Society of Sound Podcast

Society of Sound Podcast

The podcast about the relationship between culture and music!

  1. S2 E6 | Anthropologist Among the People: Global Connection and Lucio’s Legacy

    May 27

    S2 E6 | Anthropologist Among the People: Global Connection and Lucio’s Legacy

    In this last episode of Season 2, we pick up in 1999, with Dalla’s album Ciao, where Lucio reflects on the state of the world and looks back nostalgically at his life and his first album 1999. The albums that we cover in this episode – from Luna Matana to Angoli Nel Cielo – celebrate the cross-cultural contact brought by globalization. Alongside this, we follow the concurrent rise of xenophobia and benevolent multiculturalism in Italy, as the world becomes increasingly globalized. We also reflect on Lucio’s legacy, his role in making Bologna a UNESCO City of Music and why Bologna was such a fertile bed for Lucio’s career in music, as well as those of others. In reflecting on Lucio’s legacy, we also hear testimonies from Bolognese, about what he meant to them.  Given this is the last episode, we also reflect on our research question about sounds’ connection to place. What does it mean that Dalla’s music can be simultaneously so local and so global? And what can that tell us about the state of humanity? Be sure to submit your questions for the Q&A episode next week! Songs mentioned: “Ciao” - Tullio Ferro, Lucio Dalla “Born To Be Alone” - Lucio Dalla “1999” - Lucio Dalla, Gianfranco Reverbi “Kamikaze” - Lucio Dalla “Siciliano” - Lucio Dalla “Figli di Annibale” - Almamegretta *not included in playlist* “Baggio Baggio” - Lucio Dalla “Zingaro” - Lucio Dalla, Joseph Fargier “Amore Disperato” - Lucio Dalla “Ambarabà Ciccìcocò” - Lucio Dalla “Dark Bologna” - Lucio Dalla, Angelo Messini D’Agostini “Due dita sotto il cielo” - Lucio Dalla “Lunedì” - Lucio Dalla  “Angoli nel cielo” - Lucio Dalla “Broadway” - Lucio Dalla “Vorrei Sapere Chi è” - Lucio Dalla “Non basta saper cantare” - Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori “La Leggenda Del Prode Radamès” - Lucio Dalla “La casa in riva al mare” - Lucio Dalla Playlist links: Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSDUOPfhrIitMQ-09LXo5SbxhbQ55MM6&si=jnZu0wFx0LOiBWgD  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1snVOunP9LsJ2g3ZgNUNiq?si=75a6efebde974685  Sources for this season can be found at: https://www.societyofsoundpodcast.com/season-2-sources

    1h 5m
  2. S2 E5 | I Love You Very Much: Lucio Dalla, Love, and Italy at the End of the Cold War

    May 20

    S2 E5 | I Love You Very Much: Lucio Dalla, Love, and Italy at the End of the Cold War

    In this episode of Society of Sound, Marianna follows Lucio Dalla from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, tracing how his music responded to a rapidly changing Italy. From the maxiprocesso and the enduring North-South divide to the end of the Cold War, Tangentopoli, mass television, and the rise of Berlusconi, this episode explores a nation caught between hope, spectacle, corruption, and uncertainty. At the center is Dalla’s iconic song “Caruso,” born from his deep love for Naples, Neapolitan culture, and the South. From there, the episode moves through songs like “Vita,” “Attenti al lupo,” “Comunista,” “Henna,” and “Ayrton,” asking how Dalla used music to hold onto human connection, memory, place, and love in the midst of political upheaval and cultural transformation. As Italy became more mediatized, more globalized, and more fractured, Dalla’s music continued to insist on the possibility that love might still be what saves us. Songs mentioned: “Te volgio bene assaje” - Roberto Murolo “Caruso” - Lucio Dalla “Caruso” - Luciano Pavarotti  “Le tue ali Bologna” (not included on playlist) “Vita” - Lucio Dalla and Gianni Morandi “Careless Whisper” - George Michael “C’Era Un Ragazzo Che Come Me Amava I Beatles E I Rolling Stones” - Lucio Dalla and Gianni Morandi “Il Duemila, Un Gatto E Il Re” - Lucio Dalla and Gianni Morandi “Attenti al lupo” - Lucio Dalla “Comunista” - Lucio Dalla “Emilia” - Lucio Dalla (not included on playlist) “Le rondini” - Lucio Dalla “Amen” - Lucio Dalla “Henna” - Lucio Dalla “Erosip” - Lucio Dalla “Treno” - Lucio Dalla “Ayrton” - Lucio Dalla “Amici” - Lucio Dalla “Tutto il male del mondo” - Lucio Dalla “Vieni, Spirito Di Cristo” - Fra’ Alessandro Franti Playlist links: Youtube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSDUOPfhrIiUVAzTPo2-gbhfvA0kkCxt&si=8ZA6dk3JVgfMx24p  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3TzSrjFsA0FbXWhgCCukIx?si=8a1a983a0db84aef

    1h 12m
  3. S2 E4 | Under a Sky of Iron and Plaster: Lucio Dalla and Italy at the Turn of the 1980s

    May 13

    S2 E4 | Under a Sky of Iron and Plaster: Lucio Dalla and Italy at the Turn of the 1980s

    In this episode of Society of Sound, Marianna follows Lucio Dalla from the end of the 1970s into the mid-1980s, as Italy emerges from the Years of Lead and enters a moment of uneasy transformation. Political violence, economic instability, and Cold War anxiety give way to new forms of media and technological change. Through albums like Lucio Dalla (1979), the Banana Republic tour with Francesco De Gregori, and the landmark Dalla (1980), this episode traces how Dalla’s music captures a society suspended between exhaustion and renewal. His songs move through intimate portraits of ordinary life, collective disillusionment, and fragile, sometimes improbable visions of the future. From “Anna e Marco” and “L’anno che verrà” to “Futura,” “La sera dei miracoli,” and “Viaggi organizzati,” Dalla gives voice to a world marked by nostalgia, technological alienation, and the lingering memory of violence, while insisting on the importance of human connection. What does it mean to hope after fear, and how can music hold together a future that still feels uncertain? Songs featured: “Anna e Marco” - Lucio Dalla “L’anno che verrà” - Lucio Dalla “Banana Republics” - Steve Goodman “Banana Republic” - Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori “Addio a Napoli” written by Teodoro Cottrau, recorded by Enrico Caruso “Addio a Napoli / Ma come fanni i marinai” - Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori “Balla balla ballerino” - Lucio Dalla “La sera dei miracoli” - Lucio Dalla “Futura” - Lucio Dalla “You’ve Got a Friend” - Carole King “You’ve Got A Friend” - Lucio Dalla “1983” - Lucio Dalla “Noi Come Voi” - Lucio Dalla “Tutta la vita” - Lucio Dalla “Viaggi organizzati” - Lucio Dalla “Se io fossi un angelo” - Lucio Dalla, Roberto Costa “Chissà se lo sai” “Glowing” - Lucio Dalla, Marco Di Marco Playlist links Youtube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSDUOPfhrIimgWBxdQXVVmrwLCtFF86K&si=of_W348XYtItH01N Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Gp51nq3bE5yzUHO5naz7m?si=f8dec0dc46054594 Sources for this season can be found at: ⁠https://www.societyofsoundpodcast.com/season-2-sources⁠

    1h 6m
  4. S2 E3 | The Day Had Five Heads: Lucio Dalla and the Fragmented 1970s

    May 6

    S2 E3 | The Day Had Five Heads: Lucio Dalla and the Fragmented 1970s

    In this episode of Society of Sound, we follow Lucio Dalla through the turbulent 1970s, a decade when Italy’s economic boom gave way to political unrest and social movements. From student protests and the “Hot Autumn” to the strategy of tension and sweeping social reforms, this episode traces how national conflict reshaped everyday life and artistic expression. At the center is Dalla, navigating his evolution from commercial pop artist to cantautore with socially-engaged themes in his music. Through albums like Terra di Gaibola, Storie di casa mia, and Come è profondo il mare, we explore how his music captured a country in motion, grappling with migration, inequality, urban change, and the meaning of belonging. Songs featured: “Il Fiume E La Città” - Lucio Dalla “Occhi Di Ragazza” - Lucio Dalla “Fumetto” - Lucio Dalla “Stars Fell On Alabama” - Lucio Dalla “Stars Fell on Alabama” - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong “ABCDEFG” -  Lucio Dalla “Il bambino di fumo” -  Lucio Dalla “Il Colennello” -  Lucio Dalla “4/3/1943” -  Lucio Dalla “Piazza Grande” -  Lucio Dalla “L’Auto targata “To”” -  Lucio Dalla “L’operaio Gerolamo” -  Lucio Dalla “Anidride solforosa” -  Lucio Dalla  “Intervista Con l’Avvocato” - Lucio Dalla “L’Ingorgo” -  Lucio Dalla “Come è profondo il mare” - Lucio Dalla “Il cucciolo Alfredo” - Lucio Dalla “Disperato erotico stomp” - Lucio Dalla Playlist links: Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSDUOPfhrIh-ntzCaxtDsneoSVl6YAfp&si=rYIQ-UD0yHR63P5NSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3MpbTAnGf5D6IPLr74NHE7?si=022950a28def4c65 Sources for this season can be found at: ⁠https://www.societyofsoundpodcast.com/season-2-sources⁠

    58 min
  5. S2 E2 | Outside the Lines: Lucio Dalla and the Contradictions of 1960s Italy

    Apr 29

    S2 E2 | Outside the Lines: Lucio Dalla and the Contradictions of 1960s Italy

    CONTENT WARNING: 48:00 - 50:17 Description: In this episode of Society of Sound, Marianna follows Lucio Dalla’s emergence as an artist in 1960s Italy, a country caught between optimism and fracture. As the economic miracle transforms everyday life through television, migration, consumerism, and the expanding culture industry, Lucio begins to carve out a voice that refuses to stay inside the lines. From jazz clubs and touring bands to RCA, Cantagiro, Sanremo, and his first album 1999, this episode traces how Dalla’s early music captured the tensions of a rapidly modernizing Italy: mass media and mass markets, American influence and local reinvention, private desire and public anxiety, futurism and disillusionment. Through songs like “Pafff… bum!,” “Quando ero soldato,” and “1999,” this episode asks what it meant to become an artist in a moment when Italy was building itself into a modern consumer nation, and when music was both an art form and a commodity. Songs featured: “Sapore di sale” - Gino Paoli “Lei - Non è per me” - Lucio Dalla “Careless Love” - jazz standard, recorded by Ray Charles “Ma questa sera” - Lucio Dalla (only on Youtube) “Hey Little Girl” - Major Lance “L’ora di piangere” - Lucio Dalla  “Pafff…bum!” - Lucio Dalla “1999” - Lucio Dalla “I Got You” - James Brown “Mondo di uomini”- Lucio Dalla “It’s a Man’s World” - James Brown  “Quando ero soldato” - Lucio Dalla “La paura” - Lucio Dalla “Io non ci sarò” - Lucio Dalla “Le cose che vuoi” - Lucio Dalla “L.S.D.” - Lucio Dalla “Tutto il male del mondo” - Lucio Dalla  “Bisogna saper perdere” - Lucio Dalla Playlist links: Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSDUOPfhrIjvDdmGPl6TNnsGsTlfEugB&si=uhNm6nLfuoP0_mqLSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5lGJvwBYJdAP4WZ5l9vFHh?si=5fe1d7ea561f4dff Sources for this season can be found at: ⁠https://www.societyofsoundpodcast.com/season-2-sources⁠

    52 min
  6. S2 E1 | Into the Vortex: Bologna, War, and the Politics of Sound

    Apr 22

    S2 E1 | Into the Vortex: Bologna, War, and the Politics of Sound

    After a five-year hiatus, The Society of Sound Podcast returns with a new season—and a new place. In this first episode, your host Marianna takes you with her to Bologna, the Italian city she unexpectedly fell in love with, and the place that sparked her obsession with one question: can sound belong to a place? We begin with her arrival in Bologna in 2021—walking under its centuries-old portici, learning how to navigate by the Due Torri, and first hearing the name Lucio Dalla, a singer-songwriter whose presence still echoes through the city. But to understand why Dalla matters, we have to go back. Back to 1943.  Tracing Dalla’s early life, from his birth during World War II through the 1950s, this episode explores how sound is shaped not just by geography, but by history—by fascism, resistance, reconstruction, American influence, and the rise of jazz in Italy. Along the way, we begin to ask bigger questions:What does a place sound like?What happens when sound travels beyond it?And can a musician ever truly represent a city? Listen with the companion playlist (linked below) to step inside the sonic world of Bologna from 1943 to 1958. Songs featured: “Bella ciao”  “Tiger Rag” - Original Dixieland Jazz Band “Basin Street Blues” - Louis Armstrong  “Petite Fleur” - Sidney Bechet, Preservation Hall Jazz Band “Si tu vois ma mère” - Sidney Bechet, Claude Luter et son orchestre “My Funny Valentine” - Chet Baker “I Fall In Love Too Easily” - Chet Baker “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” - Charles Mingus “Moanin’” - Charles Mingus “Un Poco Loco” - Bud Powell  “Stolen Moments” - Eric Dolphy, Oliver Nelson “La dolce vita” - Nino Rota “Lola (Yes Sir, That’s My Baby)” - Nino Rota “Grazie dei fiori” - Nilla Pizzi “Vola colomba” - Nilla Pizzi “Buongiorno tristezza” - Claudio Villa “Nel blu dipinto di blu” - Domenico Modugno “Love in Portofino” - Fred Buscaglione Playlist links:  Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSDUOPfhrIhrwRkTSFMSt3ljFgA_a3GK&si=aEs3TNAd7sKuZQ1w Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JEB7ut64utlepG5xfTi57?si=a8af49f73d844345 Sources for this season can be found at: https://www.societyofsoundpodcast.com/season-2-sources

    47 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

The podcast about the relationship between culture and music!