrenin – Maison Rose (1977)
Hi, welcome!
No Room for Squares promotes shared listening of genre-challenging music; artists and records that don't fit into specific categories but break the boundaries between them.
What’s coming up in July:
In the last years I’ve been listening and studying traditional music from various countries, discovering a liminal space where everyday life, music, social protest and magic come together and communities define themselves in it.
Once the soundtrack of rural storytelling and countercultural resistance, folk music is currently undergoing a transformative renaissance. The current resurgence is a response to a very different set of environmental and cultural factors than the folk revival of the 1960s and 1970s: modern concerns about identity, climate change, digital age disconnection have a significant influence.
Although traditional music has long served as a medium for storytelling, prevailing cultural narratives have historically placed restrictions on the stories that can be told and the manner in which they can be told. Today’s folk artists are recovering that storytelling legacy. Now alongside more conventional themes like heartbreak, place, and longing are songs about chosen families, gender transition, queer love, and body autonomy. Sonically, musicians draw from a far more extensive, experimental, and frequently worldwide set of sounds.
Last month, as a guest of Teshi’s finest hour, I had the chance to share music and thoughts about the the Italian 70ies out-folk scene. Teshi has written a lovely wrap-up that I warmly recommend reading.
The trip continues this month with two appointments: next Monday (21.7) the start of a mini-series of three listening sessions dedicated to Out-Folk in the Rhinoceros, and on July, 25th a special curated session of interesting contemporary takes on traditional music hosted by the lovely people of Juiced Listening.
Thanks for reading,
Alessandro
✨ 21.07.2025 – Listening session 49:
Emmanuelle Parrenin – Maison Rose (1977) ✨
Emmanuelle Parrenin’s dreamy, psychedelic folk masterpiece. What makes Maison Rose unique is the fusion between the experiences of Emmanuelle Parrenin, who collected traditional songs in rural areas in a similar vein of Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins and the electroacoustic background of Bruno Menny, who arranged and recorded the album. This alchemy created a perfect marriage of tradition and experimentation.
✨ Rhinoçerós Bar, Rhinower Str. 3, 10437 Berlin.
✨ The bar opens at 6:30 PM, needle drop at 8:30 PM.
✨ A 5 Euro entry ticket will be charged on the first order. No reservations.
✨ We ask for silent listening during the length of the record.
✨ Come early and stay late for a chat and a drink!
More on Emmanuelle Parrenin:
🎶 25.07.2025 – Juiced Listening 23 🎶
This session will feature a range of contemporary artists who are pushing the boundaries of folk music: from drone-infused Occitan songs, to free jazz influenced Nordic Slåtter, to autotuned tammorriata from Naples.
Friday, July 25th. Budapester Str. 14, 10787 Berlin.
Schedule:
19:00 – Drinks, chatting
20:30 – Listening session
21:30 – More drinks, chatting, reflecting
About Juiced: It’s an evening dedicated to focused music listening, where a person who collects and listens to vinyl curates a special musical experience. Over the course of an hour, they share personal stories and background about each track they play. There will be tasty drinks and beer, and time to connect and exchange thoughts before and after the session. It’s always a great chance to discover new music and get inspired by sound. When it comes to vinyl selection: No limits, no genres!
More music:
La Niña – Furesta (2025 BMG)
Neapolitan tradition, modern production, great songwriting, and beautiful lyrics: these are the elements that make this the record I've listened to most this year. La Niña sings with a choral voice, embodying and interpreting stories, transcending her ego to become a vessel for art. You'll find traditional instruments and autotune, electronic bass and tammorre drums, and, above all, Carola. She pulls all the strings with her interpretive skills and the timbre of her voice, enriching, embellishing, and adorning without lapsing into mannerism. Everything is at the service of the narrative. Just listen to “Figlia d’ ’a tempesta,” where everything comes together in a track that I hope will be stretched from 2 minutes to 2 hours when played live :)
Maria Mazzotta – Onde (2024 Zero Zero Nove)
Maria Mazzotta, also coming from southern Italy, offers a distinct take on tradition. Her mind-blowing voice, paired with guitarist Ernesto Nobili, charts a singer-songwriter course through the “pizzica salentina”. The record is centered around her stunning interpretation: tracks like “Libro d’amore” and “Damme la manu” are deeply emotional and give goosbumps. While it took some time to adjust to the album's more mainstream feel and the ever-present rock-ish guitar, it payed off. Definitely a keeper.
From the bookshelf:
Roots to Fruits magazine 1–3
“Roots to Fruits is a magazine about music; its migration and origins, and its role against oppression.” Mirelle van Tulder curates this beautiful riso-printed magazine which focuses on a unique theme in each issue: Ghanian Highlife and the creation of an African identity during the time of Kwame Nkrumah (1); Chapeta from Bolivia as a vector for cultural rediscovery and resistance (2); Brazilian Congada as opposition against colonial erasure of the cultural expressions practiced by the ancestors (3). Each issue follows the same structure, featuring a main article accompanied by a rich collection of photographs. While the themes explored warrant deeper study, RTF provides curious readers a solid starting point for a personal research.
Available from Zabriskie and HKW.
Upcoming gigs in July:
17.7 – Sophie Agnel solo + Agnel / Edwards / Noble at Exploratorium
18.7 – Peppi Guggenheim Soli Musik Festival. Save Peppi!
19.7 – yo-yo #06: Masing/Übele/Laju + Dyberg/Borges at Spektral Raumohr
23.7 – Alasdair Roberts + Fredrik Rasten at PAS
26.7 – Başak Günak and Cerys Hafana at Wasserspeicher
29.+30.7 – Iron Maiden at Waldbühne
31.7 – The Reanimation Orchestra at Kühlspot