Nicola Renzi (*Bologna, 1997)
Education
January 2023 - 19 March 2025: PhD in History and Cultural Heritage, University of Helsinki (Thesis: More-than-music. Echosystems, acoustemologies and histories of listening from Sápmi. Supervisors: Prof. Hanna E. Guttorm, Prof. Pirjo K. Virtanen. Excellent cum laude)
November 2021 - 19 March 2025: PhD in Scienze Storiche e Archeologiche. Memoria, Civiltà e Patrimonio, DISCI, Università di Bologna (Thesis: More-than-music. Echosystems, acoustemologies and histories of listening from Sápmi. Supervisors: Prof. Zelda A. Franceschi, Prof. Nico Staiti. Excellent cum laude)
September 2019 - July 2021: Master's Degree in Music and Theatre Studies, University of Bologna (Thesis: Sounds like Sápmi. Prospettive ecologiche nella narrazione musicale del paesaggio. Supervisor: Prof. Domenico Staiti. 110 cum laude)
January - June 2020: Erasmus+ Studio at University of Turku, Faculty of Humanities.
September 2016 - November 2019: BA in Drama, Art and Music Studies, University of Bologna (Thesis: Modern joik and drumming. Processi di resilienza e continuità culturale nella musica Sami. Supervisor: Prof. Domenico Staiti. 110)
Workshops and scientific memberships
He is member of the research unit 'Indigenous Studies' at the University of Helsinki.
Participation in numerous national and international meetings and workshops centering on Audiovisual Ethnomusicology including "Audiovisual Documentation on the Fields" (Fondazione CINI, 2020) and "Audiovisual Ethnomusicology and online platforms" (IISMC 2021).
He's an active member of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), of the European Seminar in Ethnomusicology (ESEM) and of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). He collaborates with the Study Groups Music and Minorities, Indigenous Music and Dance and Musical Instruments for ICTM, and the Special Interest Group for Ecomusicology (SEM).
Since 2024 he is Assistant Editor of the Analytical Approaches to World Music journal.
Teaching activities
25.3.2025 | Ravenna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) per insegnamento (BA) Antropologia Sociale e Culturale, prof. Vanessa Grotti: «Biocultural approaches to the study of Arctic echosystems»
4.3.2025 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (MA) Laboratorio (1), prof. Domenico Staiti: «Metodi di field recording in etnomusicologia»
25.2.2025 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Tecniche della Ricerca Etnografica (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Etnografie sonore tra i Sámi dell'Artico europeo»
15.11.2024 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (4 hours) Course (MA) Laboratorio (1), prof. Lorenzo Chiarofonte: «Metodi di field recording e mappatura sonora»
12.4.2024 | Ravenna, Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (MA) Sound Ecologies and the Anthropology of Sustainability, prof. Marc Andrew Brightman: «Dialogues with rivers and winds. Deep listening to green colonialism on Sámi Indigenous lands»
28.2.2024 | Torino, Università di Torino
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Etnomusicologia, prof. Ilario Meandri: «Laboratorio Soundscapes Sami»
16.2.2024 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Tecniche della Ricerca Etnografica (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Metodi di etnografia sonora tra i Sámi dell'Artico europeo»
13.2.2024 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Tecniche della Ricerca Etnografica (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Il mezzo audiovisivo nella ricerca etnografica. Approcci, strumenti, tecniche»
31.1.2024 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (MA) Laboratorio (1), prof. Massimiliano Mollona: «La ripresa del suono nell’indagine etno- ed eco-musicologica: strumenti, metodi, etica»
17.10.2023 | Niterói, Universidade Federal Fluminense
Talk (2 hours) Seminar (MA) Cosmopolíticas – Núcleo de Antropologia, prof. Oiara Bonilla: «Diálogos com o rio e o vento. A escuta profunda do colonialismo verde nos territórios indígenas do Artico europeu»
2.10.2023 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Antropologia delle Americhe (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Etnografie dell’ascolto in contesti indigeni. Il caso dei Sámi nell’Artico europeo»
1.3.2023 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (MA) Laboratorio (1), prof. Silvia Bruni: «L'audioregistrazione di interesse etnomusicologico: teoria, strumenti e tecniche»
24.11.2022 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Tecniche della Ricerca Etnografica (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Il mezzo audiovisivo nella ricerca etnografica. Approcci, strumenti, tecniche»
2.3.2022 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (MA) Laboratorio (1), prof. Silvia Bruni: «What does it sound like Sápmi? Strumenti e approcci al campo da remoto»
1.12.2021 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Tecniche della Ricerca Etnografica (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Strumenti, tecniche e metodologie della documentazione audiovisiva di interesse etnografico»
29.11.2021 | Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Talk (2 hours) Course (BA) Tecniche della Ricerca Etnografica (1), prof. Zelda Alice Franceschi: «Le storie di vita, memorie e musica. Due casi di self-joik tra i Sámi»
Conference papers and seminars
21.3.2025 | Oslo
"Mosquito more-than-music, and other lessons we can learn from Sámi acoustemologies for the study of music beyond humans", International seminar: Singing Beyond the Human Music and Environment in Arctic and Amazonian Settings, Universitetet i Oslo, Oslo, 21 March 2025.
18.3.2025 | Bologna
Organization and coordination of the doctoral workshop Auto-Ethnography Writing (with Hanna Ellen Guttorm), Dipartimento di Storia, Culture e Civiltà, Università di Bologna.
21.2.2025 | Bologna
Coordination of the international symposium Music and Identity in the Mediterranean. Navigating Ambiguity (main organizer: Silvia Bruni), Università di Bologna, Bologna.
14.1.2025 | Wellington
"Sámi storying as pathway to other-than-human musicking. Multispecies ethnomusicology from the Indigenous Arctic", 48th World Conference of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD), Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, Wellington, 9-15 January 2025.
14.12.2024 | Bologna
Talk in the roundtable "Campi aperti della ricerca musicologica ed etnomusicologica: cosa si può fare di nuovo 'dentro' le nostre discipline", ADUIM 30 TRENT’ANNI DI MUSICA NELL’UNIVERSITÀ ITALIANA (Musica al futuro. Cultura, società, nuovi orizzonti di ricerca), Bologna, 12-14 December 2024.
3.12.2024 | Napoli
"Ascoltare bieggafápmu. Wind-power e conflitti ontologici dall’Artico Europeo", Tensioni e convergenze tra sovranità e sostenibilità in un’ottica multidisciplinare e multiculturale (edited by Flavia G. Cuturi and Marzia Mauriello), Università di Napoli "L'Orientale", Napoli, 2-3 December 2024.
25.10.2024 | Nuremberg
"How musical is mosquito, and other lessons we can learn from Sámi acoustemologies for the study of music beyond humans", Inaugural Symposium of the ICTMD Study-Group-in-the-Making Multispecies Sound and Movement Studies, Nuremberg University of Music, Nuremberg, 24-26 October 2024.
27.6.2024 | Venezia
"Beyond soundscape conservation. Participatory approaches to the collection and return of Sámi sonic knowledge", Repatriating/Rematriating Sounds. A (Digital) Challenge for XXI Century Sound Archives, IISMC, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia, 26-28 June 2024.
13.6.2024 | Bologna
Panel Indigenous and Ecological Knowledge in Music Analysis, convenor: Nicola Renzi (University of Bologna/Helsinki); participants: Klisala Harrison (Aarhus University), Pirkko Moisala (University of Helsinki), Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen (University of Helsinki), Francisco Apurinã (University of Helsinki), Jakop Janssønn (The Arctic University of Norway), Nicola Renzi (University of Bologna/Helsinki), 8th International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Musics (AAWM 2024), Università di Bologna, Bologna, 10-14 June 2024.
13.6.2024 | Bologna
"Rhythmic and Melodic Evaluation of More-Than-Human Agencies in Joik Performances", talk in the panel Indigenous and Ecological Knowledge in Music Analysis (Convenor: Nicola Renzi), 8th International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Musics (AAWM 2024), Università di Bologna, Bologna, 10-14 June 2024 (co-author: Jakop Janssønn).
11.6.2024 | Bologna
Coordinator of the Workshop "Field Recording Techniques and Ecoacoustic Analysis of Urban Soundscapes" within the programme of the 8th International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Musics (AAWM 2024), Università di Bologna, Bologna, 10-14 June 2024 (with Lorenzo Chiarofonte).
9.2023-14.6.2024 | Bologna/USA
Member of the Local Arrangement Committee for the 8th International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Musics (AAWM 2024), Università di Bologna, Bologna, 10-14 June 2024.
21.5.2024 | Venezia
"'Don't you hear the spirits warning us?' Signals of extractivism and ecological crisis in Sámi sacred soundscapes", Materiality at the Intersection of Ecology and Religious Studies, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia, 21-23 May 2024.
9.5.2024 | Bologna
Organisation and coordination of the doctoral seminar We stopped forgetting. Stories from Sámi Americans. Dialoghi sulle memorie dei Sámi in diaspora (with the author Ellen Marie Jensen), in the framework of the PhD course in History and Archaeology. Memory, Civilization and Heritage (Seminar cycle Classici e non solo), Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
15.3.2024 | Helsinki
"(Hi)stories of listening from Sápmi. Learning from Indigenous and Other-Than-Human voices through collaborative audio-anthology making", in the panel Listening and giving voice to more-than-human world (Convenors: Justin Armstrong, Jenni Rinne, Helena Ruotsala, Kirsi Sonck-Rautio, Tiina Suopajärvi), Etnologian Päivät (Ethnology Days) XII, University of Helsinki, Finland, 14-15 March 2024.
8.12.2023 | Kelaniya
"Today Has Been Hard: A Sonic Account on the Simultaneous Fall of Human Rights in Finland and Norway", 12th Symposium of the ICTMD Study Group on Music and Minorities with a joint day with the Study Group on Indigenous Music and Dance, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 4-9 December 2023.
23.9.2023 | Palermo
Roundtable «ECHOFRIENDLY»: developing acoustemological models and ICT tools for soundscape preservation and ecoacoustic quality assessment, coordinator: Domenico Staiti (Università di Bologna); participants: Silvia Bruni, Lorenzo Chiarofonte, Nicola Renzi (Università di Bologna), Ilario Meandri, and Camila Degen (Università di Torino), 38th European Seminar in Ethnomusicology (ESEM), "Antonio Pasqualino" International Puppet Museum, Palermo, 19-23 September 2023.
23.9.2023 | Palermo
"Biocultural approaches to sound mapping as quanti-qualitative method", talk in the roundtable «ECHOFRIENDLY», 38th European Seminar in Ethnomusicology (ESEM), "Antonio Pasqualino" International Puppet Museum, Palermo, 19-23 September 2023.
15.7.2023 | Legon
"Gendered sounds and materiality in the Sicilian puppet theatre", 47th World Conference of the International Council for Traditional Music, University of Ghana, Legon, 13-19 July 2023 (co-author: Laura Chiara Amato).
29.3.2023 | Colombo
"Biegga, Čáhci, Duoddarat, and other ‘Geo-Phones’: Polyorganicity of Sápmi and Environmental Accompaniments to Sami Yoiks", 24th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Musical Instruments, University of the Visual and Performing Arts, UVPA, Colombo, 29 March - 1 April 2023.
27.2.2023 | Bologna
"La memoria del fiume. Canti e storie di ascolto di donne Sámi", Il silenzio delle ragazze. Gli studi di genere fra storia e antropologia 3, DISCI – Università di Bologna, Bologna.
26.7.2022 | Lisboa
"What Will the Spirits Tell Us about the Events to Come? Mapping the Environmental Crisis on a Sami Noaidi Drum", 46th World Conference of the ICTM, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 21-27 July 2022.
12.4.2022 | Bologna
Organisation and coordination of the doctoral seminar Raccontare, ascoltare, restituire, Department of History and Cultures, Università di Bologna.
13.11.2021 | Ravenna
"«Humadii, duoddarat juige»: note sulla traducibilità sinfonica dello joik del vento", XXV Colloquio di Musicologia del Saggiatore musicale.
Event organisation, curatorial projects and artistic collaborations
11.6.2024, Bologna
Coordinator of the Workshop "Field Recording Techniques and Ecoacoustic Analysis of Urban Soundscapes" within the programme of the 8th International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Musics (AAWM 2024), Università di Bologna, Bologna, 10-14 Giugno 2024 (with Lorenzo Chiarofonte).
18.4.2024, Skövde
Field recordist and sound curator for Jenni Laiti, Lada Suomenrinne (directors), Biegga bieggá [film], part of the exhibition Buot gatnjalat oktii golget / Alla tårar rinner ihop / All these tears, Konstmuseet, Skövde, Sweden.
20.10.2022,Venice
"Yoiking in Honor of Venice" (Sámi music concert and donation of the Venice luohti to the city), Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice.
29.9.2023, Sápmi
"Sombyšaldi - Field recording", in Jakop Janssønn (host), Sámi ritmmat / Samiske rytmer [podcast], S2E5, Apple Podcasts [open access].
11.10.2023, Sápmi
"Wind turbine - Field Recording", in Jakop Janssønn (host), Sámi ritmmat / Samiske rytmer [podcast], S2E7, Apple Podcasts [open access].
Prizes and scholarships
29.10.2023, Catania
Società Italiana di Musicologia (SIdM) Degree Dissertation Award.
Third edition awarded to the MA thesis "Sounds like Sápmi. Prospettive ecologiche nella narrazione musicale del paesaggio", during the 30th Annual Conference of the Società Italiana di Musicologia (SIdM) held in Catania, Italy, from the 27th to the 29th of October 2023.
30.8.2022 – 30.11.2022, Bologna
"Marco Polo" Mobility Scholarship from Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna.
Other activities
January 2023 - today: compilation, editing and production of the audio-anthology Muitalusat guldaleami birra – Histories of Listening from Sápmi as part of the joint doctoral research between the University of Bologna and the University of Helsinki.
January 2022 - today: cataloguing of 'non-Western' musical instruments at Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna.
August 2020 - June 2021: web content manager and audiovisual documentation at Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
November 2019 - June 2021: audiovisual documentation, editing and social media at Centro Studi Euterpe Mousikè.
November 2019 - August 2020: web content manager at Orchestra filarmonica di Bologna.
