Oltre la barriera del suono. Razza, consumo e produzione di luoghi nel rock and roll italoamericano, 1958-1936

• Autores: Simone Cinotto
• Localización: Quaderni storici, ISSN 0301-6307, Anno 49, Nº 145, 2014, págs. 265-295
• Idioma: italiano
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• Resumen

  • The history of the relations between African Americans and Italian Americans was marred by conflicts and even violence for most of the twentieth century. However, concurrently with this dominant narrative -an intriguing chapter in the history of American racism - there are many evidences of exchanges, collaborations and attractions on the cultural ground, notably popular music. In the late 1950s and early 60s- at the zenith of the tension between the two groups - a few young New York Italian Americans became the most prominent interpreters of a black musical genre: doo-wop. They were popular even among African American audiences. The essay argues that the interracial success of Italian American rock and roll was the result of its role in the production of two places: the "Italian American neighborhood" of New York's outer boroughs, from which the music emerged as the soundtrack of an authentic and genuine working-class urban culture; and the eterritorialized space of commodified popular music ( mass-produced records, concerts, radio and TV shows), in which it was possible for encounters, and reciprocal fascinations to develop - encounters and fascinations which were impossible to hapen in the streets of a city - at the dawn of the civil rights era - to a large extent segregated.