Com’è bello far l’amore da Trieste in giù #5

Transcription

Opening song: ⋆｡°✩ Ilona Staller “Labbra”, ✩°｡1979⋆

(GO): Dear listeners, welcome back to CANALE MILVA, the web radio channel that, since the summer of 2020, has been exploring the format of the sound exhibition, starting from gems of Italian music selected for you by Giada Olivotto and Camilla Paolino and reinterpreted each time by artists invited to collaborate with us. Today’s episode opened with the voice of Ilona Staller and her cult song “Labbra”—a tribute to all lips that bind us, love us, and adore us.

(CP): We happily greet you this morning with the fifth sound exhibition in the column “Com’è bello far l’amore da Trieste in giù” (how wonderful to make love from Trieste and beyond), dedicated to carnal love as it is sung by iconic divas like Raffaella Carrà, Ornella Vanoni, and Patty Pravo in songs where lust and sensuality take on the most surprising flavors, textures, and geometries. The exhibition features the stories, mixtapes, and songs of Léa Katharina Meier, Valeska Romero Curiqueo, and the artist duo RM (Real Madrid), who have kept us on the edge of our seats for the past two weeks!

GO: In fact, this exhibition is a continuation of the episode released two weeks ago as part of the column “Com’è bello far l’amore da Trieste in giù,” featuring Tereza Glazova, Shamiran Istifan, Sunna Margret, and Chiara Pagano, whom we take this opportunity to warmly greet again. Once more, a heartfelt thank you to Laptop Radio for hosting and supporting us over the past few years and to Marco Guglielmetti for the invaluable support. Now, we leave you with the compositions of Léa Katharina Meier, Valeska Romero Curiqueo, and the artist duo RM. Enjoy your listening!

CP: We begin our sonic journey with “La Grande-Bibliothèque-Mouillée-A-La-Cyprine-Humide,” known in Italian as “La Grande-Biblioteca-Bagnata-Umida-Lubrificata.” This grotesque and delightfully absurd fairy tale was written for us by Léa Katharina Meier—who, we recall, contributed her marvelous drawings to the exhibition “Com’è bello far l’amore da Trieste in giù” held at LATERAL in Rome in December 2023. In her multidisciplinary practice, which spans visual arts, performance, and theatre, Léa particularly dedicates herself to clowning, the art of the clown. This serves as a constant wellspring for creating a visual and sensory universe aimed at fostering critical thought. Her research explores the intersection of the ridiculous and the abject, jubilation and shame, blending them in a bold pursuit to craft a lurid and lesbian sense of humor. On stage, where recurring themes include the body as an archive, grotesque femininity, shame, and infantilism, she strives to transform potentially negative emotions into sources of pleasure and amusement. “La Grande-Biblioteca-Bagnata-Umida-Lubrificata” offers a bittersweet, sexy taste of all this. The fairy tale recounts the birth of a queer community inside a very wet, very, very humid, very, very, very lubricated, and slightly shameful library. Let’s immerse ourselves in the exuberant and sticky sensuality of “La Grande-Biblioteca-Bagnata-Umida-Lubrificata.” We are thrilled to present the wonderful Léa Katharina Meier!

(Credits: Sound atmosphere, music: Serge Teuscher; Supported by the Abbatiale de Bellelay and the Istituto Svizzero).

⋆｡°✩ Léa Katharina Meier, “La Grande-Bibliothèque-Mouillée-A-La-Cyprine-Humide,” 19m34s ✩°｡⋆

GO: We’ve just listened to “La Grande-Bibliothèque-Mouillée-A-La-Cyprine-Humide” by Léa Katharina Meier, and we thank her very much for her contribution. Now, we continue our journey with “Catch ‘em all,” a track composed in 2023 by the artist duo RM. RM, whose collaboration began in Geneva in 2015, explores themes of illness, addiction, coping mechanisms, and stigma. Their name (formerly Real Madrid) playfully engages with the idea of competitive spirit and its commodification. “Catch ‘em all” (2023), which rings familiar to us millennials as a well-known slogan, is, in fact, a fragmented mash-up of songs that explicitly or implicitly reference sexually transmitted infections. This mixtape, remixed by Ghonoré de Balzac, invites us to confront without shame the realities of our bodies and the potential illnesses that sometimes accompany pleasure. It evokes a visceral complexity of the flesh—one rarely acknowledged or given the space for reflection and discussion it deserves. So, let’s listen together to “Catch ‘em all” by RM, with the hope that the intricate realities of our bodies—and the silent companions who may inhabit them—are never relegated to the background. Enjoy!

⋆｡°✩ REAL MADRID, “Catch ‘em all,” 22m29s ✩°｡⋆

CP: We’ve just listened to “Catch ‘em all” by the duo REAL MADRID, and we thank them for their relevant pop-infused take on the topic of sexually transmitted infections. Now, we continue our journey with Chilean artist Valeska Romero Curiqueo, who has gifted us a beautiful piece titled “G L O R I A.” This track is envisioned by the artist as a sonic journey, a homecoming infused with rhythmic and melodic contaminations that conjure the intimate atmospheres, landscapes, and soundscapes of South America. Within it, the frequencies of Radio Romántica and FM2—two radio stations her mother often tuned into while cleaning the house or eating cherries in the sun—, blend and interfere with echoes of Christian hymns sung at a nearby church, neighborhood quarrels, and the shouts, cries, and domestic dramas punctuating the artist’s childhood memories. Through her performative practice, Romero Curiqueo seeks indeed to awaken uncomfortable and rebellious memories, illuminating her cultural genealogy and piecing together the fragments of her lived experience. Like a prayer to Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, overflowing with passion, “G L O R I A” reflects such ongoing exploration. So here is “G L O R I A” by Valeska Romero Curiqueo!

⋆｡°✩ Valeska Romero Curiqueo, “G L O R I A ,” 4m25s ✩°｡⋆

CP: That was “G L O R I A” by Valeska Romero Curiqueo, and we extend our heartfelt thanks to her for her wonderful contribution. With her sound piece, we bring this fifth sonic exhibition of the series “Com’è bello far l’amore da Trieste in giù” to a close. Broadcasting on CANALE MILVA since the summer of 2021, this program wouldn’t be the same without all of you—our dear and loyal listeners!

GO: A warm thank you to LapTop Radio for hosting us, and to Marco Guglielmetti for his invaluable support. Our gratitude also goes to our generous sponsors—Pro Helvetia, Canton Ticino’s Swisslos Fund, and the Oertlil Stiftung—for supporting our annual programming. Finally, a heartfelt thanks to the Locarno-based association Magica Opalini, without whom we wouldn’t be on air. And now, let’s revisit “Labbra” by Ilona Staller together. Stay beautiful, everyone—ciao bellissime!

Closing song: ⋆｡°✩ Ilona Staller “Labbra”, ✩°｡1979⋆