Photo: Atraz Emilia
Street Ballads
In autumn 2025, soundscapes.live brought together ten authors from Italy and Switzerland in cooperation with Sud Sonico. In contributions written especially for the project, the writers gave voice to mythological and legendary figures.
Fabiano Alborghetti (CH): «Anagrafe degli eroi senza nome» (Register of nameless heroes) - a monologue for all those to whom no legend or myth has ever been consecrated.
Maria Grazia Calandrone (I): «EXTÁS, Teresa d'Avila» - a monologue about the rapture of St Teresa.
Zora del Buono (CH): «Lycosa tarantula» - a monologue of tarantulas, whose bite is capable of triggering a dancing frenzy, and who foresee a great drought.
Andrea Donaera (I): «Grima» - a monologue on Mallatrone, a wooden figure that can still be seen today in the Chiesa da San Francesco in Gallipoli and is known for its sinister grin.
Begoña Feijoo Fariña (CH): «Il coraggio di Enea» (The Courage of Aeneas) - a monologue in homage to a father figure who "like Aeneas on the ship in the middle of the sea, watched over the journey and the sleep of those travelling with him".
Doris Femminis (CH): «Carissima anima» - a monologue for the countless possibilities available to a soul for concrete expression in the individual.
Michele Mari (I): «Scarecrow» - a monologue about the nightmarish horror of scarecrows that symbolise existential emptiness.
Andrea Martina (I): «Dentro una lacrima» (Inside a tear) - a monologue with the last thoughts of Argos, the dying hunting dog of Odysseus.
Marko Miladinović (CH): «Milarepadino - Poeta, Ladro, Assassino, Santo» - a monologue for a poet, thief, murderer and saint.
Carmen Nolasco (I): «Le parole della Sibilla» - a monologue for the Cumaean Sibyl, who longs for redemption from her waiting position and wants to be heard in the present.
The literary contributions were performed for the first time in October 2025 at the AVANT Festival in Lecce. The collective TOSUNIAN interpreted the texts as a literary-musical soundscape. A reading performance with Marko Miladinović took place on 11 December 2025 in Zurich as part of the Zurigo in italiano initiative followed two public readings.
Soundscape
In this edition of “Street Ballads”, the Tosunian ensemble transformed the literary pieces into a literary-musical soundscape, evoking what Filippo Caniato and Marco Saracino describe as “una sensazione di radio” – a sensation akin to radio broadcast. Their projects are woven from music, voices, and sounds.
Since 2020, Filippo Caniato and Marco Saracino have been collaborating with Caterina Dufì, also known as Vipera. As a multidisciplinary artist, she works between sound and installation art. The ensemble is further complemented by the producer Daniele Carcassi and the sound engineer Matilde Davoli.
For soundscapes.live, the group adapted the literary monologues composed especially for this project into a performance in which the voices of mythical and legendary figures came to life.
Performance Dates
| 11 October 2025, 7:30 pm | AVANT Festival | Masseria Tagliatelle, Lecce (IT) |
| 11 December 2025, 6:30 pm | Zurigo in italiano | Liceo Artistico, Parkring 30, 8027 Zurich |
| 12 December 2025, 7:30 pm | Reading | Schopf, Altstetterstrasse 334, 8047 Zurich |
| 14 December 2025, 2:00 pm | Reading | WipWest Huus, Hönggerstrasse 76, 8037 Zurich |
| Additional dates to be confirmed | ||
FABIANO ALBORGHETTI (*1970 in Milan) lives in Ticino and is a poet, writer, and cultural promoter. He has published several poetry collections, including Verso Buda (2004), L’opposta riva (2006), Registro dei fragili (2009), Maiser (2017 – a verse novel that earned him the Swiss Literature Prize in 2018), and Corpuscoli di Krause (2022 – nominated for the Premio Strega Poesia in 2023). His works have been translated into more than ten languages and have appeared in international magazines and anthologies.
MARIA GRAZIA CALANDRONE (*1964 in Milan) is a poet, writer, journalist, and artist. She writes for Corriere della Sera and leads poetry workshops in schools and other public institutions. Her highly acclaimed works, including Splendi come vita and Dove non mi hai portata, have been translated into over twenty languages and nominated for the prestigious Premio Strega literary award.
ZORA DEL BUONO (*1962 in Zurich) is an architect, author, and lecturer. After studying architecture, she worked in Berlin and co-founded the magazine "mare". She has written several novels, including Seinetwegen, which received the Swiss Book Prize in 2024. Zora del Buono lives in Berlin and Zurich, and teaches in both the United States and Switzerland.
ANDREA DONAERA (*1989 in Maglie) lives in Gallipoli and has published, among others, the novels Io sono la bestia (2019) and Lei che non tocca mai terra (2021, nominated for the Premio Strega). His works have been translated into French. His latest publication is La colpa è mia. Donaera also writes essays, short stories, and poetry.
MICHELE MARI (*1955 in Milan) is a Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Milan. His works include Tutto il ferro della torre Eiffel (2002, Premio Bagutta), the poetry collection Cento poesie d'amore a Ladyhawke (2007), Verderame (2008, Premio Grinzane Cavour), the autobiographical Leggenda privata (2017, winner of the Mondello Prize 2018 and the Brancati Prize 2018), and Locus desperatus (2024, Campiello Prize finalist).
CARMEN NOLASCO (*in Brindisi) is a sociologist, author, and editor. Since her debut Io sto nel mezzo (2016), she has published several novels, including Il tempo è un concetto inutile, La geometria del ragno, and Querida (2024). Her short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Tradimento (2018) and L’uomo che rubava la sabbia (2021).
BEGOÑA FEIJOO FARIÑA (*1977 in Galicia/Spain) lives in Valposchiavo (Grisons). She moved from Spain to Ticino at the age of twelve and, since 2015, has dedicated herself to theatre and writing. She has published several works, including her latest, Per una fetta di mela secca (2020), which received the Special Jury Award at the «Premio Stresa di Narrativa» and is currently being translated into Latvian and Spanish. In March 2025, her fourth novel (Come onde di passaggio, Gabriele Capelli Editore) will be released.
ANDREA MARTINA (*in Brindisi) is a writer, screenwriter, and playwright. Among his novels are Fratelli di strada, C’è chi dice no, La terza stagione, and Furia (2024). Martina teaches creative writing and, since 2021, has been the fiction editor at the publishing house "I libri di Icaro". Alongside his work in fiction, Andrea Martina created the podcast Bartali. Una guerra in bicicletta, a finalist at the Italian Podcast Awards in 2022.
DORIS FEMMINIS (*1972 in Cavergno) grew up in the Maggia Valley. Alongside her literary work, she spent eight years working as a psychiatric nurse and also worked as a goat herder in the Val Bavona. Since 2014, she has lived in the Vaud Jura. She received the Swiss Literature Prize in 2020 for her novel Fuori per sempre.
MARKO MILADINOVIC (*1988 in Vukovar) is actively involved in the poetry scene, participating in national and international festivals. Since 2014, he has been curating and organizing the "Ticino Poetry Slam". Marko Miladinović's first book, L'umanità gentile, was published in 2017 by Miraggi Edizioni. His latest poetry collection, Libro massimo di poesia, was released in 2024, showcasing his unique style, which has been described as visionary and anarchic.
Artists
Founded in 2017, Tosunian (Filippo Caniato and Marco Saracino) is an ongoing exploration of radio language, aimed at dismantling traditional radio structures and conventions in order to envision a different idea of radio. Their focus shifts from music to musicality, from content and meaning to form. Technically, their work takes the shape of improvisation, playing with the audio and video materials we are constantly exposed to.
Matilde Davoli, respected artist, sound engineer, and studio technician based at Sudestudio in the Salento countryside, will be responsible for recording and mixing the live performance, ensuring high-quality sound and production throughout the project.
An artist and writer with a multidisciplinary practice, Caterina Dufì explores performative action in the poetic and sound fields, nourished by intersections with the visual arts. Her methodology of tracing signs (life drawing, printmaking techniques) extends into writing, shaping an affective and material poetics centered on description.
Abo Abo, moniker of Daniele Carcassi, is a Florence-based performer, composer, and sound artist active in the field of electronic music since 2015. After earning a Master's degree in Sound Design and a Bachelor's degree in Electronic Music, Abo Abo has been immersed in an ongoing process of musical research, developing a solid and versatile experience that spans DJ sets, experimental live performances, and sound installations.
Sud Sonico
Sud Sonico, an association based in Lecce, fosters musical diversity and innovation. Its team consists of cultural professionals who have been collaborating with organisers worldwide since 2014. Their projects place particular emphasis on innovation, diversity, quality, accessibility, and inclusion.
Sud Sonico was founded by Ludovico Esposito, a cultural project manager and consultant who is committed to increasing the visibility of alternative music scenes in Europe. He is particularly interested in innovative formats of contemporary electronic music.
The AVANT Festival – a boutique festival dedicated to avant-garde music – has been curated by Sud Sonico since 2020. The festival creates spaces for encounter, inspires new dialogue, and makes the rich variety of international contemporary music and the beauty of the Salento palpable for its visitors.
Travel notes
AVANT Festival, Lecce
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