Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Pizzica indiavolata (2012)
BAND/ARTIST: Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
- Title: Pizzica indiavolata
- Year Of Release: 2012
- Label: Ponderosa Music & Art
- Genre: Folk, World Music, Roots
- Quality: FLAC 16/44100
- Total Time: 00:54:06
- Total Size: 392 MB
- WebSite: Album Preview
The Italian ensemble Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS), founded in 1975 during a revival of traditional Italian musical forms, has built a growing audience across Europe and North America in recent years through its high-energy performances of pizzica tarantata — an ancient folk music from the Salento region in southern Italy. Since 2007 the band has been led by Mauro Durante, a conservatory-trained violinist and percussionist who took over from his father Daniele, one of the group's founders. The current septet has released two albums under Mauro's leadership — Focu d'amore (2010) and the newest, Pizzica Indiavolata, comprising 13 tracks written or adapted by Durante together with the band's members.
Pizzica originated as the musical accompaniment to tarantismo, a ritual practice in which music and dance were used to symbolically "cure" peasants, mostly women, of ailments attributed to the bite of a poisonous spider. In reality, the bite served as a metaphor for psychological suffering — grief, anxiety, depression, and sexual frustration — and the exhausting dance gave peasants a culturally sanctioned outlet for these internal conflicts, leading to catharsis. The tarantismo ritual itself has died out, but pizzica has grown into Italy's best-known folk music and a notable presence on the world music scene, celebrated at the major annual festival La Notte della Taranta. The album's opening track, "Nu Te Fermare," draws a parallel between the suffering of past peasants and today's economic hardship, particularly the pain of unemployment among Italian youth.
A defining feature of CGS's sound is its blend of the ancestral and the modern: electric bass and violin-driven riffs sit alongside traditional rhythms and powerful vocal harmonies. The band has four vocalists — Mauro Durante, Maria Mazzotta, Giancarlo Paglialunga, and Emanuele Licci — whose combined polyphony is singled out as one of the group's greatest strengths, with particular praise for Mazzotta's heartbreaking delivery on the lovelorn "Bella ci Dormi" and Paglialunga's melismatic power on "Tira Cavallo." The lineup is rounded out by accordionist Massimiliano Morabito, multi-instrumentalist Giulio Bianco, and guitarist Luca Tarantino. Several tracks feature guest artists — Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko and Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Piers Faccini — both of whom had previously performed with the band at La Notte della Taranta. The album closes with its title track, a six-minute violin-led climax based on a piece by Luigi Stìfani, a violinist who once played in tarantismo rituals and considered this particular melody to have the strongest therapeutic power. The review concludes that the album cements Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino's standing as one of the most distinctive and brilliant acts on the current world music scene.
Tracklist:
1-1 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Nu te fermare [4:20]
1-2 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Aremu an me 'gapa' [3:33]
1-3 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Focu d'amore [3:49]
1-4 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Bella ci dormi [4:19]
1-5 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Tamburrieddhu mia [3:47]
1-6 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Questa mattina [3:44]
1-7 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - E chorà tu anemu [5:09]
1-8 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Itela [3:09]
1-9 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Sta strada [2:29]
1-10 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Pizzica a Marino [4:05]
1-11 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - La voce toa [4:09]
1-12 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Tira cavallu [4:54]
1-13 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Pizzica indiavolata [6:39]
Pizzica originated as the musical accompaniment to tarantismo, a ritual practice in which music and dance were used to symbolically "cure" peasants, mostly women, of ailments attributed to the bite of a poisonous spider. In reality, the bite served as a metaphor for psychological suffering — grief, anxiety, depression, and sexual frustration — and the exhausting dance gave peasants a culturally sanctioned outlet for these internal conflicts, leading to catharsis. The tarantismo ritual itself has died out, but pizzica has grown into Italy's best-known folk music and a notable presence on the world music scene, celebrated at the major annual festival La Notte della Taranta. The album's opening track, "Nu Te Fermare," draws a parallel between the suffering of past peasants and today's economic hardship, particularly the pain of unemployment among Italian youth.
A defining feature of CGS's sound is its blend of the ancestral and the modern: electric bass and violin-driven riffs sit alongside traditional rhythms and powerful vocal harmonies. The band has four vocalists — Mauro Durante, Maria Mazzotta, Giancarlo Paglialunga, and Emanuele Licci — whose combined polyphony is singled out as one of the group's greatest strengths, with particular praise for Mazzotta's heartbreaking delivery on the lovelorn "Bella ci Dormi" and Paglialunga's melismatic power on "Tira Cavallo." The lineup is rounded out by accordionist Massimiliano Morabito, multi-instrumentalist Giulio Bianco, and guitarist Luca Tarantino. Several tracks feature guest artists — Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko and Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Piers Faccini — both of whom had previously performed with the band at La Notte della Taranta. The album closes with its title track, a six-minute violin-led climax based on a piece by Luigi Stìfani, a violinist who once played in tarantismo rituals and considered this particular melody to have the strongest therapeutic power. The review concludes that the album cements Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino's standing as one of the most distinctive and brilliant acts on the current world music scene.
Tracklist:
1-1 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Nu te fermare [4:20]
1-2 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Aremu an me 'gapa' [3:33]
1-3 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Focu d'amore [3:49]
1-4 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Bella ci dormi [4:19]
1-5 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Tamburrieddhu mia [3:47]
1-6 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Questa mattina [3:44]
1-7 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - E chorà tu anemu [5:09]
1-8 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Itela [3:09]
1-9 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Sta strada [2:29]
1-10 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Pizzica a Marino [4:05]
1-11 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - La voce toa [4:09]
1-12 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Tira cavallu [4:54]
1-13 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Pizzica indiavolata [6:39]
World | Musica Italiana | Folk | FLAC / APE
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