The Music That Made Me: Disco Bambino's Story

4-year-old kid dreams of disco music in a Southern-Italian small town in 1978.

As told to Angelica Frey

As a kid, I never asked for toy trucks, I never asked for action figures, I never asked for dolls: all I asked for was music, music, and more music. It was the late 70s.

I have been enthralled by disco music since the age of 4. One night, when I was hanging out in my high-school-aged brothers’ bedroom, who would play records every night, they decided to play Le Freak by Chic. The clapping, the harmony of the guitar, and the elegantly thumping bassline coupled with the string section exerted an extremely strong gravitational pull— as if a starship had landed in my hometown of Bitonto in Puglia, Italy. 

In addition, my cousin Grazia, who also used to babysit me, always encouraged me to dress up, learn choreographies and perform in front of a mirror, and she happily played along. She also let me tag along to local disco-themed events, where I was hardly the little kid in tow who had been dragged there reluctantly. I was an active participant in the scene, where I wo…