Arcadia Italy

Join the battle of the bands between each UEFA pairing

The UEFA European Cup, held every four years between World Cups, is upon us. There are truly so many ways to promote and interpret culture; one of these is certainly sport. Football, Soccer, Calcio, call it what you will, is among the most unifying of all sports.

When the UEFA Euro Cup begins today, all over the Mediterranean (and beyond) all eyes are on the ball. Closet sports fans come out of the woodwork, not unlike Easter and Christmas mass-goers among closet Christians. The atmosphere here in Italy is one of fratellanza, love of mankind and sport. It brings family, friends and neighbours together in the most unlikely of outdoor scenarios: in fact, it would not be uncommon to see tv sets carted out onto terraces, balconies, in gardens, among dinner tables in pizzerie and restaurants.

Picture, if you will, sidewalks full of UEFA Cup enthusiasts all huddled together trying to get a glimpse of the game through a small back door which leads to the kitchen any popular restaurant. Inside, waiters, chefs, dishwashers ignore the orders tourists are impatiently awaiting while they gawk up at the screen precariously perched on a shelf, an extension cord perilously hangs loose above the dishwashing station: penalty shot.

Everyone in the kitchen is silent; the crowd outside on the sidewalk grows and positions itself as best it can to get a keen look through the tiny door. And there's the kick...and he misses...a loud, collective "UH!!!!" and arms go up, with a twist of the hand in the air, as if to say, "are you kidding me, you idiot, having just blown that chance to bring the score up?" or something like that in a more expletive fashion. The fans outside and those in the kitchen share a likeminded smile and shrug and go back to what they were doing. Now multiply that same scene by a few hundred and you've captured just one of the cultural scenes depicting UEFA mania.

Another unifier of people and culture is music. Like sports, music needs no translation to cross cultures and win smiles. With our love of culture, exploration and adventure combined with our propensity for world music, we've devised a blog game in honour of this year's UEFA Cup. Each day of the Cup, we'll post the schedules of the games and one piece of music from each country, asking you to vote for your preferred piece of music before the match is over.

Today, we open with France (the host nation) vs Romania. Enjoy! The UEFA Cup, and our World Music Match-up runs through July 10, 2016!