Performance art in Rome liberates music from old Soviet X-ray records

A performance titled "Concerto Vietato" (Forbidden Concert) revives a little-known historical practice from the Soviet Union, where banned Western music was secretly recorded onto discarded medical X-ray plates. The project, presented at Spazio Taverna in Rome, was conceived by Italian artist Gian Maria Tosatti (born 1980 in Rome) and musician Pasquale Innarella. During the performance, live instrumentalists interacted with the original recordings, effectively "liberating" the music from the old Russian discs. The initiative recalls how two young men from Odessa began etching American hits onto X-ray plates to smuggle them more easily, despite poor sound quality. The event highlights a form of cultural resistance during a period when foreign music was prohibited in the USSR.