Global Ear: Bologna
by 4 Settembre 2025
Riccardo Balli with a cardboard cutout of himself as part of the Balli-Marraffa-Balli Trio. Photo by Jam Squire
Bologna has a rich history of radical experimentation in politics, visual arts and music, the modern origins of which are arguably traced to the revolutionary social movement known as autonomia that gripped Italian society, and rocked the city, at the close of the 1970s.
Autonomia was powered in part by the Centri Sociali (social centres) – originally large collectively managed squats – that provided a space for Bologna’s youth to experiment with new forms of living and creativity that fell outside the discipline and demands of waged labour. As such, a vibrant culture of self-organised music events, art happenings and political interventions flourished across the city from the late 1960s. While autonomia would broadly come to a close by the mid 1980s (in a wave of state repression aimed squarely at halting its expansion), Bologna’s ‘creative autonomy’ persisted, albeit in more constrained conditions.
These concerns aside, Bologna has maintained its reputation as a power house of radical cultural innovation, and the record shop, music label and Centri Sociali known as Sonic Belligeranza (the brainchild of Riccardo Balli, aka DJ Balli) has, since the early 2000s, stood at the centre of Bologna’s experimental music cultures. Sonic Belligeranza provides a welcoming and productive ‘encounter space’ for visiting musicians, artists and students, and operates in the city’s proud tradition of creative and joyful dissent.
Sonic Belligeranza’s main record label is dedicated to platforming extreme dancefloor sounds that stretch the boundaries of what is both possible and acceptable within Italy’s EDM scenes. Two sublabels also exist: +Belligeranza, championing noise and ideas, and -Belligeranza dedicated to softer sounds and weirder content.
Below is a curated tracklist of Sonic Belligeranza releases from the last two decades, tracks taken from the main label and from each of its sublabels. Placed together they offer a route map illuminating Balli’s thinking, his interventions and forays into – and his support of – Bologna’s experimental music scenes and DIY cultures.
