Ragnatela della Taranta, Italy's largest traveling festival, returns Aug. 4-25, crossing 21 municipalities in Salento with an edition dedicated to the theme "The Tradition of the New."
A festival that promotes the dialogue between music, dance and poetry, for 25 years the protagonist of the Italian summer. A talking archive that brings the world of Salento tradition closer to reproposal, investigates the roots of change and rereads the history of popular music through opportunities for pure experimentation.
400 artists involved, 100 hours of live shows, to celebrate the return of the public to the squares on Aug. 4 in Corigliano d'Otranto, Aug. 5 San Vito dei Normanni, Aug. 6 Nardò, Aug. 7 Sogliano Cavour, Aug. 8 Nociglia, Aug. 9 Cursi, Aug. 10 Galatone, Aug. 11 Carpignano Salentino, Aug. 12 Alessano, Aug. 13, Racale, Aug. 14, Lecce, Aug. 16, Ugento, Aug. 17, Zollino, Aug. 18, Galatina, Aug. 19, Castrignano de' Greci, Aug. 20, Cutrofiano, Aug. 21, Calimera, Aug. 22, Martignano, Aug. 23, Soleto, Aug. 24, Sternatia, Aug. 25, Martanoand Aug. 27 the grand finale with the long-awaited Melpignano Concertone.
There are 43 concerts that will enliven the Festival stages with Menamenamò, Ambrogio Sparagna, Antonio Castrignanò, Ombre Illuminate, Tarantarneo, Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli, Cardisanti, Canzoniere Jonico Pizzicati int'allu core, Francesco Loccisano and Andrea Piccioni, Scazzacatarante, I Tamburellisti d'Otranto, Kamafei, Folkatomik, Officina Zoè, Uccio Aloisi Gruppu, Ariacorte Musica Popolare, Mimmo Epifani, Kalurya, Enzo Petrachi and Folkband22, Antonio Amato Ensemble with Fiorenza Calogero and Marcello Vitale, Pietrevive del Salento, Sette Bocche, Mascarimirì, A Sud di Bella Ciao, Criamu, Pino Ingrosso, I Calanti, Alla Bua, Parafonè, Li Strittuli - Compagnia di Musica Popolare, I Trillanti, Kalascima, Briganti di Terra d'Otranto, Rocco Nigro, Enza Pagliara, Unzapzap Bif Band, CGS Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Nui... Nisciunu, Armonia Greca, Stella Grande and the young Taranters. The Popular Orchestra La Notte della Taranta will be featured in three special concerts in San Vito dei Normanni, Martignano and Galatina with Enza Pagliara, Stefania Morciano, Consuelo Alfieri, Alessandra Caiulo, Giancarlo Paglialunga, Antonio Amato, Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda and musicians Gianluca Longo, Roberto Chiga, Alessandro Chiga, Carlo Canaglia De Pascali, Roberto Gemma, Peppo Grassi, Giuseppe Astore, Nico Berardi, Leonardo Cordella, Antonio Marra, Alessandro Monteduro, Valerio Combass Bruno, Attilio Turrisi.
The Web, on August 7 in the Sogliano Cavour stage, will host the Concert Recital dedicated to the poet Antonio Leonardo Verri "Fate solo quel che vi incanta" produced by Fondo Verri.
"Twenty-five years is inevitably an age of balance sheets, which, after all, it is also right not to shirk, said Luigi Chiriatti, artistic director of the Itinerant Festival. Particularly in an area such as Salento, this period has been characterized by a very strong tourist and cultural impulse, of which the "Night of the Taranta" is an undisputed protagonist, in terms of the direct impact on the territory, but also for having brought beyond any borders the sounds and rhythms, which twenty-five years ago we could say were "ours" but which today belong to a shared collective imagination. Words like pizzica pizzica and taranta are now universally recognized. From these considerations the 2022 edition of the Itinerant Festival La Notte della Taranta was born; after a journey twenty-five years long, looking back and finding friends, those who were once young revivals of Salento popular music, today are established realities, who together with the Popular Orchestra, have become ambassadors of this music in the world. A celebration of the pizzica pizzica then, in a crucial historical and cultural moment, for the events known, but also for what has just passed, dancing rediscovers its cathartic value."
"The greatest achievement in the 25-year history of the Notte della Taranta is what happens every day in our Salento, stressed Massimo Manera president of the Foundation. There is no festival, anniversary, ritual where the pizzica is not present. There is no tourist who arriving in our wonderful villages does not ask to dance our dance and listen to our rhythm. An identity rhythm but open to dialogue, to comparison, to contamination, to the multitude of expressive languages. The Notte della Taranta has opened the boundaries of Salento's popular culture until 1998 considered subordinate; it has made possible the affirmation of numerous musicians and re-proposal groups who, thanks to the Notte della Taranta, have collaborated with hundreds of Italian and international artists. It has told the world about the beauty of the stories told in the songs of struggle, love and work sung today as hit songs. In 2022 we celebrate the pizzica by hosting in the festival the many popular music groups that continue the work of enhancing the cultural heritage of Salento."
"It is always a collective pride to be able to organize an event of this level that involves 21 municipalities in Salento and then concludes in Melpignano. The richness of the project starting from the origins, the sources is the research, highlighted Valentina Avantaggiato mayor of Melpignano. With the Diego Carpitella Institute we are working on the creation of an archive thanks to funding from MIUR. Art is an instrument of openness to dialogue and Melpignano as smepre is ready to welcome the great community of Taranta."
"The Festival is enriched by the Taranters project aimed at young students who, over the course of the year, developed a performance starting from the enhancement of the community language of the Hellenic-speaking area of Salento: greek. The project, explained Graziano Vantaggiato a member of the Foundation's Board of Directors, is part of the broader Matria programming supported by the Apulia Region and which also concerns Arbereshe and Franco-Provençal."
MUSIC
Once again this year, music is the great protagonist of the Notte della Taranta Festival, starting with the opening night, Aug. 4 in Corigliano d'Otranto, with the return of Ambrogio Sparagna, maestro concertmaster from 2004 to 2006, who will offer an interesting musical journey along the route of the Greeks with soloists from the Italian Popular Orchestra, the voices of the Sparagnina Orchestra of Corigliano d'Otranto and Theodoro Melissinopoulos with his repertoire of Hellenic opera songs and ballads. An evening that will conclude with a concert by Menamenamò. For the first time, the Festival will land on August 5 in San Vito dei Normanni, offering the explosive concerts of Antonio Castrignanò and the Popular Orchestra Notte della Taranta. In Nardò, on Aug. 6, journey through spiritual music and traditional Sufi singing from Mashrèq to Maghrèb, with Ombre Illuminate a project by Ziad Trabelsi. This will be followed by the Tarantarneo concert, a musical journey between the province of Taranto and the Land of Arneo. On Aug. 7 in Sogliano Cavour space will be given to popular music with the historic group Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli. In Nociglia on Aug. 8 double date with pizzica: from Taranto the Canzoniere Jonico Pizzicati Int'allu core and from Salento the Cardisanti. Drums and beating guitar meet in Cursi with the participation of the duo Andrea Piccioni and Francesco Loccisano, who present their first album together Upgrade. Concluding the evening are the Scazzacatarante. In Galatone on Aug. 10 come the 55 young percussionists who make up I Tamburellisti di Otranto, followed by Antonio Melegari's Kamafei. In Carpignano salentino on the Festival stage will perform the Turin-based group Folkatomikwith their journey through the South of the world. Officina Zoè will conclude the evening. In Alessano on Aug. 12 there is a return to the tradition of singers with Uccio Aloisi Gruppu and Ariacorte. In Racale on Aug. 13 it is the turn of Kalurya between pizziche and tarantelle and Mimmo Epifani & Barbers with music, songs and dances of the barberie. An all-dancing August eve in Lecce with Antonio Amato Ensemble, which will host Fiorenza Calogero and Marcello Vitale, and Enzo Petrachie his Folk Band. In Ugento on Aug. 16, the return of Claudio Cavallo Giagnotti's Mascarimirì, the evening will open with Pietrevive from Salento and Sette Bocche from Campania. In Zollino on Aug. 17 the great folk fresco A Sud di Bella Ciao with Riccardo Tesi, Elena Ledda, Lucilla galeazzi, Alessio Lega, Nando Citarella, Maurizio Geri, Gigi Biolcati, and Claudio Carboni. A concert by Criamu will follow. In the city of the cult of St. Paul, Galatina, the second special concert of the Popular Orchestra Notte della Taranta is scheduled for Aug. 18. Pino Ingrosso will open the evening. On Aug. 19 in Castrignano de' Greci space to pizzica ballata with Alla Bua and I Calanti. In Cutrofiano on Aug. 20 from Calabria the musical collective Parafonè and from Salento Li Strittuli. On Aug. 21 in Calimera on stage I Trillanti with songs from Ciociaria and the Salento group Kalascima. In Martignano on Aug. 22 the third special date for the Popular Orchestra Notte della Taranta. I Briganti di Terra d'Otranto open the evening. On Aug. 23 in Soleto Rocco Nigro will propose Come fece e come non fece a concert show that combines music and live painting. This will be followed by Enza Pagliara and her Fasinfasò, a return to live music from pizziches to serenades, from stornelli to stisa songs. In Sternatia on Aug. 24 Unzapzap Bif Band the group born in Borgagne in 2016 and directed by Luigi Morleo. The evening will close with the long-awaited concert by CGS- Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. The festival will close in Martano on August 25 with the young people of the Taranters project linked to the enhancement of minority languages within the Matria program of the Apulia Region. This will be followed by concerts by Nui...Nisciunu, Armonia Greca and Stella Grande.
DANCE
Curated by the Corpo di Ballo della Notte della Taranta, the pizzica workshops return, a must-attend event for fans of Salento dance who gather in the squares of the Festival's host towns to participate in the great dancing round. Large inclusive and open circles are formed led by the Taranta dancers who accompany the audience to discover the rhythm of the tambourine and the different expressions of the pizzica: courtship pizzica, pizzica tarantata and pizzica fencing.
The workshops will be held at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4 in the atrium of the Flying Castle in Corigliano d'Otranto, Aug. 5 in Piazza Carducci in San Vito dei Normanni, Aug. 6 in Via XXV Luglio in Nardò, Aug. 10 in Piazza San Sebastiano in Galatone, Aug. 14 in Piazza Libertini in Lecce and Aug. 24 in Piazza Umberto I in Sternatia.
After the extraordinary success recorded at the International Folk Dance Festival and at the Mediterranean Games in Algeria, Pizzica in Scena, the show of the Taranta Dance Corps with choreography by Mattia Politi, is also back: appointment on Aug. 23 at 9 p.m. in Piazza Osanna in Soleto. On stage: Serena Pellegrino, Mihaela Coluccia, Luscia Scarabino, Veronica Mele, Cristina Frassanito, Stefano Campagna, Fabrizio Nigro, Andrea Caracuta and Marco Martano.
Dance will also be the protagonist in the Nardò stage with Ombre Illuminate, a Sufi music and dance project from Mashrèq to Maghrèb, conceived by Ziad Trabelsi, a member of the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, a Tunisian musician who has maintained close ties with the culture of his home country. A show of strong rhythmic impact, between improvisation, spirituality and contamination.
POETRY
"Do only what enchants you" is the title of the recital concert proposed in the Sogliano Cavour stage on Aug. 7, by the Verri Fund to celebrate the poetics of Antonio Leonardo Verri. The recital concerts texts from: "Bread Under the Snow," "Bucherer the Watchmaker," "The Trophies of the City of Guisnes," and "The Harmony Maker," a chorus of voices recited by actors G. Piero Rapanà, Simone Franco, and sung by Daria Falco accompanied by Bruno Galeone's accordion, Emanuele Coluccia on piano and sax, and Vincenzo Grasso on clarinet and Davide Chiarelli on percussion.
THE 21 VILLAGES OF TARANTA
In the 2022 edition, Taranta will touch 21 towns, confirming the highly itinerant spirit of the Festival, which is enthusiastically welcomed by Salento communities and tourists alike.
For the first time, the Festival will arrive in San Vito dei Normanni, the only stop in the province of Brindisi, a town that is home to the Circolo Mandolinistico, a bastion of tradition that holds a history of resistance and authentic popular research. Led by Giuseppe Grassi, the Circolo recounts the time of the barbershops when craftsmen were also masters of music and the workshops were transformed into popular schools where people learned to play " plucked" instruments. The Circle founded in 1934, during fascism, was closed with the advent of World War II. It was reborn in 2003 thanks to Federico Di Viesto, after the closure of the last musical barbershop, that of maestro Vita. Constantine Vita was the "king" of barbershops, could read sheet music, and was considered a music teacher. In his barbershop they played, in addition to the violin, plectrum instruments: mandola, mandolin and guitar; professional musicians such as Mimmo Epifani and Gino Punzi trained with him. Customers of the barbershop and passersby were cheered by pizziche-pizziches, polkas, dances, mazurkas and waltzes.
Twelve municipalities in Salento's Grecìa region, where the Festival was born: Calimera, Carpignano Salentino, Castrignano de Greci, Corigliano d'Otranto, Cutrofiano, Martano, Martignano, Sogliano Cavour, Soleto, Sternatia, Zollino and the final Concertone stage in Melpignano on August 27.
The Festival with its musical web will pass through the villages of Cursi, Nardò, Galatone, Galatina, Ugento, Nociglia, Alessano, Racale.
TARANTERS
As part of the MATRIA project implemented by the Region of Puglia, the La Notte della Taranta Foundation oversaw the implementation of initiatives aimed at the minorities of Grecìa Salentina.
The Foundation, with the collaboration of the La Notte della Taranta Popular Orchestra and the Taranta Ballet Corps, produced the show TARANTERS with the Salvatore Trinchese High Secondary Education Institute of Martano and with the support of the 12 municipalities of the Union of Salentinian Greece: Calimera, Carpignano salentino, Castrignano de Greci, Corigliano d'Otranto, Cutrofiano, Martano, Martignano, Melpignano, Sogliano Cavour, Soleto, Sternatia, and Zollino.
TARANTERS are studentǝ ambassadorsǝ of the "language of the affections," the language of the target territory who, thanks to MATRIA, have developed knowledge and awareness of the value of GRICO, managing to transfer the beauty of their cultural heritage to a wider audience.
The classes involved started a research phase on anonymous or authored lyrics of folk songs in Grico and pizzica dance. The study focused not only on the lyrics of the songs in Grico but on their dissemination through modern interpretations. The choice deǝ studentǝ fell on: AREMU, CALINITTA, ÒRIAMU PISULINA.
The traditional texts will be re-proposed, in Martano on August 25, in the original version written by studentǝ with the coordination of professor Mauro Palumbo and in collaboration with members of the Popular Orchestra Gianluca Longo (mandola), Roberto Chiga (tambourine), Stefania Morciano (singing), with the extraordinary participation of rapper MARMO, pseudonym of Stefano Galiotta, a former student of the Trinchese Institute. The dance section, coordinated by choreographer Mattia Politi and dancer Mihaela Coluccia, will propose three different pictures inspired by the theme of the chosen songs that starting from the traditional pizzica range in modern style.
The Itinerant Festival is a project of the Fondazione Notte della Taranta supported by Regione Puglia, Pugliapromozione, Grecìa salentina, Istituto Diego Carpitella.
Main Sponsor: DMJ Mercedes di Maurizio De Mariani
Partners: ACQUA ORSINI, GIORGIO CORVAGLIA, OFFICINA PAAR,
Social partners: FRATRES, INTEGRATION.
Official Concert Carrier: SOUTH EAST RAILWAYS
Technical partners: BUSFORFUN, CARRA, FASSI.
Festival materials links
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1etZhAHKKoQpHfZdzZe9nf4rz6ixtaC6X?usp=sharing
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