Polifonia in the press: Interview with Carlo Birrozzi, director of ICCD-ICBSA
‘From churches to public buildings: ICCD-ICBSA’s research into sound begins with the bells in Italy’ Carlo Birrozzi shares insights on Polifonia
For International Archives Day celebrated on 9 June, we are happy to share a fascinating interview with Carlo Birrozzi, the director of the Central Institute for Cataloguing and Documentation (ICCD) and the Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage (ICBSA). ICCD-ICBSA are partners of the Polifonia project under the Ministry of Culture in Italy (MiBACT) and hold a unique archival collection on Italian historical bells. Birrozzi shared his insights about the Polifonia project in the digital news platform AgCult (Italian item here). Below is a translated English excerpt of the very interesting interview:
‘We realized how important sound is in cities and the countryside. This is why we decided to start this research on the sound of the bells that have characterised our life for centuries. For example, we will focus on the bells of public life – the bell towers of public buildings – but also the sound of church bells. This research is very important, it is an extremely complex and poorly known topic, and we are beginning to address it by trying to systematise the approach with an extensive bibliographic research. We called several specialists to participate to this project, from ethnomusicologists to object specialists for bells, art historians who researched the evolution of the bell in time, as well as anthropologists who study how the bell is rung, from the time when clocks were invented to the time marked by the hours of the sacred. The objective of the research is to somehow recover the ways in which the bell has marked people’s lives. I think of rivalry between cities or warning in cases of danger. We are starting to do the first technical meetings to identify the ways in which to plan the activity of recording bell sounds. We chose to start from the Ligurian coast, go down to Emilia Romagna and go up to the mouth del Po. In the Po Valley where there was fog for a long time, for example, the sound message helped people to orient themselves. Then, we realised that it is also possible to identify the period of construction of the bell on the basis of the tones it produces. We also did some research to understand what materials have been used to make the bells.’
Image credits: Carlo Birrozzi.
Recent News
Polifonia Song Contest is two weeks in, and will continue for another two weeks. Have you downloaded the sample pack yet?
With two weeks to go until the deadline, the "Polifonia Song Contest" beckons all musicians who find…
Are you the type of musician that is inspired by old sounds, such as cheerful Irish folk melodies, the majestic resonance of pipe organ concerts, and the timeless chimes echoing from century-old Italian bell towers? Then ‘Polifonia Song Contest’ is your challenge!
Are you the type of musician that is inspired by old sounds, such as cheerful Irish folk melodies, the…
The consortium is preparing for the last face-to-face consortium meeting of the Polifonia project in April 2024.
The consortium is preparing for the last face-to-face consortium meeting of the Polifonia project in…
Polifonia is known for its strong links with academia and is pleased to present some highlights in its involvement in research and associated conferences.
Polifonia is known for its strong links with academia and is pleased to present some highlights in its…
In 2024, Paul Mulholland, Naomi Barker and Paul Warren (The Open University, U.K) are continuing their experiment investigating how different kinds of music influence the appreciation of an artwork; and to what extent the same kind of sense-making processes are used when viewing artwork and when listening to music. To do this, the researchers are looking for more participants. They have now automated the process so that participants can complete the experiment online without the involvement of an experimenter.
Music instrument with music notes on white background illustration In 2024, Paul Mulholland, Naomi…
During the last project meeting, the Polifonia consortium extensively discussed how to foster the impact of the project in academia and beyond. How to make the output of Polifonia sustainable after the lifetime of the project is one important aspect. But fostering re-usability does not end by long-term preservation of certain assets (such as data and tools). In Polifonia Research Ecosystem – Impact of a project. A webinar on Data re-use and workflows, we will discuss how we ensure that more fluid assets such as interfaces, but also experiences in setting up and executing workflows via those interfaces, become reproducible and reuseable.
During the last project meeting, the Polifonia consortium extensively discussed how to foster the impact…
For the Polifonia project, the Central Institute for Cataloging and Documentation (ICCD) of the Italian Ministry of Culture is carrying out activities on the historical bell heritage. The ICCD has also initiated a process of documentation of the practices and knowledge associated with bell production through collaboration with historical Italian foundries.
The bell casting process performed by the Pontifical Marinelli Foundry. Photo courtesy of ICC For…
One of the tools Polifonia will release is MELODY. It stands for ‘Make mE a Linked Open Data StorY’ and is a place where you can make sense of Linked Open Data and publish text-based as well as visual data stories. Earlier this year, students of the University of Bologna explored data through this tool. Let’s see what they have found and learned about… rock music.
One of the tools Polifonia will release is MELODY. It stands for 'Make mE a Linked Open Data StorY'…
Music libraries currently lack well-founded information retrieval tools. While it is relatively easy to find music based on metadata, content-based music retrieval still remains as a challenge. The Polifonia FACETS pilot aims to tackle this challenge by building a faceted search engine (FSE) for large collections of music documents.
Music libraries currently lack well-founded information retrieval tools. While it is relatively easy…
This is a week of major importance to the Polifonia team, as its researchers join both the conference of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) and the conference for the International Semantic Web and Linked Data Community (ISWC): venues of significant importance for both research and industry. Read more about Polifonia’s contributions below.
This is a week of major importance to the Polifonia team, as its researchers join the conference of…
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 101004746