Interview with MusicaToronto, and their mission to share Italian music with North America.

I had the honour of interviewing and speaking with MusicaToronto, about who they are, what they do and their goal of sharing Italian culture and music with the Italo-Canadians and more!

What is MusicaToronto?

MusicaToronto is an online platform that seeks to share, promote and document what is happening in today's Italian music scene, from a North American perspective. At MusicaToronto, we believe that overgeneralizing Italian music to a handful of songs prevents people from seeing how Italian music and by extension, Italian culture, proceeds to modernize. Our platform aims to showcase the diverse landscape of Italian music - drawing particular attention to new and rising artists that may struggle to find a platform even in their homeland.

When did you decide to create this page and why?

MusicaToronto was launched in 2019 as a blog to show Italian artists that there is interest and excitement in their music from outside of Italy. When talking to other Italians our age, we often found a lack of awareness of Italian music created past the early 2000s. It appeared that the language barrier was holding people back from seeking out new music made in the Italian language. For this reason, we present our content in English so that it can reach a wider audience.

What is something viewers should know about MusicaToronto?

We are often mistaken for being born and raised in Italy, when the reality is that we're two 20-something Canadians with a strong connection to our Italian heritage. We represent younger voices and a new generation of Italian-Canadians that are looking to the future of Italian culture, rather than exclusively reminiscing on the past. Although we are based in Toronto, we hope our page can be of interest to anyone curious about exploring Italian music from beyond the Italian peninsula.

If you could have one wish for MusicaToronto, what would it be?

Our wish is for Italian music to become more widely known and appreciated in North America, especially now that the American music industry is more receptive to music made in other languages.

We hope to create a community of fans who will one day be able to see some of their favourite artists perform here in Canada. Going to Italy shouldn't be the only way for culturally curious listeners to experience fresh new Italian music.

What should we be looking forward to seeing from MusicaToronto?

Without giving away too much, we are creating interactive segments so that music fans can learn more about new artists and where they come from. We also have some exciting partnerships we're working on!

What is one of the best moments you’ve had with MusicaToronto?

It's always exciting when Italian artists respond to and repost things we've shared. It was also really fun having the chance to interview some of the artists we enjoy listening to.

Where in Italy are you and your families from?

Our parents were born in Molise and Campania. They were the ones to introduce us to the music they listened to and because we enjoyed it, we started exploring on our own. Our parents tell us of the days when concerts used to be frequented by young Italians who would sing along to artists that were popular in Italy at the time. We hope to see a North American community bonding over new music again some day.

Here you can find MusicaToronto on Spotify, and they're amazing playlists! This one is my favourite.

But there's also more specific playlists, loving this one right now!

As many of you know, much like the creators of MusicaToronto, I'm Italian in Canada and I find it very refreshing and comforting to have something so beautiful to add to Canada's mosaic of customs and cultures. Many people can mistake Italian music for being "That's Amore", when there is so much more to it than that, much like some of my favourite hidden gem, Zero Assoluto or even some of the more popular artists like Lucio Battisti or Eros Ramazzotti.

I want to say a huge thank you to Rob and Erica for doing this interview, and for all their work they do as MusicaToronto. It is much appreciated and admired, that I can guarantee. It's so nice to see the younger generation - my generation - admire and accept our heritage, and where we came from rather than disassociating completely.

So who else do you want to see on my blog? Who Should I Interview? Find me on Instagram or even email, and tell me! Someone from music, TV, movies, makeup, influencers, etc. I'd be happy to interview anyone!

Vi voglio bene,

Melissa