Musetta

This week on the Model U.N. we take a virtual look at the music scene of “il bel paese”. Like Germany, Italy has its fair share of notable historic contributions to music. The world’s first public opera house Teatro di San Cassiano was built in Venice in the early 1600s. Monteverde practically invented modern opera while other composers such as Scarlatti, Pergolesi and Verdi continue to have their works played by various opera companies and orchestras around the world today. Famous tenors like Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli earned Italy as much international fame as delicious Italian “gravy.” But it’s not all opera in the boot—there’s plenty of other musicical genres to appeal to younger generations of listeners. Cuneo’s Marlene Kuntz has been making noise rock in the vein of Sonic Youth since the late 80s. And Milan-based indie group Amari combines hip hop influences and electropop. If you’re curious to see what else is going on in the modern Italian music scene, look no further than OurStage:

Electronic dance duo Babylonia have produced dark romantic music in the same vein as New Order.around since the early aughties. Back in March they opened for IAMX, Sneaker Pimps’s founder Chris Corner’s solo project, and are currently working on the follow up to their debut album Later Tonight.

Stefano Antoci D'Agostino

Stead is an acronym for Stefano Antoci D’Agostino, a Sicilian-born folk singer-songwriter artist now based in Milan. With intimate vocals and poignant finger picking on “Another Me,” Stefano’s narrative approach will win over and warm the hearts of Jose Gonzalez fans.

The raging fist of punk rock is just as home in Italy as it is in the US and UK. Verona’s The MINUS LOW FI brings Italy the tradition of raw low fi garage punk. It’s the kind of stuff that’s been perpetrated by bands like Oblivians and Black Lips over the years. The band describes themselves as “Mothoread trying to play a Beatles cover of Hives doing a jam with early Hellacoptes drinking vodka at the bar with the Gluecifer dressed like the Cramps listening Misfits on a detuned Ipod on a dark rainy day of September in Venice Beach!”

Singer Marinella Mastrosimone and producer Matteo Curcio form the hip electronic duo Musetta. With Marinella’s dreamy presence and Matteo’s glistening production, the two incorporate danceable trip hop inspired beats with jazzy vocals. A must hear band if you’re into Supreme Beings of Leisure and Bitter:Sweet.