The music of Calabria – unexpected, involving and beautiful
There isn’t a given canon for the tunes and melodies that compose the “Calabrian folk music genre”, it’s more about what a navite Calabrian perceives as traditional. We will try to describe this big family of songs and in order to make it easier for both sides, we’ll refer to it as “Calabrian folk music” and “music of Calabria”. What’s sure is that all these songs share a common origin in the land, the Calabrian soil, so beautiful with still intact nature. Calabrian music is an emotional chant that has endured through the centuries. This chant wasn’t even considered a proper Art form and it almost disappeared. Today it’s being reinterpreted and updated in order to keep it alive and make it known to the great public – after all, everything has to adjust and evolve, otherwise it will disappear. Discover it clicking the below button >
Talking about “folk music” as “the music that comes from the people” isn’t always fancy, people don’t like to hear about humble origins, but this means that one should willingly ignore the fact that all music came from the humble strata of society in the first place. Calabrian traditional folk music is quite alive an well these days, lots of artists compose and play it, the genre is definitely gaining momentum. The artist is the custodian of both an ancient knowledge and the regional identity. Performing traditional music the artist becomes one with society as his notes evoke the bond between the motherland and its natives: music, lyirics and tradition become one powerful expression of Calabria’s history. What are the instruments that accompany the lyrics?
The most ancient one is the zampogna a bagpipe very similar to the Great Highland bagpipe invented in Scotland and still used today by the British Military. The Calabrian bagpipe is employed to play tarantella and pastorali. There are smaller babpipes known as surduline. Other instrumets are trombette (trumpets) and flauti (flutes).
The rhythm is given by the percussions (tùmmari and tamburelli, small drums) and strings like the Calabrian lira which has bowed strings. Continue reading clicking the below button >
The aforementioned tarantella and pastorali are two types of folk dances. The tarantella describes a youthful passion, the courtship enacted by the young man and the consent given by the maiden – in the end, the couple would elope (fujitina) to force their families to agree to their marriage. Tarantella expresses the various phases of love, from the quiet beginning to the spiritual elevation of it. The pastorale, wich belongs to the area surrounding Mount Pollino, is very similar in contents, but its rhythm and moves are quite different. Continue reading clicking the below button >
Calabrian folk music is having a second Golden Age and lots of festivals are dedicated exclusively to it: the main ones are “Tarantella Power” that takes place in Caulonia every Summer, “Radici Sonore Festival” of Tiriolo and “Tarantella Power” of Badolato. Younger generations can discover their music thanks to solo artists like Otello Profazio, Enzo Laface and Mimmo Cavallaro; there are also several bands: Marasà, Lisarusa and Parafonè. All these artists live to communicate the beauty of their motherland, the rich history of Calabrian people.
It’s impossible to enjoy the music of a region without knowing about the culture it represents and this is exactly what Calabrian folk music is: culture. The hypnotic tunes take one to a journey through the centuries, emotions and a search for identity that is simply magical.
Never forget about your music, it is who you are.
Discover also the best restaurants in Calabria clicking here
If you like what you read, you will love our Instagram and Facebook
