PERMANENT SEMINAR ON CREATION, PERFORMANCE AND ARTISTIC RESEARCH
2026-10-02 | 4 pm | DeCA UA, Aveiro | João Branco Amphitheatre
Free entrance and in person.
An overview on wind-band phoenomenon in Southern Italy: issues, changes and perspectives
Emanuele Raganato | Università del Salento
Christian Andrea Bevilacqua | Università del Salento
Wind bands have historically played a central role in the cultural and social life of Southern Italy. In Apulia, “bande da giro” became deeply connected to patron-saint festivals, local communities, and the circulation of opera repertoire, functioning not only as musical ensembles but also as spaces of socialisation, education, cultural mediation, and collective participation.
In recent decades, this traditional model has undergone significant changes. The transformation of festival culture and public spaces, generational turnover, changing patterns of participation, and the weakening of informal and intergenerational forms of musical transmission have contributed to the decline of the traditional banda da giro. Yet the idea of a simple “decline of the bands” risks overlooking a broader process of transformation.
This lecture explores the relationship between continuity, changes, and transformation in Southern Italian wind-band culture. The first part examines the decline of the traditional model and the changing social functions of the band. The second looks towards possible future trajectories, considering how wind-band practices can be reconfigured through new repertoires, organisational models, educational approaches, and relationships with communities and public space.
Particular attention is given to the rise of street bands as one possible, though neither linear nor automatic, transformation of the traditional wind-band model. Their mobility, participatory character, hybrid musical languages, and direct interaction with audiences suggest new ways of connecting musical practice, community, and public space. The lecture ultimately asks not simply whether wind bands are declining, but how they are changing and what new forms of musical participation may emerge from this transformation.
Emanuele Raganato | Professor, Musicologist, and Researcher in the social and educational field. After teaching at numerous Italian conservatories and universities, he is now a full professor at the Conservatory of Music of Monopoli (Italy). He graduated with honours in musicology from the University of Lecce, graduated from the conservatories of Lecce and Modena, and obtained a doctorate with honours in sociology from the Jagellonian University of Krakow. He has conducted the Centro Universale del Belcanto (Cubec) in Modena (Italy), the Modena Youth Symphony Orchestra, and various wind bands in southern Italy. Dr. Emanuele Raganato has published for international journals, such as The Galpin Society Journal and Orbis Idearum. His latest publications include La scomparsa delle bande musicali (Pensa Editore, 2020).
Christian Andrea Bevilacqua | Italian musicologist, researcher, and music educator. He studied Classical and Jazz Trombone at the Conservatories of Lecce and Monopoli and further specialised in Jazz Trombone at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK). He also studied at the École des Musiques Actuelles (EDIM) in Paris and holds a Master’s degree in Music Composition for Film, Advertising, Documentaries and Video Games from ADSUM, Lecce. He is currently a PhD researcher at the “Tito Schipa” Conservatory of Lecce. His research focuses on traditional wind bands (“bande da giro”) and street bands. He is an adjunct lecturer in Music History and Ethnomusicology at the University of Salento, Department of Human and Social Sciences. He is also a tenured music education teacher at the “Carducci-Paolillo” Comprehensive School in Cerignola, where he teaches music at lower secondary school level.