“How do we listen to Italian colonialism?” is the groundbreaking question posed by the SPECIAL FOCUS of FES 11. Its aim is to investigate the concept of ‘sonic memory’ as it relates to colonial history, with a particular interest in, but not limited to, the Italian case. Sonic memory refers to the narratives of colonial imperial ventures and to how music and sounds have been used to represent colonized people; it also raises questions about their resonance in contemporary discourses on postcolonialism, migrations, racism and the global South. The case of Italian colonialism is of particular interest, as the project of Ethiopian occupation was accompanied by the production of a vast repertoire of songs that became ubiquitous during the 1930s, only to disappear from the collective soundscape a few years later. As a General Issue, FES 11 also features an  ARTICLES | INTERVIEWS | REVIEWS section.