Italian Disco Stories

Walden Green in conversation with Angelica Frey and Giuseppe “Beppe” Savoni. 

American disco “died” on a Thursday—July 12th, 1979, Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in Chicago. That’s how the official story goes. Though dance music’s body never went totally cold stateside (the Chicago scene, for one, went underground and became House music), there was no parallel electronica extinction event in Europe, which is why we have Eurodance and Techno and Dubstep.

Angelica Frey and Giuseppe “Beppe” Savoni are both Italian-born, and each has their own personal history with disco music. Late last year, Angelica—a writer and translator—and Beppe—who runs the @disco_bambino Instagram account—co-founded the Italian Disco Stories newsletter as a mutual passion project, a tribute to their heritage, and a means of setting the record straight on a genre and cultural moment that’s frequently referenced but just as often misunderstood (see: anyone who confuses “Italian Disco” and “Italo Disco”).

In the midst of an ongoing disco revival that has touched big names (Beyoncé and Dua Lipa) and indie faves like Jessie Ware, Italian Disco Stories is giving the original grande dame divas, from Raffaella Carrà to Anna Oxa, their flowers.

I caught up with Angelica and Beppe to talk about the history of Italian Disco, their personal attachments to the genre, and why they think it’s managed to keep such a hold on the cultural imagination.

Walden Green: Can you share a little bit about each of your backgrounds?

Angelica Frey: I was born in Milan, got a degree in classical studies but was told I needed to “study journalism” to “have better career prospects.” So, I moved to New York in 2013 for graduate school, and while I missed studying Latin, Greek, and Old Norse texts, I found the act of reporting on local theater, the arts, and the occasional peculiar character immensely rewarding–from a purely spiritual point of view. 

In order to be able to remain in the country, I first got a job in the Content Development division at Condé Nast where, after my first six months, my managers completely stopped paying any attention to me. We shared the floor space with Vogue, so I easily burned through their galley pile and, eventually, started freelance writing again. I have a few fixations: costume design, the art of anime and videogames, Europop, and Eurodisco. I try to honor these in my writing practice to the best of my abilities, but it can be hit or miss.

Beppe Savoni: I was born and raised in a small town in Puglia, southern Italy. Music has been an obsession since the very early years of my life: I used to ask my parents to buy me records starting at age 4, while I spent afternoons after school in my room, dancing and singing, imagining my own variety shows in front of a mirror. My cousin used to take me with her to the local disco where, surrounded by drag queens, mirror walls, strobe lights, and smoking machines, I became entranced by the sound of disco music. 

Under the suggestion of some friends of my parents—who would see my dancing and singing by the jukebox at the local beach club—at 6 years old I entered a music academy to study piano and modern dance. In those years I also started dreaming about New York, watching American movies and music videos on Italian TV. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, as in 1999 I moved to the Big Apple (and still live there today), where I attended college. I graduated with a degree in British Literature and became a partner in a marketing agency creating collaborations between brands and the music industry. 

Pushed by my passion to collect records of Italian disco produced from 1977 to 1982, 4 years ago I started the Disco Bambino account, with the intention to celebrate not only Italian disco music but also the art and culture that were related to it during those years. My partner Giuseppe Giammetta, who is an art director, helped me solidify the concept from an aesthetics and conceptual point of view, which were essential to attract the right audience. It was surprising to see so much of a response, not only from people of my generation but also from a younger audience.

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