Anthony Taddeo, a graduate student studying music composition, has a love for a unique genre of music that stems from his ancestry.  Fascinated by Italian culture, Taddeo created Alla Boara, a musical group composed of Youngstown State University students who play Italian folk music. The name translates to a type of song that a worker would listen to while on the job.  

“I wanted to focus on the music of the peasant, rural people, not the classical, more operatic music that is traditionally tied to Italy,” Taddeo said. “Folk music was the peoples’ music, and even though I have mixed elements of new music … It’s still coming from that place in Italy’s rich history when music was a tool used in everyday life, inseparable from the day-to-day tasks.”