Luiss University Launches BACCANO Record Label to Reimagine Italian Folk Music

BACCANO, a new record label born within Luiss University Press in Rome, aims to reinterpret Italian musical tradition through contemporary sounds. The label launches on April 11, 2025, with three vinyl and digital releases focused on Sicily. Conceived by Daniele Rosa (editorial director of Luiss University Press) and curated by Toni Cutrone (aka Mai Mai Mai), BACCANO is positioned as a curatorial project and a site for sonic experimentation, bridging avant-garde, folk memory, ritual research, and soundscape. The inaugural releases include: 'I racconti di Aretusa' by Lino Capra Vaccina and Mai Mai Mai, recorded in a church in Ortigia during a residency for the Ortigia Sound System festival; 'La Macchia' by Go Dugong and Alfio Antico, reworking archaic Sicilian rhythms with electronic production and mastering by Tommaso Colliva (Calibro 35); and a self-titled album by Maria Violenza & Irtumbranda & Tropicantesimo, in which Maria Violenza interprets folk songs by Rosa Balistreri with hypnotic rhythms and electronic interventions. Rosa describes BACCANO as an active cultural actor that goes beyond dissemination to create new possibilities for listening and discovery. The name evokes both joyful noise and Bacchus/Dionysus, referencing folklore and collective celebration. The label plans to bring its vision to stages and festivals across Italy.