Transcription

Opening song: ⋆｡°✩ Donna Summer, “She Works Hard For The Money,” 1983 ✩°｡

 

GO: Dear listeners, welcome back to CANALE MILVA: the web radio platform that has been exploring the format of the sound exhibition since the summer 2020. Episode after episode, column after column, the starting point of our sound exhibitions is always some classic of the Italian song selected for you by Giada Olivotto and Camilla Paolino and re-interpreted by visual artists invited to join our shared reflection. Today, we are broadcasting for you from the Lagoon of Grado. 

 

CP: And it is from our lagoon post that we happily bid you good morning with the fifth sound exhibition of the column “Alla mattina appena alzata,” dedicated to the version of the Italian song “Bella Ciao” sung by Milva for CANZONISSIMA in 1971. As our regular listeners know by now, this corresponds to the “Bella Ciao” sung by the Italian rice-workers who were employed in the rice fields of Piemonte and who sang together in protest against the exploitation of their labor power by their masters, but also to mark the rhythm of their collective work and to empower each other through their chants and ballads. Today, Giada decided to hybridize our italophone Pantheon and pay tribute to the powerful voice of Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, who paved the way for the protagonists of this sound exhibition. The latter includes sound productions by artists Mia Sanchez, Ronja Svaneborg, Verity-Jane Keefe, and Peilian Li, whom we are looking forward to listening to!

 

GO: Before we begin with our listening, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks and greetings to all the artists who have made the column “Alla mattina appena alzata” exist over the years. So, hello to our friends and comrades Lula Broglio, Joo Young Hwang, Rada Kozelj, Claire van Lubeek & Crowdpleaser, Nicole Colombo, Lisa Lurati, Noemi Pfister, Sara Ravelli, Vera di Maus, Lara Damaso, Alice Visentin, Camille Dumond, Caroline Schattling Villeval, and the duo Dorota Gaweda & Egle Kulbokaite. This new episode on CANALE MILVA was produced thanks to the support of the legendary LapTop Radio, which has been our host for the past two years. We also take this opportunity to send a kiss to Federica Camerini who is in charge of CANALE MILVA’s graphic concept. We now leave you with the sounds, noises, and words composed for us by Mia Sanchez, Ronja Svaneborg, Verity-Jane Keefe, and Peilian Li.

 

CP: Let’s begin our sonic journey with a composition by Danish artist Ronja Svaneborg, which, as the title suggests, thematizes the concept of the “work song,” that is, those chants that historically came into being specifically to accompany work in different contexts and parts of the world. Fascinated by the capacity of sound to manipulate our brainwaves, causing resonance and hence placing us on the same frequency as others around us during a collective listening event, the artist decided to explore how our internal rhythm is influenced by an external rhythm, and how music is able to harmonize the emotions of a social group and create a sense of social bonding, preparing the field for communal action. Bodies tuning in and synchronizing, lungs inflating and deflating to the beat, hearts pounding in unison pumping the blood in our veins as we “lose ourselves” on the dance floor, one single big organism undulating under the DJ’s spell, a strange intimacy with hundreds thousands of people at a concert, the strength gained by riding the same frequency during a march, demonstration, protest, the languor caused by a mourning song, the cheerfulness triggered by a festive song. With these visions in mind, Ronja Svaneborg composed a work song from a long recording of a group of voicing people during a workshop she held in the spring of 2024. In doing so, the artist tried to imagine a form of work in which the song served not to coordinate a task rhythmically or narratively, but to create cohesion in a group of people who drew strength from being in sync and, through this, prepared for political action. Let’s listen to Ronja Svaneborg’s “Work Song” together and see what we come up with. 

 

⋆｡°✩ Ronja Svaneborg, “Work Song,” 3m10s ✩°｡⋆

 

GO: We just listened to “Work Song” by Ronja Svaneborg, whom we dearly thank again for participating. We now continue our listening with Verity-Jane Keefe, a visual artist who works primarily in the public realm, being interested in the role of the artist in urban regeneration processes. In her work, she questions how experiential practice can touch and augment the ambitions of invisible communities. Her practice takes many forms, but always deals with appearance, place, and archive, taking the moves from the accidental, the hearsay, the observed. She works with text, moving image, site-specific research, archive, installation, writing, printmaking, social structures and objects. For CANAL MILVA, Verity-Jane takes us on an autobiographical journey through time and space – a journey whose soundtrack consists of the recognizable melody of “Bella Ciao.” The sound piece was produced over the course of a month spent between London and Zurich, when the artist would draw distraction and solace from dancing and singing against the frustration engendered by the emptiness of language and the annoyance of not understanding while working hard to learn. Verity-Jane’s favorite verb is “to lurk,” so let’s get comfortable and put it into practice as we listen to her sonic contribution. With “I’m Dancing In My Kitchen, Clipping Notes for Milva,” here she comes: Verity-Jane Keefe!

 

⋆｡°✩ Verity-Jane Keefe, “I’m Dancing In My Kitchen, Clipping Notes for Milva,” 12m30s ✩°｡⋆

 

CP:  We have just listened to “I’m Dancing In My Kitchen, Clipping Notes for Milva” by Verity-Jane Keefe, whom we thank again from the bottom of our hearts! We continue our journey in the company of Swiss artist Mia Sanchez, with whom I was recently at a Gigi d’Ag concert in Rome (yes, we were). Today, Mia takes us with her through the meadows of Colle Oppio, among maritime pines, monumental ruins and groups of people taking a break from work. The sounds recorded by the artist during her walks were treated as if they were filmic materials and were therefore edited to create what in cinematographic jargon is called a “tracking shot.” The soundscape resulting from this conceptual operation is a composition entitled “Freizeit,” or “leisure time,” which takes the form of a sonic mapping of the recreational activities taking place in the park. If a work song sung by workers during work activity to pace their gestures, gather strength, or organize protest prompts reflection on the function of music in structuring work time, music played, sung, or listened to in a recreational context can be understood as its opposite. That is, as music aimed at structuring time off work and which can constitute a form of recreation from (but also for) work. Thanks to Mia Sanchez, who approached the research and production of this sound piece with enthusiasm and joy and who gifts us with “Freizeit,” along with the warning of the Italian-American artist Vito Acconci, who used to say: “The establishment of certain space in the city as ‘public’ is a reminder, a warning, that the rest of the city isn’t public.” Keep it in mind and enjoy your listening!

 

[Music in order of appearance: 1) Myke Towers – POBRE DIABLA; 2) DJ Blayatman – Gopnik; 3) Sumit Vimal – G-Shit; 4) MC Lipi – Prepara as Prancha (Love Funk) DJ Wil SP feat DJ CK; 5) Mandelbarth – With or without you extended Version]

 

⋆｡°✩ Mia Sanchez, “Freizeit,” 8m42s ✩°｡⋆

 

GO: And that was “Freizeit” by Mia Sanchez, whom we thank again for participating in this sound exhibition and for joining CANALE MILVA’s little community. We now end our sonic journey with artist and poet Peilian Li, whose research is fueled by ancient poetry and the soundscapes of playgrounds, as well as timeless connections in collective memories and emotional dimensions. For us and for you, Peilian Li has produced a sound piece that has been built around a poem (which you can read below) exploring the aftermath of struggles, the lingering echoes of past battles, and the possibility of finding gentle strength in their wake. The sound piece we are about to listen to blends elements of poetry, text, and contemporary pop music. Dear listeners, here is “Locket Heart & Cat…?” by Peilian Li!

 

[Poem:

I went to the garden early in the morning

before the sun had even risen

The air was still cool and filled with the promise of a new day

I saw you gently swaying on a swing

your silhouette barely visible in the dim light

A curious cat was sitting nearby, staring intently at you

or perhaps you were staring at it

I stood there for a moment

In the silence

I watched you swing back and forth

The creaking of the swing merges

with the soft rustling of the leaves

I didn’t want to disturb or scare you with my presence

so I took a step back

Not back to where I came from

but just far enough so you could never see me

I found a quiet spot where I could observe unnoticed

My eyes turn blurred when I see you

my dear

The sky above began to change

the clouds slowly turning purple and blue

It seemed to be a sign of an approaching storm

I think

The cat

losing interest in our silent interaction

started to hop from brick to brick along the garden path

disappearing into the shadows

I never understood why nights are darker than the shadows

but now we are no longer in the nighttime

No more nightmares

no more

no more screams and runs

no more

I burnt the bridges to set you free

Did that for you

my darling

As I stood there

I thought you looked more like solitude.

than freedom

There was a serene stillness about you

a peaceful isolation

that seemed to envelop you

As you swung gently

I knew you felt

everything in a Locket heart

losing a friend

meet another one

The creaking of the swing merges

But it looked like you stopped chasing the birds

or running the kites

for the same reason]

 

⋆｡°✩ Pelian Li, “Locket Heart & Cat…?,” 4m28s ✩°｡⋆

 

CP: And that, dear listeners, was “Locket Heart & Cat…?” by Peilian Li, whom we sincerely thank for bringing the journey to a sweet end. This composition concludes the fifth sound exhibition of the column “Alla mattina appena alzata,” airing on CANALE MILVA since the summer of 2020! Many thanks again to all the artists who participated in the making of this sound exhibition and to all the dedicated listeners who have been following us all these years.

 

GO: We would also like to thank LapTop Radio for their hospitality and our sponsors who enable us to produce each sound exhibition, within a dense annual programming: Pro Helvetia, Canton Ticino – Swissloss Fund, Oertlil Stiftung. Heartfelt thanks go to the Locarno-based association Magica Opalini. We would like to take this opportunity to dedicate one last song to all women who are fed up: fed up with work, fed up with divisions, and the list could go… Le’’s listen together to “Siamo stufe” (We Are Fed Up), a song from the album “Canti di donne in lotta” by Canzoniere femminista.

 

Closing song: ⋆｡°✩ Canzoniere Femminista, “Noi Siamo Stufe,” dall’album Canti di donne in lotta, Vedette Zodiaco, 1975 ✩°｡⋆

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