Global Gig Guide goes to Italia Wave!!
Hi, this is Gemma Dempsey and this week we are going to Italy for the Italia Wave Love Festival.
This music and arts festival began in 1987 and was originally known as Arezzo Wave, but to celebrate its 21st birthday it has moved to Florence in Tuscany. The premiere of the Italia Wave Love Festival takes place from Tuesday, July 17 to Sunday, July 22 and is the first time that Italia Wave is presented as a ‘European Festival village.’
We are giving you plenty of notice in this Global Gig Guide in case you would like to make Italia Wave part of your summer holiday. As many of you will know, history of Florence goes back to Roman times, but it is best known as being the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. With the Italia Wave Love Festival taking place in Tuscany, you can soak up Italian culture both old and new as well as enjoy music from around the world, art, spoken word, cinema, high-tech theatrical events and much more.
The opening night of Italia Wave will host the Italian premiere of Nitin Sawhney’s score for the classic silent film A Throw of Dice, performed by Nitin and the Tuscany Regional Orchestra. This will take place in Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence. The rest of the festival is located just outside the city centre at Sesto Fiorentino.
The various stages at Italia Wave have different names to divide up the multitude of activities that comprise the festival. There’s Toscana Wave for new Tuscan talent; Psycho Stage where up and coming bands will be voted on by music and media experts. The main bands perform on both the Psycho and Main stages, and these include The Good the Bad and the Queen in their only Italian show, Tunng, Carmen Consoli, Vinicio Capossela, Kaiser Chiefs and CSS. The Global Stage features Avion Travel, Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, Susanna Baca and K’naan while Elettrowave takes place in a former industrial space. It has an external space for skaters and performers, a Club area for DJ’s with a huge projection screen, while the Theatre zone is set up for interactive installations with music provided by Cassius; Matthew Dear’s Big Hands, Jimi Tenor and Datarock and more.
ClassicWave is the classical music program of Italia Wave and features one of Kubrick’s fave composers, Ligeti, performed by NemEnsemble. Everything that is not music at Italia Wave goes under the banner of CultWave comprising comics, literature, theatre, cabaret, cinema, art and ‘social initiatives for those less fortunate than ourselves, and there will be an appearance of the truculent do-gooder himself, Sir Bob Geldorf.
Comic Wave will hold a 24-hour comic-creating marathon; there’ll be a whole day dedicated to Eighth Line Poetry and a reading of Catcher in the Rye in its entirety ; the festival will print an exclusive edition of Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot; TeatroWave and ArtWave showcases new theatrical and artistic talent, and the Media Center will be brim full of new technologies for you to blog about to your hearts content.
If you are unable to attend Italia Wave Love Festival this year, never fear. Go online to Second Life where the 4DAngels island is the virtual site featuring rock concerts, Elettrowave DJ’s and virtual broadcasts of Radio Wave.
This amazing festival is free for the most part. There is a charge after 9pm and, for the very fortunate few, there are VIP passes which give access to an exclusive back stage area complete with Italian gastronomic delicacies. For more information about the event, check out the Italia Wave website. Buon viaggio e buon divertimento!
We’d love to hear about festivals in your part of the world, so why not send us an email? Global@KCRW.com. Otherwise check back with us next week for more information on Global Gigging.
The Global Gig Guide is produced for KCRW.com by JC Swiatek and the theme music is composed by The Plush Interiors.
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Disclaimer: Although I have tried to make the Global Gig Guide as accurate as possible, KCRW accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information contained in the Global Gig Guide. We would recommend that you to verify any critical information with the relevant authorities before you travel.