Italo disco
Witness History18 Jul 2025

Italo disco

In the late 1970s, disco died in America and a new wave of Italian producers took advantage of the advances in electronic instruments to craft their own dancefloor fillers.

The result was Italo disco – a genre of music recognisable for its synthesiser beats, heavily accented English lyrics and catchy melodies.

One of the biggest hits was Dolce Vita.

Singer Ryan Paris – real name Fabio Roscioli – tells Vicky Farncombe how it felt to be part of that moment.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Ryan Paris. Credit: Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

Iranian revolution: The Kurdish uprising

Iranian revolution: The Kurdish uprising

The story of a boy caught up in the forgotten war for Kurdish autonomy in Iran in 1979. During the Iranian revolution, Kurdish groups had joined the struggle to end the rule of the Shah. They wanted greater autonomy for Iran's Kurdish minority. But after the revolution, the new Islamic regime rejected that demand. A conflict erupted between government forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, which lasted for years and left thousands dead. Kameel Ahmady is an anthropologist and researcher. At the time he was a boy living in the ethnically-mixed town of Naqadeh in northwest Iran. He tells Alex Last how, as demands for autonomy grew, his town became the scene of bitter ethnic fighting. Photo: Armed Kurdish villagers after the revolution in Iran, March 1979. (François LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

21 Apr 202213min

Britain's Soviet spy scandal

Britain's Soviet spy scandal

In 1971 during the Cold War, the UK expelled 90 Soviet diplomats suspected of spying. They'd been allowed into Britain in an attempt to improve relations, but it was later discovered that they'd been carrying out espionage instead. George Walden was a young diplomat working on the Soviet Desk in the Foreign Office at the time. He spoke to Dina Newman in 2018.PHOTO: British Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home (left) shakes hands with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko (right) at Heathrow Airport, 26th October 1970. (credit: Ian Showell/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

20 Apr 20229min

Women's rights in Basra

Women's rights in Basra

In 2006 after the US-led invasion of Iraq, women in the southern city of Basra were persecuted by militant Islamists forcing them to cover up, stay at home, and adopt an ultra-conservative Islamic code of behaviour, banning them from driving or going out alone. Some women were even killed. Mike Lanchin has spoken to one of the Basra women affected. The producer in Baghdad was Mona Mahmoud. The programme is a CTVC production.PHOTO: Women queuing to vote in Basra in 2005 (Getty Images)

19 Apr 20228min

Erasmus: Europe's student exchange scheme

Erasmus: Europe's student exchange scheme

Since 1987, million of students have been able to live and study in other countries in Europe thanks to the Erasmus student exchange programme. The scheme was the result of 18 years of campaigning by Italian academic, Sofia Corradi, who saw the benefits of studying abroad herself back in the 1950s. Sofia Corradi, now known as "Mamma Erasmus", talks to Rachel Naylor, along with Lucio Picci, one of the first students to go on the programme.PHOTO: Erasmus students based in Italy at a celebration in Rome in 2017 (Getty Images)

18 Apr 20229min

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web was created in 1989 by a young British computer scientist called Tim Berners-Lee. It's been called one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and has revolutionised the way we live and interact with each other and the world, and share information and knowledge. Louise Hidalgo talks to fellow computer scientists Ben Segal and Jean Francois Groff who worked at the European scientific research centre, Cern, where Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, and helped him realise his vision.Picture: abstract world map with glowing networks (credit: Imaginima/Getty Images)

15 Apr 20228min

How Tinder changed the dating game

How Tinder changed the dating game

It’s 10 years since the dating app Tinder was set up. It sparked a revolution in online romance by offering singletons a swipe function and the possibility of viewing the profiles of potential soulmates based nearby. The app has now been downloaded by tens of millions of users worldwide. Rachel Naylor speaks to Chris Gulczynski, one of the co-founders of Tinder.  Image: The Tinder logo on a billboard in the US in 2016 (Getty Images)

14 Apr 20229min

Greece's Great Famine

Greece's Great Famine

In 1941, Greece was occupied by Germany and its allies. The economy quickly collapsed and food shortages spread across urban areas with terrifying speed. By the winter of that year tens of thousands were dying. Rob Walker speaks to 94 year old Athina Cacouri who was living in Athens at the time, and to the historian, Mark Mazower.  PHOTO: Two starving boys eating out of a can in Athens in 1943 (Getty Images)

13 Apr 202210min

The largest war crimes trial in history

The largest war crimes trial in history

In 2002 the former Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, went on trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague on war crimes charges relating to the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The man once known as the 'Butcher of the Balkans' would die in prison before the trial had concluded. In 2017, Louise Hidalgo spoke to two lawyers, Zdenko Tomanovic and Steven Kay QC, who worked on Slodan Milosevic's defence.PHOTO: Slobodan Milosevic on trial in The Hague in 2002 (PAUL VREEKER/AFP/Getty Images)

12 Apr 20229min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
fladseth
synnve-og-vanessa
frokostshowet-pa-p5
alt-fortalt
vitnemal
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
min-barneoppdragelse
den-politiske-situasjonen
rss-fetisha-anine