In Bologna’s Salaborsa one finds ‘La Sala della Musica’, the first permanent exhibition in Italy dedicated to the history of popular music in a city; a magical place made up of photos, 300 songs, 70 years of testimonies, over 700 names mentioned among singers and musical contexts.

Bologna, la Musica – Racconti e suoni di una città (Bologna, the Music – Stories and sounds of a city) is the name given to the evening that Elastica conceived, curated and produced for the City of Bologna to bring ‘La Sala della Musica’ to the stage in Piazza Maggiore, and with it the history of the city and its most inspired artists.

Chosen to host the event were the journalist and television and radio presenter Paola Maugeri, one of Italy’s leading rock music connoisseurs, and the singer-songwriter and voice of Radio 2 Social Club Luca Barbarossa who, with the help of a special jukebox, brought to life the most beautiful songwriting.

Together with them were many guests, privileged witnesses of the artistic fable that was and still is Bologna.

On stage, amidst songs, tributes and anecdotes, Gianni Morandi made the piazza sing by playing some great classics from his repertoire and some tributes to Lucio Dalla, involving the mayor Matteo Lepore in an amusing duet. Then singer-songwriter Andrea Mingardi, bassist and producer Roberto Costa, sound engineer of the historic Fonoprint Maurizio Biancani, and musician and composer Fio Zanotti took the stage to talk about Bologna and its musical history. The grand finale was given to live music with a special medley set to music by Maestro Beppe D’Onghia and performed by an exceptional band made up of Cesare Cremonini’s historic bass player Nicola ‘Ballo’ Balestri, singer-songwriter Roberta Giallo, guitarists Ricky Portera and Federico Poggipollini, and Lele Veronesi. Featured instead with video contributions are Francesco Guccini, Cesare Cremonini and Angela Baraldi.

Elastica was also responsible for the strategic and technical coordination of the entire event, as well as the direction and videography that accompanied the storytelling on the big screen.