Session 50 // 18.08.2025
Canzoniere del Lazio – Miradas (1977)
Ciao,
No Room for Squares is a series that promotes shared listening of genre-challenging music: artists and records that don't fit into specific categories but break the boundaries between them.
I can’t believe this will session number 50! Our miniseries on the roots of avant/out-folk continues with a great LP out of Italy, always under the motto “Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame”.
See you next Monday,
Alessandro
✨ 18.08.2025 – Listening session 50: Canzoniere del Lazio – Miradas (1977) ✨
Canzoniere del Lazio was an influential Italian folk-rock ensemble active mainly in the 1970s, known for blending the rural musical traditions of central and southern Italy with sounds from across the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Africa. Formed in Rome in 1972, the group emerged from the politically engaged folk revival, where music served as both cultural preservation and a form of resistance. Drawing on ethnomusicological research, they reinterpreted traditional dances, work songs, and narrative ballads, enriching them with electric instrumentation, complex arrangements, and rhythms influenced by progressive rock.
Their 1977 release Miradas is widely regarded as their defining work. The vocals have an earthy, celebratory quality that grounds the music. Folk traditions permeate all five tracks, with “Glorias” standing out for its vibrant North African influence and persistent violin motif. “Miradas” is not just a musical statement, it’s a political and philosophical intervention. The album uses music as a platform for postcolonial, Marxist, and psychoanalytic discourse, engaging with themes of liberation, identity, and resistance through both sound and supplementary texts.
✨ 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 Canzoniere del Lazio:
- Live video on Italian TV
- Documentary on the band (in Italian but with beautiful live videos)
More music:
Lavinia Mancusi – A cruda Voz (2024 Liburia records)
This is a truly extraordinary record: rooted in the traditional songs of southern Italy (Rosa Balistreri, Matteo Salvatore…) yet reaching far beyond its shores. Lavinia Mancusi sings with a voice that seems to gather the souls of the global South, weaving together styles, traditions, and emotions into a single, powerful current. Her voice, both fierce and tender, becomes the meeting place of distant worlds.
“In the songs of work, of prison, even of love, of madness, of parting, I have traced an idea of (re)birth, even when they speak of death. Because in South America, as in the Mediterranean, there is always this blending between what begins and what ends. It’s part of our culture.”
Wow - Rosa di Luce (2025 Maple Death Records)
It looks like I’m riding an Italian music wave lately. I’ve been listening to WOW for many years, hanging on China’s deep voice, and I’ll never forget witnessing an extraordinary moment in Rome when she spun two beautiful verses out of something we said; one of those moments that lives in my mind like the scene in Peter Jackson’s documentary where Paul summons “Get Back” out of thin air. So yes, I may be a little biased here, but this nocturnal record that draws inspiration from Battisti, Mina, and De André just won’t stop spinning on my turntable. And I can only hope that soon I’ll hear, in the warm air of a summer night, the cicadas joining China and Leo on stage.
From the bookshelf:
Broken Music Vol. 2: 70 years of records and sound works by artists
The importance of Gelbe Musik, Ursula Block’s shop and gallery in Berlin cannot be understated. I didn’t have the chance to visit it when it was opened so I was more than happy to be immersed in an heartfelt homage to that space in the first room of the exhibition “Broken Music Vol. 2”. The curators choose to continue her work and present more than 700 artist records in the giant spaces of the. Hamburger Bahnhof Museum. The book is meticulously curated as the exhibit in 2023, presenting a diverse range of artists and their groundbreaking works. From early experiments with musique concrète to contemporary sound installations, the catalogue offers a comprehensive overview of the evolution of sound art and the representation of it through design and art. Each piece is thoughtfully contextualized, providing valuable insights into the artist's intentions and the historical significance.
Available at Hamburger Bahnhof or Walter König.
Upcoming gigs in August:
13.8 – ✨ Autechre✨ at Astra
15 - 16.08 – Hard Listening Festival at Richten25
16.08 - Kruttli / Viner / Gray at Sowieso
20.08 - Nørstebø / Gordoa/ Cyrino + Rudametkin / Moriaariava / Wolf at Hošek
22.08 - Kaufmann / Hilbig/ Martínez at Sowieso