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ENZA PAGLIARA, ELENA LEDDA, LUCILLA GALEAZZI and DARIO MUCI in Ballanzè

UCCIO ALOISI GRUPPU

The journey of the traveling festival "La Notte della Taranta" on Aug. 2 makes a stop in Calimera. On the stage in the market area, on stage from 9 p.m. are the concerts of Rachele Andrioli in Da Coro a Coro, followed by Enza Pagliara, Elena Ledda, Lucilla Galeazzi and Dario Muci in Ballanzè and closing Uccio Aloisi Gruppu.

The 2023 edition of the La Notte della Taranta Festival, which began Aug. 1, will run through Aug. 27 through as many as 25 towns and villages in Salento, the Torre Guaceto nature reserve and the iconic Sant'Andrea Bay, with more than 400 guests including musicians, dancers, actors, writers and philosophers. An edition that promises to be extraordinary and that confirms La Notte della Taranta as the largest Italian touring festival that promotes popular music as a score of emotions born from the dialogue between the arts, interweaving and creating reflections and insights with dance, theater, literature, philosophy and will lead, stage after stage to the Concertone on August 26 in Melpignano (Le), to the long night with the concertmaster FIORELLA MANNOIA.

It starts at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Bibliomediateca "Giannino Aprile"-Room "A.Moro" with Teatro Koreja offering the show Cumpanaggiu ( for max. 30 spectators with reservations required 0832 242000). "Cumpanaggiu - the bread and the rest" is a sensory show that aims to represent a philosophy of life by staging its typical products, edible and not, starting with bread, the central character. Guided by two aspiring baker-actors, a celebrant of typical Salento products, a retired baker pedagogue and a simultaneous translator, spectators are actively involved in a multisensory journey. The shapes that bread takes and theingredients with which it is made reveal the basic features of a land: the geology, orography, climate, history and anthropology of the people. Apulian bread is made of durum wheat, molded into large shapes. To know it, one must touch and taste its flour, drink the water with which it is kneaded, suck in the salt that flavors it. Then enter the comprimarios, the companionship, the foods that specify the geographical contours of a place, the influences it has enjoyed, the amount of creativity its inhabitants possess. Dried tomatoes in oil, lampascioni, scapece, African cookies, and tarantata, that is, woman bitten by the tarantula, are tasted and by spectators assisted by a gastro-cultural mediator. The tasting follows the mode of sensory tasting conducted in a metaphorical language that broadens the horizons of perception. Thus, the dialogue between Apulian bread and its companion takes place both in the mouth and in the minds of the viewers. Salento and Puglia are also a journey, a landscape that from postcard of atavistic beauty become desolation of dead olive trees due to the Xylella virus, of a place, therefore, to be reinvented and greened up, recreating with respect for the diversity of nature a new harmony. The show can be enjoyed through headphones and the scenes are enriched by videomapping that recreates different rooms and environments from time to time. A path that moves from theater to tradition that becomes innovation

At 9 p.m. kicking off with music in the market area, staging three concerts:

Rachele Andrioli in Choir to Choir

This is an evolving polyphonic singing workshop for women who love to sing directed by Rachele Andrioli. Folk and art music from around the world is traversed, and the therapeutic power of singing is discovered. In an age characterized by fear, uncertainty and apathy, Coro a Coro aims to be a small embankment where music builds bridges, welcomes, soothes. It is a female mixture of voices, culture and entertainment. The female voices of "Coro a Coro" are voices edited by women who love to sing and seek sharing, entertainment, understanding of different languages and traditions of the world, the concept of inclusion and tolerance among people near and far, that is, the need to commune through c anto ancient and current stories of an ever-changing world. A journey led by women's voices to affirm an identity of women who share the everyday, but at the same time seek to emanate a feeling of sisterhood aimed at inclusion, celebration, ritual and care through voice, thus becoming protagonists of cultural productions that aim beyond the ordinary horizon.

Ballanzè

"Ballanzè" is a concert dedicated to dance music, conceived and directed by Enza Pagliara. It brings together artists from Salento, Umbria and Sardinia. The voices of Enza Pagliara, Dario Muci, Lucilla Galeazzi and Elena Ledda take turns to sing in Salento, Umbrian and Sardinian. These artists, through their passionate interpretations and commitment to keeping traditions alive, have contributed to spreading the traditional music of their respective regions and preserving their cultural heritage. The lineup boasts the presence of the most well-known and appreciated musicians of Italian world music: with Mauro Palmas (mandola) Gianluca Longo (guitar and mandolin) Giorgio Distante (trumpet and bassotuba) Bruno Galeone (accordion) Vito De Lorenzi (percussion). The stage presence of Viola Centi, dancer and choreographer, transports the audience into a whirlwind of celebration and movement. This concert is a passionate tribute to the dance tradition: from the pizzica to the saltarello, from the tarantella to the round dance, a celebration of the joy that spreads through the notes and dances.  It is an invitation to join a community of hearts beating in unison as the overwhelming energy of folk music awakens the soul and makes the body dance. "BALLANZè'" is a journey through the time and space of our roots, where traditions come together in a harmonious embrace. It is a concert that transports the audience into a collective dance, where music and traditions once again become a universal language that unites and envelops.

Uccio Aloisi Gruppu

Uccio Aloisi was a folk music singer from Cutrofiano, among the most popular and appreciated in the Salento musical tradition. The show is centered on his repertoire of songs and stories, reinterpreted by the musicians of his latest musical group, which strives to reproduce in lyrics and melodies the same values of the old cantor, without giving in to the temptation of contaminations of any kind. These ancestral voices and sounds take us back in time and place and make all spectators dance, participate and enjoy. The group is currently composed of: Domenico Riso (voice and tamburrieddrhu), Luigi Nuzzo (voice and guitar), Max Però (voice and accordion), Antonio Calsolaro (mandolin), Pasquale Pizzolante (tamburrieddrhu).

Ragnatela della Taranta continues Aug. 3 Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve (BR), Aug. 4 Sogliano Cavour, Aug. 5 Nociglia, Aug. 6 Racale, Aug. 7 Cursi, Aug. 8 Alessano, Aug. 9 Ugento, Aug. 10 Sant'Andrea - marina di Melendugno, Aug. 11 Carpignano Salentino, Aug. 12 Nardò, Aug. 13 Galatone, Aug. 14 LECCE, Aug. 16 Zollino, Aug. 17 Galatina, Aug. 18 Castrignano de Greci, Aug. 19 Cutrofiano, Aug. 20 Aradeo for the first time included in the Festival, Aug. 21 Martignano, Aug. 22 Soleto, Aug. 23 Sternatia, Aug. 24 Martano, Aug. 26 CONCERTONE DI MEPIGNANO, Aug. 27 Galatina - Night of the Patrols.

The theme of this 26th edition is IDENTITY, inspired by Italo Calvino, the writer whose centenary since his birth falls this year: "Identity is a bundle of divergent lines that find in the individual the point of interest," wrote Calvino in "Civilizations of Machines." A theme-world to interpret current reality that will be addressed in lectio magistralis by philosopher Umberto Galimberti guest in Martano on Aug. 24, by Tlon philosophers Maura Gancitano and Andrea Colamedici on Aug. 21 in Martignano, by criminal judge Maria Francesca Mariano on Aug. 19 in Cutrofiano, by journalist Marcello Veneziani on Aug. 23 in Sternatia, by theologian Vito Mancuso on Aug. 8 in Alessano, by writer Stefano Massini on Aug. 17 in Galatina, by journalist and writer Angelo Mellone on Aug. 13 in Galatone.

Festival 2023 is dedicated to Luigi Chiriatti, the recently deceased artistic director who worked to the end of his days on the touring Taranta program.

FREE ENTRANCE.

The Itinerant Festival is a cultural project of the Notte della Taranta Foundation funded by REGIONE PUGLIA and PUGLIAPROMOZIONE with the contribution of Unione dei Comuni della Grecìa Salentina and the Ministry of Culture and the collaboration of the Diego Carpitella Institute.

The Notte della Taranta Foundation would like to thank the Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve and the municipalities of Corigliano d'Otranto, Calimera, Sogliano Cavour, Nociglia, Racale, Cursi, Alessano, Ugento, Melendugno, Carpignano Salentino, Nardò, Galatone, Zollino, Galatina, Castrignano de' Greci, Cutrofiano, Aradeo, Martignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Martano, Melpignano and the city of Lecce.

Main Sponsor: DMJ - DE MARIANI Group

Sponsor: ACQUA ORSINI

Official Carrier: SOUTH EAST Railways

Cultural Partner: ACQUEDOTTO PUGLIESE

Social Partner: FRATRES, L'INTEGRAZIONE, L'ADELFIA, OLIVAMI

Technical Partner: BUSFORFUN, APOS

Festival Notte della Taranta

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FRANCESCA ROMANA DI MAIO will devise the choreography for the Notte della Taranta 2023 scheduled for Aug. 26 in Melpignano (LE).

The Roman choreographer, who has previously collaborated with concertmaster Fiorella Mannoia, will propose 10 paintings inspired by the lyrics of traditional Salento songs in line with the theme chosen for edition 26: women in popular music.

"We are working to tell through dance this fascinating world of Taranta, explains Francesca Romana Di Maio. We start by listening to the song and analyzing the text, discovering with each new reading the beauty of the verses and the power of the stories. It will be these stories that will guide our steps, bringing not only the past but the present to the stage in Melpignano. I am happy to participate in this edition directed by Fiorella, who will certainly return to dance the pizzica as she did in 2016." 

A student of Franco Miseria, one of the most important choreographers of the show in the Italian artistic scene, Francesca Romana Di Maio from 2003 to 2010 was a professional dancer on Amici the program of Maria De Filippi, later collaborated with Giuliano Peparini and participated in Cocciante's musical opera "Notre Dame de Paris." Francesca Romana Di Maio's international experiences include collaboration with the Momix company directed by Moses Pendleton and participation in music videos and European tours with Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Geri Halliwell whose stand-in she was in the video "It's raining men."

Starting today, the choreographer will be in the rehearsal room in Soleto with folk dancers Serena Pellegrino, Lucia Scarabino, Mihaela Coluccia, Cristina Frassanito, Giorgia Carbone, Mattia Politi, Fabrizio Nigro, Stefano Campagna, Andrea Caracuta and Alessandro Tagliente and academic dancers Veronika Maritati, Alessia Losavio, Pia Taggio, Filippo Grande and assistant choreographer Alessandra Cito.

Taking care of the stage costumes will be Daniela Amoruso and her Danamò atelier with the collaboration of Vinicio Attanasi.

Since 2016, dance has been the protagonist, along with music, on the Melpignano stage, and the choreographies remain pages of art in the history of the Notte della Taranta: such as the unforgettable Fuecu in 2016 choreographed by Fabrizio Mainini, the flight of Nicoletta Manni prima ballerina della Scala signed by Luciano Cannito in 2017, Pizzicarella by international guest LP with the choreographic framework by Massimiliano Volpini in 2018, the harmonious balance between classical and popular defined in 2019 by Davide Bombana, the charm and elegance DIOR in Sharon Eyal's choreography in 2020, the enchanting and mind-blowing performance of Madame curated by Thomas Signorelli in 2021, the overwhelming Pizzica di San Vito danced by Elodie under the direction of Irma Di Paola in 2022.

Not only Concertone for the Taranta dancers. They will be guests of the Itinerant Festival with the show entitled Pizzica in Scena scheduled today in Corigliano d'Otranto at the AQP Tank and in Ugento on August 9. There are 7 appointments with pizzica workshops: today in Corigliano d'Otranto in the atrium of the Castello de Monti, August 5 in Nociglia, August 6 in Racale, August 10 in Sant'Andrea, August 12 in Nardò, and August 14 in Lecce. In the Cutrofiano stage, the patrol created by the dancers will include guests of the L'Adelfia therapeutic residences. And finally in the Soleto stage, the Taranta Dance Corps will offer the Balconata, a show with a strong visual impact that transforms the balconies of the historic center into the flowered stage to be admired with your head up.

7:00 p.m. SERBATOIO ACQUEDOTTO PUGLIESE in CORIGLIANO D'OTRANTO ALTA.

PIZZICA IN SCENE by the TARANTA DANCE BODY.

SALENTO FUNK ORCHESTRA

8 P.M. DE MONTI CASTLE

Pizzica workshop organized by the Taranta Dance Corps

9 P.M. VICTORY SQUARE

FARAUALLA in Sind!

EUGENIO BENNATO in Vento Popolare

ALLA BUA in Non Solo Live

The touring festival "La Notte della Taranta" starts on Aug. 1 from Corigliano d'Otranto, as per tradition. Onstage in Piazza Vittoria will be the first three concerts of the Ragnatela with vocal quartet FARAUALLA and their journey SIND!, EUGENIO BENNATO's new Vento Popolare and the overwhelming Non Solo Live of the Salentini ALLA BUAThe 2023 edition of the La Notte della Taranta Festival, will cross from August 1 to 27, as many as 25 villages and towns in Salento, the Torre Guaceto nature reserve and the iconic bay of Sant'Andrea, with more than 400 guests including musicians, dancers, actors, writers and philosophers. An editionthat promises to be extraordinary and that confirms La Notte della Taranta as the largest Italian touring festival that promotes popular music as a score of emotions born from the dialogue between the arts, interweaving and creating reflections and insights with dance, theater, literature, philosophy and will lead, stage after stage to the Concertone on August 26 in Melpignano (Le), to the long night with the concertmaster FIORELLA MANNOIA.

The evening kicks off with Pizzica in Scena, the performance of the Taranta Ballet Corps with choreography by Mattia Politi: appointment at 7 p.m. at the Acquedotto Pugliese Reservoir in Corigliano d'Otranto with dancers Serena Pellegrino, Mihaela Coluccia, Lucia Scarabino, Laura Boccadamo, Cristina Frassanito, Stefano Campagna, Fabrizio Nigro, and Andrea Caracuta. The event is part of the project The Humanity of Water in collaboration with Acquedotto Pugliese. In fact, the music of the Salento Funk Orchestra will follow, connecting the majestic work dating back to 1932 to the ancient village of Corigliano. As in the Apulian band tradition, the brass front-line of the Salento Funk Orchestra will accompany visitors to the Castello de Monti. Contamination and boiling groove are the artistic coordinates of the explosive Salento formation, It is music with legs, that of the Salento Funk Orchestra, which walks on parade surrounded by people, co-stars of a show in which a not at all secondary importance assumes the choreographic aspect.

A not-to-be-missed and eagerly awaited event for pizzica fans, the pizzica workshops, curated by the Notte della Taranta Dance Corps, return. Taranta dancers welcome guests in large inclusive and open circles accompanying 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 8 p.m., in the atrium of the Flying Castle of Corigliano d'Otranto.

From 9 p.m. Piazza Vittoria will be lit up with a succession of concerts featuring: Faraualla In Sind!, Eugenio Bennato in Vento Popolare and Alla Bua In Non Solo Live.

FARAUALLA in Sind!

The vocal quartet Faraualla was born in 1995. After having individually deepened the study and practice of vocality in various musical fields, the four singers found a common interest in researching the use of the voice as an "instrument" through the practice of polyphony and knowledge of vocal expressions from different ethnic groups and different historical periods. The suggestions of a journey through cultures so distant from each other merge into an original synthesis in which the group's cultural roots strongly emerge. Faraualla's concert for vocal quartet and percussion tackles a journey through vocality, taking cues from a traditional repertoire and landing on original pieces. The vocal quartet was formed in 1995. After having individually deepened the study and practice of vocality in different musical fields, the four singers found a common interest in researching the use of the voice as an "instrument," through the practice of polyphony and knowledge of vocal expressions from different ethnic groups and different historical periods. The outcomes of this work can be found in the Faraualla repertoire, in their original compositions. The suggestions of a journey through cultures so distant from each other merge into an original synthesis in which the group's cultural roots emerge strongly. Puglia, for centuries a land of encounter and passage of peoples, is present in the "sound" that connotes the Bari-based formation, in the percussion instruments that accompany the performance, in the group's very name. Faraualla is one of the deepest karst cavities on the Murgia plateau, northwest of Bari.

EUGENIO BENNATO - VENTO POPOLARE

"In the 1970s, as a boy, I invented the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, a musical band that started from the models of unknown southern singers and began touring the world. Then came the brigands of southern history, then came the Mediterranean migrants, then came Taranta Power, which marked the entry of Italian ethnic music into World Music. Always a music of minorities, a music that counts for little in the business of global civilization. My latest work is entitled Vento popolare. I find in it my starting point, the belief at the time that music can help counter the logic of profit with the logic of beauty and human contact." Eugenio Bennato founded Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare in the 1970s, and Musica Nova in 1976. In the 1990s he initiated, with Taranta Power, a movement that imposed Italian ethnic music in the international network of World Music. The most significant record releases are Brigante se more (1980), Taranta Power (1998), Che il Mediterraneo sia (2002), Sponda sud (2007), Questione meridionale (2011), Canzoni di Contrabbando (anthology 2016). "Da che Sud è Sud" is his latest record work, released in winter 2017. 2018 sees him play in the great capitals of the African Arab world: Tunis, Rabat, Cairo, Algiers, Tangier, Oran. He participates in the 7Sois7Luas festival in Portugal, and is invited by the European Parliament in Brussels to play on the occasion of the day dedicated to human rights. On December 1, 2018, he celebrates 20 years of Taranta Power with a big festival in Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples. In 2020 he releases a new album, "Someone on Earth," and the single "W Who Counts for Nothing." "Popular Wind" is the title of the new work, due out in 2022. In the summer of 2022 he releases the new single Welcome to Naples, which becomes the anthem of the events of Naples city of music. Also in 2023 he creates the soundtrack for the docufilm on Massimo Troisi, thirty years after his death, produced by Raiuno. Eugenio Bennato - vocals, classical guitar, mandola, beating guitar Ezio Lambiase - classical and electric guitar Mujura - acoustic guitar, bass, vocals Sonia Totaro - vocals and dance Francesca Del Duca - percussion, vocals Mohammed Ezzaime El Alaoui - vocals, viola.

ALLA BUA in Non Solo Live

"Not Only Live" is Alla Bua's 2023 project that emphasizes the importance of live music, music "played" for real and with real and indigenous musical instruments. But "not only live" is much more: more than 30 years of career for Alla Bua always committed to telling through their songs the protection of the territory, the defense of the environment and the love for an Earth that has given us so much but to which we always give too little. To all this the Alla bua reach us in their long path of musical and artistic activity starting from the awareness and 'attention paid to the changes of the territory that inevitably lead to change our daily life, all issues addressed and reported in the songs and lyrics of the Alla Bua then proposed in their live performances.

The Ragnatela della Taranta continues Aug. 2 Calimera and then Aug. 3 Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve (BR), Aug. 4 Sogliano Cavour, Aug. 5 Nociglia, Aug. 6 Racale, Aug. 7 Cursi, Aug. 8 Alessano, Aug. 9 Ugento, Aug. 10 Sant'Andrea - marina di Melendugno, Aug. 11 Carpignano Salentino, Aug. 12 Nardò, Aug. 13 Galatone, Aug. 14 LECCE, Aug. 16 Zollino, Aug. 17 Galatina, Aug. 18 Castrignano de Greci, Aug. 19 Cutrofiano, Aug. 20 Aradeo for the first time included in the Festival, Aug. 21 Martignano, Aug. 22 Soleto, Aug. 23 Sternatia, Aug. 24 Martano, Aug. 26 CONCERTONE DI MEPIGNANO, Aug. 27 Galatina - Night of the Patrols.

The theme of this 26th edition is IDENTITY, inspired by Italo Calvino, the writer whose centenary since his birth falls this year: "Identity is a bundle of divergent lines that find in the individual the point of interest," Calvino wrote in "Civilizations of Machines." A theme-world to interpret current reality that will be addressed in lectio magistralis by philosopher Umberto Galimberti guest in Martano on Aug. 24, by Tlon philosophers Maura Gancitano and Andrea Colamedici on Aug. 21 in Martignano, by criminal judge Maria Francesca Mariano on Aug. 19 in Cutrofiano, by journalist Marcello Veneziani on Aug. 23 in Sternatia, by theologian Vito Mancuso on Aug. 8 in Alessano, by writer Stefano Massini on Aug. 17 in Galatina, and by journalist and writer Angelo Mellone on Aug. 13 in Galatone.

Festival 2023 is dedicated to Luigi Chiriatti, the recently deceased artistic director, who worked until the end of his days on the Taranta touring program.

FREE ENTRANCE

The Itinerant Festival is a cultural project of the Notte della Taranta Foundation funded by REGIONE PUGLIA and PUGLIAPROMOZIONE with the contribution of Unione dei Comuni della Grecìa Salentina and the Ministry of Culture and the collaboration of the Diego Carpitella Institute.

The Notte della Taranta Foundation would like to thank the Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve and the municipalities of Corigliano d'Otranto, Calimera, Sogliano Cavour, Nociglia, Racale, Cursi, Alessano, Ugento, Melendugno, Carpignano Salentino, Nardò, Galatone, Zollino, Galatina, Castrignano de' Greci, Cutrofiano, Aradeo, Martignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Martano, Melpignano and the city of Lecce.

Main Sponsor: DMJ - DE MARIANI Group

Sponsor: ACQUA ORSINI

Official Carrier: SOUTH EAST Railways

Cultural Partner: ACQUEDOTTO PUGLIESE

Social Partner: FRATRES, L'INTEGRAZIONE, L'ADELFIA, OLIVAMI

Technical partner: BUSFORFUN, APOS

Taranta Night Festival

#taranta26   #WeAreinPuglia

Press office

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AUGUST 1 - 27.

THE NIGHT OF TARANTA 2023

Music Dance Theater Art Philosophy Meetings

ITALY'S LARGEST TRAVELING FESTIVAL RETURNS

ITALIAN THAT PROMOTES THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE ARTS

MORE THAN 50 CONCERTS IN VILLAGES AND BY THE SEA

AND MORE THAN 400 ITALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

THE THEME OF THIS EDITION IS:

IDENTITY IS A SOCIAL GIFT

with

STEFANO MASSINI, UMBERTO GALIMBERTI,

ANDREA COLAMEDICI and MAURA GANCITANO,

MARCELLO VENEZIANI, MARIA FRANCESCA MARIANO

VITO MANCUSO, ANGELO MELLON 

SPECIAL PROJECT WITH AQP

THE HUMANITY OF WATER

in three symbolic places

TORRE GUACETO NATURE RESERVE

AQP RESERVOIR CORIGLIANO D'OTRANTO

BAY OF SANT'ANDREA (MELENDUGNO)

DEDICATED TO LUIGI CHIRIATTI

link statement Lopane

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link statement Patruno

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link statement Scandale

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link statement Manti

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link statement Stomeo

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link images coverage

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Gianfranco Lopane - Assessore Turismo, Sviluppo e Impresa turistica Regione Puglia

"With 25 stages throughout Salento and more than 400 artists, La Notte della Taranta, between music, art and culture, represents an important moment for the Puglia Region's events programming. In the regional strategy, among the various actions, we want to give more and more thrust to the cultural product, to a programming that begins the first days of the year and ends the last of December expressing itself in a wide and varied offer that we build also thanks to the valuable collaboration with municipalities and tourism and culture operators. A well-established festival, therefore, which has contributed over time to the attractiveness of our region in Italy and the world, but which in each edition is enriched, changes its skin and promotes our traditions, our identity, initiating innovative forms of artistic experimentation."

Luca Scandale - General Director Pugliapromozione

"The Notte della Taranta was the first initiative that gave Salento, and then Puglia, national and international visibility. The Festival is a reference point for the Region's cultural and tourism marketing and that is why Pugliapromozione has been supporting it for five years. We have to say clearly, however, that our of the Region to hundreds of initiatives like this one may not have a perspective: in fact, it seems that the Development and Cohesion Fund, which is still blocked, will be destined in the future to support only infrastructure works. I think this is a short-sighted vision of development. Public works are necessary, but studies of the economics of culture show that intangible production is capable of producing great impacts far beyond the sums spent. I therefore use the visibility of La Notte della Taranta to make this appeal. Coming to the content of the Festival, I believe that, again this year, the central theme is identity. When, starting in the 1980s, globalization began to press on territories, identities from below re-emerged. Taranta is a part of this process, which has managed to transform from a cultural phenomenon into cultural marketing and a factor in attracting tourism. Thanks to La Notte della Taranta, Puglia realized that it could make it. Therefore, my thanks go to everyone who created and grew this great event: long live La Notte della Taranta, long live Puglia."

Aldo Patruno - Director of the Department of Tourism, Cultural Economy and Territorial Enhancement Apulia Region

"By now, the concertone is a landmark international event. We are not only facing a great musical event, but also the search for a territorial identity and a deep history of culture and popular music that has an anthropological and cultural value. The more this festival spreads over the territory, the Grecìa salentina, also enhancing the element of linguistic specificity, the more the historical-cultural value of this event gives the Notte della Taranta the value of a tourist-cultural tool, which we intend to use more and more in this 'phase two' of the regional cultural and tourism policies, aimed at upgrading the tourism offer, to position the territory on the market in terms of internationalization, diversifying it through culture, history, identity. These are the elements that make the traveling festival particularly important. We are particularly pleased that small municipalities, which are at the center of the policies of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, are increasingly joining this extraordinary initiative. We hope for popular participation on August 26 by residents, Apulians and Apulian women at the festival, but also by the citizens who fill the towns and villages of Salento during this August period - further proof that taranta is a defining element of Apulia's recognition in Italy and the world."

DINA MANTI, CDA member Fondazione La Notte della Taranta: "I am thrilled to be here today to present this Festival, which constitutes the perfect synthesis of my vision of culture and enhancement of the territory. During the tenure that I have the honor of holding within the Foundation, as a component designated by the Region of Puglia, the ability to combine a deep territorial identity with the challenge of interdisciplinary innovation will be the polar star toward which I will always aim. For a month, the squares of Grecìa Salentina and Salento will be dotted with events that constitute a true laboratory of excellence, a heritage of cultures and traditions that are a Common Good to be preserved and promoted every day. And staying on the subject of Common Goods, I am even more enthusiastic that the initial stage will be in my Corigliano d'Otranto and will include a performance by the dance troupe of the Notte della Taranta right in front of the Pugliese Aqueduct reservoir, a testament to the fact that culture is capable of conveying messages with a disruptive and generative force, and is always a living, pulsating element of our everyday life."

IVAN STOMEO CDA component La Notte della Taranta Foundation: "Festival 2023 is dedicated to Luigi Chiriatti and his research work. The itinerant travels in the villages and towns of Salento rich in stories and suggestions, off the ordinary routes finding ways to renew itself, grasping the transformations of society accompanying them with reflections and quality encounters. A schedule of events capable of enhancing all fields of art, from music to dance, from philosophy to theater. For more than 20 years The Festival has been growing by involving new territories with a continuous attention to the quality of the proposal that transforms historic centers into artistic and cultural laboratories. An unmissable event for the people of Puglia but especially for the many visitors who follow the Festival every year."

Rochy Malatesta president of Torre Guaceto nature reserve

"I am proud together with all those who operate and live the nature reserve of Torre Guaceto for this appointment, a wonderful moment of sustainable sharing, with a contingent presence. Since sunset, the Torre Guaceto lido will host this extraordinary, magical evening that will represent an embrace between the place and the Orchestra of La Notte della Taranta. We like the idea of historicizing this place with history, tradition and music very much because it represents the possibility of making people dialogue with music. We will all work together for sustainability, to raise awareness about caring for the environment, for nature, toward the essence that we need to find again. And the taranta with its colors, with its magic seemed to us an extraordinary event to share in this direction."

The 2023 edition of La Notte della Taranta Festival, will cross from August 1 to 27, as many as 25 villages and towns in Salento, the Torre Guaceto nature reserve and the iconic bay of Sant'Andrea, with more than 400 guests including musicians, dancers, actors, writers and philosophers. An edition that promises to be extraordinary and confirms La Notte della Taranta as the largest Italian traveling festival that promotes popular music as a score of emotions born from the dialogue between the arts, interweaving and creating reflections and insights with dance, theater, literature, philosophy.

Ragnatela della Taranta will offer a long journey through popular music with 200 hours of live shows in the squares: Aug. 1 Corigliano d'Otranto, Aug. 2 Calimera, Aug. 3 Riserva Naturale di Torre Guaceto (BR), Aug. 4 Sogliano Cavour, Aug. 5 Nociglia, Aug. 6 Racale, Aug. 7 Cursi, Aug. 8 Alessano, Aug. 9 Ugento, Aug. 10 Sant'Andrea - marina di Melendugno, Aug. 11 Carpignano Salentino, Aug. 12 Nardò, Aug. 13 Galatone, Aug. 14 LECCE, Aug. 16 Zollino, Aug. 17 Galatina, Aug. 18 Castrignano de Greci, Aug. 19 Cutrofiano, Aug. 20 Aradeo for the first time included in the Festival, Aug. 21 Martignano, Aug. 22 Soleto, Aug. 23 Sternatia, Aug. 24 Martano, Aug. 26 CONCERTONE DI MEPIGNANO, Aug. 27 Galatina - Night of the Patrols.

The theme of this 26th edition is IDENTITY, inspired by Italo Calvino, the writer whose centenary since his birth falls this year: "Identity is a bundle of divergent lines that find in the individual the point of interest," Calvino wrote in "Civilizations of Machines." A theme-world to interpret current reality that will be addressed in lectio magistralis by philosopher Umberto Galimberti guest in Martano on Aug. 24, by Tlon philosophers Maura Gancitano and Andrea Colamedici on Aug. 21 in Martignano, by criminal judge Maria Francesca Mariano on Aug. 19 in Cutrofiano, by journalist Marcello Veneziani on Aug. 23 in Sternatia, by theologian Vito Mancuso on Aug. 8 in Alessano, by writer  on Aug. 17 in Galatina, and by journalist and writer Angelo Mellone on Aug. 13 in Galatone.

Festival 2023 is dedicated to Luigi Chiriatti, the recently deceased artistic director, who worked until the end of his days on the Taranta touring program.

THE HUMANITY OF WATER

Sealing the importance of this festival in the Italian cultural scene is the project "The Humanity of Water" in collaboration with Acquedotto Pugliese, which will bring the Popular Orchestra Notte della Taranta and its Corps de Ballet to narrate through music and dance, the water that in Apulia is the highway of humanity. A highway with the forma fluens that through the pipelines of Acquedotto Pugliese, the amazing network of water conservation and distribution fruit of the work and ingenuity of countless generations, influences the life of Puglia, the gestures and language of its inhabitants. Water is the most important link that has spanned the past and flows into the future.

Three special events related to the project. The festival will be inaugurated on Aug. 1 with an unprecedented performance at the Acquedotto Pugliese reservoir overlooking Corigliano d'Otranto, starring the Taranta Ballet Corps and the Salento Funk Orchestra. The majestic work dating back to 1932 will be the setting for Pizzica in Scena the pizzica show with the pressing rhythms of Taranta that precedes the parade of the impressive brass front-line of the Salento Funk Orchestra. A celebration in the Apulian band tradition that will connect the reservoir to Corigliano's historic center.  On Aug. 3 in collaboration with the Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve scheduled the unplugged concert of the Popular Orchestra. At sunset, the sounds and songs of the Notte della Taranta land in the reserve's equipped lido with Enza Pagliara, Stefania Morciano, Alessandra Caiulo, Consuelo Alfieri, Antonio Amato, Giancarlo Paglialunga, Salvatore Galeanda and musicians Attilio Turrisi - chitarra battente, Alessandro Monteduro - percussion, Gianluca Longo - mandola, Roberto Gemma - accordion, Peppo Grassi - mandolin, Leonardo Cordella - accordion, Antonio Marra - drums, Roberto Chiga, Alessandro Chiga, Carlo Canaglia De Pascali, Gioele Nuzzo - tambourine, Mario Esposito - bass, Giuseppe Astore - violin, Nico Berardi - woodwinds. On August 10, the hypnotic pizzica of the Popular Orchestra will enchant the bay of Sant'Andrea, marina of Melendugno, on the night of San Lorenzo.

MUSIC

Here are the 50 concerts that will enliven the Festival stages with Eugenio Bennato, Faraualla, Alla Bua in Corigliano d'Otranto, Rachele Andrioli, Enza Pagliara - Elena Ledda - Lucilla Galeazzi - Dario Muci, Uccio Aloisi Gruppu in Calimera, Orchestra Popolare La Notte della Taranta in Torre Guaceto Riserva Naturale, Tamburellisti di Otranto, I Trainieri and Criamu in Sogliano Cavour, the Orchestrona of the school of popular music of Forlimpopoli and I Calanti in Nociglia, I Briganti di Terra d'Otranto, Kalurya, Mimmo Epifani - Pietro Cirillo and I Tamburi della Tarantola di Tricarico in Racale, Damiano Mulino & Kardia - Tzichì popolare, Taranta Arneo, Dakkamà and Carlo Canaglia in Cursi, Pino Ingrosso and the Kalascima hosting Joao Silva in Alessano, Maria Mazzotta and Scazzacatarante in Ugento, I Mandatari and Orchestra Popolare La Notte della Taranta in Sant'Andrea, Assurd and Strittuli compagnia di musica popolare salentina in Carpignano Salentino, Fiorenza Calogero with Biagio De Prisco and Stella Grande in Nardò, Sciacuddhuzzi and Enzo Petrachi & Folkorband23 in Galatone, Mario Incudine - Peppe Servillo and Orchestra Popolare La Notte della Taranta in Lecce, Leonardo Cordella Salento Pizziche e Tarante and Ashèblasta in Zollino, Chi sonä e cantä no nmòrë majï and Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino hosting Inude in Galatina, Consuelo Alfieri and Mascarimirì "25 anni tradinnovazione" hosting Hakim Hamadouche in Castrignano de' Greci, Le Malmaritate and Antonio Amato Ensemble in Cutrofiano, Arakmea, Raiz & Radicanto, Edoardo Zimba in Aradeo, Nui...Nisciunu and Giancarlo Paglialunga hosting Redi Hasa in Martignano, Makaria, Fanfara Station and Officina Zoè "I 30 anni" in Soleto, Jonica Popolare, Antonio and Eliseo Castrignanò with Oles Orchestra in Sternatia, Ciccio Nucera Band and Kamafei in Martano.

DANCE

A not-to-be-missed and eagerly awaited event for pizzica enthusiasts, the pizzica workshops, curated by the Notte della Taranta Dance Corps, return. Taranta dancers welcome guests in large, inclusive, open circles as they 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 8 p.m. Aug. 1 in the atrium of the Flying Castle in Corigliano d'Otranto, Aug. 5 in Piazza Ruggieri in Nociglia, Aug. 6 in Racale in Piazza San Sebastiano, Aug. 10 at Sant'Andrea Bay, Aug. 12 in Nardò via XXV Luglio, and Aug. 14 in Lecce in Piazza Libertini.

Also back is Pizzica in Scena, the show of the Corpo di Ballo della Taranta with choreography by Mattia Politi: appointment on Aug. 1 Serbatoio Acquedotto Pugliese in Corigliano d'Otranto and on Aug. 9 in Ugento in Piazza San Vincenzo.

On stage: Serena Pellegrino, Mihaela Coluccia, Lucia Scarabino, Laura Boccadamo, Cristina Frassanito, Stefano Campagna, Fabrizio Nigro, Andrea Caracuta.

Dance will also be the protagonist in the Cutrofiano stage with the special project MAGICA RONDA in collaboration with the Alessano-based Coop L'Adelfia inserted in Taranta per il Sociale: girls and boys guests of therapeutic communities will be the protagonists of the special dance that will involve the community in the inclusive and supportive patrol.

Also in Cutrofiano scheduled is the pizzica performance by dancers Carmine D'Amico and Jonathan Enea Costa.

On Aug. 22 in Piazza Cattedrale after midnight in Soleto, the dancers of the Corpo di Ballo della Taranta will give life to the Balconata, a show with a strong visual impact that transforms the balconies of the historic center into the urban stage to be admired with your head up.

THEATER

Once again this year La Notte della Taranta dedicates a large space to theater.

Appointments not to be missed are Aug. 2 in the market area in Calimera with Teatro Koreja in Cumpanaggio (show for max 30 spectators with reservations required on 0832 724200).

In Capignano Salentino in largo Giudeca on Aug. 11 staged "La Guerra del vino" with Fabrizio Saccomanno and Marco Schiavone. In Nardò in the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta staged Apocalisse Apocrifa with Giuseppe Semeraro and Giuseppe Gigante. In Zollino on Aug. 16 in the municipal villa lands Enea, human hero the narrative show in music conceived by Andrea Sirianni.

METHODS OF ACCESS

All Festival events are with free access.

Only the Torre Guaceto event, having to preserve the balance of the ecosystem, will have limited access for 400 people who can make reservations starting at 4 p.m. on July 26 by clicking here: https://nottedellatarantatorreguaceto.eventbrite.com

The ticket amount will be refunded, to all persons attending the concert, in the following days.

For the Theater section event with mandatory reservation in the Calimera stage on Aug. 2 for Cumpanaggio by Teatro Koreja. Reservations here: 0832 242000

#taranta26 #WeAreinPuglia.

The Itinerant Festival is a cultural project of the Notte della Taranta Foundation funded by REGIONE PUGLIA and PUGLIAPROMOZIONE with the contribution of Unione dei Comuni della Grecìa Salentina and the Ministry of Culture and the collaboration of the Diego Carpitella Institute.

The Notte della Taranta Foundation would like to thank the Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve and the municipalities of Corigliano d'Otranto, Calimera, Sogliano Cavour, Nociglia, Racale, Cursi, Alessano, Ugento, Melendugno, Carpignano Salentino, Nardò, Galatone, Zollino, Galatina, Castrignano de' Greci, Cutrofiano, Aradeo, Martignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Martano, Melpignano and the city of Lecce.

Main Sponsor: DMJ - DE MARIANI Group

Sponsor: ACQUA ORSINI

Official Carrier: SOUTH EAST Railways

Cultural Partner: ACQUEDOTTO PUGLIESE

Social Partner: FRATRES, L'INTEGRAZIONE, L'ADELFIA, OLIVAMI

Technical Partner: BUSFORFUN, APOS

THE NIGHT OF TARANTA 2023

CONCERTMASTER

FIORELLA MANNOIA

Theme 2023: women in popular music

Emiliano statement link

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Di Bari statement link

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Patruno statement link

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 Mannoia statement link

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Manera statement link

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link cover image

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link promo Notte della Taranta

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FIORELLA MANNOIA is the concertmaster of the 26th edition of the Concertone de La Notte della Taranta, Italy's largest festival and one of the most significant events on popular culture in Europe, scheduled for Aug. 26 in Melpignano (LE).

This was announced by Apulia Region President Michele Emiliano and Fondazione Notte della Taranta President Massimo Manera at a press conference held this morning in Bari, which was attended by councilwoman in charge of culture Grazia Di Bari, Apulia Region culture department director Aldo Patruno and Melpignano Mayor Valentina Avantaggiato.

Apulia Region President Michele Emiliano, speaking at a press conference, said, "We are talking about one of the most identifiable artists on the Italian and international music scene. She is obviously a person of extraordinary quality who has interpreted her role with freedom, independence, without ever resigning herself to the commonplaces of the star system. So he is a personality that fits very well with our Notte della Taranta, a place of freedom, identity, precisely, but also independence from clichés and banalities. I am very happy and I confess that she is one of my favorite artists as well. Her presence was hidden even from me until the very last and this pleasantly created the surprise effect.

Ms. Mannoia sang some of the most beautiful songs dedicated to women: men should lower their eyes in front of this great female humanity."

On the Notte della Taranta, in particular, the president was keen to point out that it is "first of all a great event on a cultural and musical level, then indirectly, like any major cultural event, it also has a very positive tourism effect. The two elements always hold together, that of tourism and culture. Because, as I have always said, for us first of all the principle of welcoming applies to anyone who wants to come here to our land, tourists or not. I am referring to all kinds of migratory flows: they are brothers who come to relieve themselves but also to us. Their presence strengthens our DNA, our economy, but above all they give us a glimpse of the world that, without them, we would miss. They are an asset, as I always reiterate, and I hope that Europe, sooner or later, and all of Italy will understand this."
When asked what Mannoia's favorite song was, she said, "the one that makes men feel embarrassed in front of their own mistakes and that goes 'women always say another yes.'"

Visibly emotional Fiorella Mannoia recalled her experience on the Taranta stage. "I first went up in 2016 invited by Carmen Consoli and sang Cardilledda and Lu Zinzale. It is an honor and a privilege to have been called as a master concertmaster. I would like to do a female-driven Notte della Taranta, emphasizing women's stories. The women of the folk tradition are sung in songs that are seemingly light but hid great meanings behind the words, and on which we would like to entertain ourselves, stories of labor, abuse, exploitation. We have a duty to preserve this history, because if we do not know where we come from, we do not even know where we are going.

It is culture that unites peoples, that makes us recognize each other, without this cultural exchange that our country has been nourished by that is a mestizo. We are affected by Arab, Spanish, Greek influence, we are a mestizo, this we have to emphasize, this will be my goal, giving space to the percussive part, without which it would not be Taranta. I think percussion is the link that has united all cultures, and so we hope to work together with Carlo Di Francesco and Clemente Ferrari in this respect. I will choose the songs that call for women as protagonists, but not only that, we will choose them together with the folk orchestra, which I met in 2016 and noted their skill, seriousness and competence. The expectation is great and we will try our best. I am very excited and gratified by this assignment, I hope to rise to the occasion because the Notte della Taranta is a big thing."

And answering journalists' questions, she added, "We are researching traditional songs that have as their theme women and their complaints about the world of work, they worked from morning to night, they were often abused, they often felt caged. There is work to be done and we are committed to the research. The Notte della Taranta is a night of culture because beyond the entertainment, and beyond the 200,000 people we have in front of us, it is a night of repurposing, a great privilege. I realize that I am going to work for something very important for Puglia and for Italy."

The Director of the Department of Tourism and Culture Apulia Region, Aldo Patruno said "Fiorella Mannoia is an extraordinary artist: her meeting with the Notte della Taranta marks a further evolutionary step in this great experience, now in its 26th edition. One of the highlights of the unique schedule of cultural activities and live entertainment in our region: the Concertone preceded by the traveling folk festival, which crosses the entire Grecìa Salentina. So popular music, live entertainment, big events and big names for a revival and promotion of Puglia more and more through Culture and Entertainment. This is the choice we have made and announced in this first part of the year in all the big national fairs, including BTM in Bari: we no longer need a generalist promotion of Puglia, everyone knows our Region in Italy and around the world. Instead, we need to increasingly position Puglia-a great region of the South-as a great region of culture, hospitality and wellbeing. The Notte della Taranta is in some ways the spearhead of this path."

Regional councilwoman in charge of culture Grazia di Bari said, "We are happy that Fiorella Mannoia has agreed to be the concertmaster of this edition of the Notte della Taranta. An edition that will see women as protagonists, with popular female songs. Events like the Notte della Taranta, among the most popular festivals in the world make our Puglia great, which is also becoming more and more known for its great cultural offerings. An event that passes on our tradition and manages in each edition to maintain its uniqueness. With culture we support the economy of our region, just think that for every euro invested for the Notte della Taranta there is a return of 4 euros. Culture is vital for Puglia."

For Luca Scandale, director general of Pugliapromozione: "The Notte della Taranta is a tourism accelerator for Salento and for all of Puglia. Already 20 years ago it was the fuse that led to exploding attention to an area through a fusion of traditional culture, innovation and tourism: these are precisely the pillars on which we are working for the Puglia 3x6x5 Strategic Plan."

"The decision to entrust Fiorella Mannoia with the role of maestro concertante," said Notte della Taranta foundation president Massimo Manera, "is a very important forward choice, as has been the case in recent years. She is very happy with this assignment, she will bring us the Irish red and brio. Fiorella Mannoia has already been a guest of the Notte della Taranta, in what is not just a Concertone but a party where you create relationships among friends. This is the Melpignano Concertone, a great day of celebration that closes the Festival that animates the squares of Salento. Mannoia's will be a feminine look at music, at arrangements."

"After working on the music," added Creative Director of the Notte della Taranta Foundation Gabriella Della Monaca, "we will do in-depth research on the texts of the songs that have women as protagonists. And we are entrusting this task to one of the greatest interpreters of Italian song, who with her sensitivity will lead us to discover the dreams of Ninnella mia, the story of Cecilia who in order to save her beloved seduces the captain, Cesarina invoked by the inmate in the prisons of Lecce. Then again the symbolism of the rose and the metaphors of popular poets. The Concertone will also pay homage to Italo Calvino on the centenary of his birth by setting to music some stories from the collection Fiabe Italiane."

The mayor of Melpignano Valentina Avantaggiato pointed out that "Melpignano is the town where this path was born, where the Notte della Taranta was born, it is an honor to host and welcome this contamination with all the people coming from all over Italy. It is an honor for us to have Fiorella Mannoia as the concert master of this edition, an all-round artist whom I personally admire very much also for her social, political and civil commitment and who through her songs and her art but also through her daily commitment has managed to build humanity. So to imagine that this year she can organize our orchestra and with them take up our songs that speak of work, of exploitation, leads us even more to appreciate our riches from which we need to start again to make culture that is cultural growth of an area d therefore a healthy and sustainable development that leaves no one behind."

One of the greatest interpreters of Italian song, a career full of prestigious awards and extraordinary successes with 21 platinum and 6 gold records, Fiorella Mannoia interprets stories and melodies with delicacy and unique involvement. A story, hers, of music, social commitment and solidarity that is an inspiration to all women.

The concertmaster has already participated in the Notte della Taranta as a special guest in 2016 and is the fourth woman, after Carmen Consoli, Andrea Mirò and Madame, to direct the big live event of the Apulian summer. Fiorella Mannoia will bring to the Melpignano stage the stories of women protagonists of the songs of work, protest and love of the Salento folk tradition.

Mannoia will be joined by music producer and percussionist Carlo Di Francesco and conductor and arranger Clemente Ferrari.

After last year's extraordinary success with two hundred thousand attendees in Melpignano, the goal is to deliver to the public a unique cultural work that knows how to combine the past with the future through the eyes of women.

In the 2023 edition, the thematic research of the Concertone will focus on the words of popular texts by enhancing the poetics of the verses through the profound interpretation of the master concertmaster who will dialogue with the 21 members of the Popular Orchestra and Italian and international guests.

A feminine narrative to retrace the stages of the emancipation journey women have made from tarantismo to the present day, moving from labor union claims to rebellion over a destiny imposed by others. Women's music in Salento accompanied human affairs and saw women play a decisive role in the entire community. Weavers of social relations and custodians of age-old wisdom, Salento women sang out of deep cultural necessity: imparting rhythm to the hard work of each day, entertaining the young, cradling newborns, celebrating religious rituals, sighing over unrequited love and, above all, defeating all fear. A tale punctuated by the rhythm of the tambourine with the hypnotic and overwhelming pizziches of the tradition that embraces the contemporaneity of percussion.

The artistic direction of the Concertone has been entrusted since 2021 to the eclectic Orchestra Popolare della Taranta, a witness to the Salento cultural renaissance that changed the history of pizzica by exporting it to the world. Born in 2004 within the Melpignano Concertone, the group of popular musicians and singers is now an undisputed leader in the world music scene. Tradition and constant innovation, unique and unmistakable sound, the Orchestra is characterized by the multitude of fascinating sound paths born from collaborations with artists met on the Melpignano stage. On tour abroad, the Taranta Orchestra sets the squares of the world ablaze and represents Italian Popular Culture in the most prestigious international contexts. Every year the Orchestra, acclaimed by the public and critics, leads the Concertone di Melpignano, which in the last quarter of a century has fostered the birth of new groups and new festivals related to the pizzica by promoting all activities related to the recovery and revival of popular traditions. The set of songs and dances proposed by the Orchestra during 25 years of the Notte della Taranta, today represent a speaking archive of excellence.

The Melpignano Concertone is a cultural project of the La Notte della Taranta Foundation supported by the Region of Puglia in collaboration with Unione dei Comuni della Grecìa salentina. Diego Carpitella Institute and Pugliapromozione.

Official hashtags #taranta26 #WeAreinPuglia

 www.instagram.com/lanottedellataranta_official

www.facebook.com/FondazioneLaNottedellaTaranta/

www.youtube.com/user/nottedellatarantatv

The BBC has chosen La Notte della Taranta to tell the story of authentic and contemporary music Puglia. The short film produced by BBC, edited by Catharina Moh and hosted by Carmen Roberts will be included in the highly popular program The Travel Show. The British crew filmed rehearsals for the Concertone by the iconic Popular Orchestra and the magnificent Taranta Ballet Corps at the former Convento degli Agostiniani in Melpignano (LE) where the much-anticipated Concertone will be held on August 26.

Completing the BBC story is an interview with ethnomusicologist Gianfranco Salvatore and Popular Orchestra coordinator Gianluca Longo as well as footage of archaeological remains in Lecce's Castromediano Museum depicting tambourines and dancers.

It is a journey into the extraordinary modernity of Puglia's Longest Night, which attracts thousands of spectators from all over the world every year.

A delegation of entrepreneurs and cultural promoters from the Canton region in China, twinned with the Puglia region since 2011, was welcomed on Friday, July 7, at the headquarters of the Notte della Taranta Foundation. The guests toured the sites of the Concertone and learned about the history of the world-renowned event.

"We are here," said June Liu, "because La Notte della Taranta is a must and we are curious to find out how this reality has managed to make music of tradition contemporary and modern. Our goal is to start a dialogue with Fondazione to build a bridge of opportunity with China and organize a special concert together."

It was 2006 when the Notte della Taranta landed in China with its load of rhythm and passion.

The Chinese delegation was welcomed by the music and dance of the People's Orchestra and the Taranta Dance Corps.

SPECIAL PROJECT MUSICAE LOCI

POPULAR ORCHESTRA NOTTE DELLA TARANTA AND MAX GAZZÈ TOGETHER IN ALBEROBELLO AND CONTURSI

JUNE 30 ALBEROBELLO (BA)

AUGUST 7 CONTURSI (SA)

The Popular Orchestra of La Notte della Taranta will accompany Max Gazzè on the first leg of Musicae loci, the new project that will immerse the singer-songwriter in territories and traditions throughout Italy.

This journey, in which he will be joined by the best folk orchestras in the peninsula, will begin on Friday, June 30, from Alberobello, in Piazza Martellotta at 8:30 p.m., with the orchestra of La Notte della Taranta.

Alberobello, known for its trulli, becomes the ideal stage to promote under the sign of music new forms of artistic collaborations where the colorful and hypnotic rhythms of the most traditional instruments and percussion will join the sound background of the artist. In a mutual mingling of notes, with arrangements edited by Max Dedo and Taranta musicians Gianluca Longo - mandola, Nico Berardi - woodwinds, Alessandro Monteduro - percussion, Antonio Marra - drums, Roberto Gemma - accordion, Mario Esposito - bass , Roberto Chiga - tambourine, Alessandro Chiga - tambourine, Gioele Nuzzo - didgeridoo, Attilio Turrisi - beating guitar will offer a unique concert. On stage with Gazzè, the folk orchestra of La Notte della Taranta will reshape the singer-songwriter's songs with new nuances, and he will reinterpret some of the most representative songs of the musical tradition of Salento.
This is not the first time that Max Gazzè confronts popular music, the rhythm of pizzica and the Salento dialect: in 2013, in fact, he was among the guest artists at the Melpignano Concertone.

The concert will be repeated in CONTURSI TERME (SA) on Aug. 7.

Presented in foundation "Les festivals de musiques du monde" by Flavia Gervasi and Caroline Marcoux-Gendron of the University of Montreal.

Presented Saturday, July 8, at the La Notte della Taranta Foundation headquarters, the Academic Research by Flavia Gervasi and Caroline Marcoux Gendon of the University of Montreal.

The research initiated by Flavia Gervasi, a professor from 2013 to 2020 at the University of Montreal, concerns 3 music festivals around the world: La Notte della Taranta in Salento, the Arab World Music Festival and the Festival de l'imaginaire in France.

"La Notte della Taranta is considered not only as just a musical research project but as an interesting tourist attractor, a perfect machine for territorial marketing operations," Marcoux pointed out in his speech.

The interview with Marcoux and the study day will be available on the Notte della Taranta Youtube channel.

FIORELLA MANNOIA; MAESTRA CONCERTATRICE NOTTE TARANTA RECEIVES AWARD IN MILAN FOR HER COMMITMENT TO WOMEN

Fiorella Mannoia, maestra concertatrice of La Notte della Taranta 2023 received at the Palazzo dei Giureconsulti in Milan the "Donne, non Pupe", 2023 edition award for her commitment always shown in support of women's issues and against gender violence.

The award was presented to her at the press conference presenting the eighth edition of Passerella Mediterranea - Donne, non Pupe, as part of the events of Set Mediterraneo 2023. The almost ten-year event born in Grottaglie, the city of ceramics also in 2024 will involve for the second time the city of Milan bringing on showcase and on the catwalk the excellence of Puglia: haute couture for wedding dresses, typical ceramics, illuminations and fascinating places to tell about a land increasingly appreciated in Italy and abroad. The event is sponsored by the Region of Puglia. (Passerella Mediterranea note attached).

Fiorella Mannoia, who for months with the Orchestra Popolare de La Notte della Taranta has been researching and arranging the traditional Salento songs that will make up the final concert on August 26 in Melpignano; she has always been sensitive to the issue of violence against women. She has done so both by expressing her thoughts several times and through music, with a concert event in which seven female artists took the stage to demonstrate their commitment against gender-based violence.

FIORELLA MANNOIA, master concertmaster Notte Taranta 2023, DECLARES.

"My connection with Puglia is important, you can't count the decades that I have traveled the length and breadth of it. The connection with the Notte della Taranta was born in 2016 when I was a guest at the Concertone, in that context, on that stage, dancing and having fun I really understood what this music and dance represented. Now I have been invested with this role of concertmaster of which I am very proud, the research work is finished, I had the good fortune to meet Luigi Chiriatti, who passed away recently who introduced me to the historical memory of this tradition. The musical heritage of this land, in my opinion should be UNESCO HERITAGE. With the La Notte della Taranta Foundation we embarked on this journey that will end on August 26 in Melpignano, and with me will be Carlo Di Francesco, and for a percussionist to work with these rhythms is like entering Toyland.

ALDO PATRUNO director of the Department of Tourism, Cultural Economy, and Territorial Enhancement of the Apulia Region.

"The Puglia region has promoted a regional law to enhance the band culture that has always characterized the patronal festivals of our territory in which a central role is also that of the illuminations and cassarmonics that represent the Apulian tradition and animate our community festivals. Out of poverty, out of the need of those who could not afford to attend an opera at the theater, was born this tradition that today identifies the land of Apulia and has an extraordinary attractiveness. In this direction and with this spirit was born the collaboration with the Grottaglie craftsmanship, excellence in the manual work of ceramics on the one hand and lace and embroidery on the other, which has led the Puglia region to invest in the enhancement of craftsmanship, even in Milan, valuing women and men working in the sector, but at the same time juxtaposing this initiative with major issues on which attention must always be maximized. The idea of the theme gender violence, was born precisely from an episode: a beautiful life-size Grottaglie ceramic puppet that had broken and that thanks to the skill and care of the master potters was recovered, then donated to the Puglia Region where today it stands in front of the culture department. Here is this symbol of the strength of women who through healing can be reborn even after difficult times."

GRAZIA DI BARI Councilor delegated for cultural policies Puglia Region.

We are happy with the presentation of this award to Fiorella Mannoia, the master concertress of this edition of La Notte della Taranta. Also this year the concert that will take place on August 26 in Melpignano will pay tribute to women, because Taranta is woman. The first edition of Set Mediterraneo that took place in Milan last January was a success that allowed visitors to admire the marvels of our craftsmanship, the Grottaglie ceramic babes at natural height the wedding dresses, the illuminations, our food and wine products. An event whose central theme was the fight against violence against women, of which the Grottaglie pupae have become a symbol. Today this award ceremony is important to still put women at the center and to be able to bring about that change in mentality that is only possible through culture. That is why I want to thank the protagonists of this award ceremony and once again invite everyone to the concert in Melpignano on August 26 and to the events planned by the program of the foundation of the Notte della Taranta, which gets richer and richer every year.

CARMELA COMES designer of Carmela Comes Bride.

I am very excited because today this conference marks the beginning of the eighth edition of Passerella Mediterranee and the second edition of Milano Set Mediterraneo. These events not only highlight the craft traditions of Puglia but also accompany a significant commitment against violence against women, through the Women, not Chicks project. And it was here that we presented an award to artist Fiorella Mannoia for her sensitivity and commitment to the world of women.

TO FRANCO MUSSIDA

THE DANIELE DURANTE AWARD

OF THE POPULAR ORCHESTRA NOTTE DELLA TARANTA

Cover images and interview Mussida

https://we.tl/t-Iq0r6qeKy5

FRANCO MUSSIDA is the first artist to receive the DANIELE DURANTE PRIZE established by the Notte della Taranta Foundation and awarded by the POPULAR ORCHESTRA during a concert in Cernusco sul Naviglio (MI).

During the evening, which was attended by thousands of spectators at Parco Trabattoni, Franco Mussida, founding member of PFM - Premiata Forneria Marconi, was a guest of the Orchestra, giving with his guitar an atmosphere with Celtic references to the famous song written by Daniele Durante: "Fuecu." Instead, the rhythm of the pizzica colored Mussida's song "È tutto vero."

This is the motivation for the prize: "Extraordinary and multifaceted artist with his unmistakable sound has expressed unprecedented musical suggestions always enhancing the encounter and has continued to do so throughout his career by always going to discover new compositional talents in the young Italian levers."

The Daniele Durante award does not include parchments or statuettes but the collaboration between the award-winning artist and the Popular Orchestra following the value of popular music, expressed by the artistic director who passed away in June 2021, that "it is everyone's heritage, popular culture must meet others, recontextualize itself, interact with the world, because if it is not renewed, popular culture becomes museum-like and is destined to die."

"I am truly moved," Mussida said upon receiving the Award, "it is a great pleasure to be with so many friends of music who live it with their hearts and with the knowledge that they are carrying an important history with them, they carry it around the world, a history in which Daniele was a fundamental witness and I by the way met him the year before he left and it was a fantastic meeting, we had promised each other to do things together.

I played his song with great pleasure, the Cernusco stage welcomed the joyfulness of the Salento pizzica. The great musicians of the Notte della Taranta are hailed by all, they are welcomed by the hardest hearts, like the people of Cernusco who have hard hearts and they broke them, there were all hands raised, everyone singing, it was the music, the music of this extraordinary Orchestra. I really hope that this wonder that happened to me can bring me to Salento. Let's stay in touch, hurray for the Orchestra, hurray for Daniele who will always remain in our hearts."

The Popular Orchestra Notte della Taranta was welcomed by Cernusco sul Naviglio (MI) Mayor Ermanno Zacchetti and Pro Loco President Silvano Ambrosoli.

The Popular Orchestra's 2023 tour after Milan, Vicenza, Novi Sad, Singapore, Sant'Agata Bolognese, and Teramo continues on June 30 in Alberobello for a special concert with MAX GAZZÈ. In July new stages together with APRÈS LA CLASSE for the special project "la Festa Patronale."

#tarantatour2023

FRANCO MUSSIDA was born in Milan in 1947. An artist who has been involved in Music in different fields. Parallel lives: musician, composer, teacher and researcher. He writes, paints, sculpts, experiments and plays. A founding member of PFM - Premiata Forneria Marconi, he made dozens of albums, wrote many of the group's national and international hits, including the Music of "Impressions of September." He has collaborated, played with singers, artists and intellectuals including: Fabrizio De André (he oversaw the artistic production of De André - PFM), Lucio Battisti, Francesco Guccini, Paolo Conte, Lucio Dalla. As a musician he is a symbol and progenitor of a generation that created and enjoyed the musical fullness of Prog in the 1970s, helping to bring that model to the world. In 1984 he was among the founders of the CPM Music Institute in Milan, among the most prestigious Italian music institutes of Popular Music, a teaching field previously little considered and now, thanks in part to his work, fully recognized at the institutional level. Associated with this is his more than 30 years of social work and research in prisons and communities where he uses Music as an educational tool. Among the projects carried out is "CO2," a work in 12 Italian prisons awarded the medal of the Presidency of the Republic in 2017. Since 2012, Mussida has been showing his research on the effects of Music on emotional structure through visual art and non-fiction. In this regard, he wrote five essays between 2013 and 2020. The latest: "The Planet of Music" (Salani Editore, 2019) and "The Gold of Sound" (Nomos, 2021). He also designs and creates experiential exhibitions, permanent installations in prestigious museum venues in our country, including the Triennale in Milan, and the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, where he received the Lorenzo de' Medici Prize in 2015 together with Anish Kapoor. His research work on the Mystery that transforms Music into emotions continues to this day in the prisons of San Vittore, a place he has frequented since 1987, and in the community of San Patrignano.

APULIA IN SINGAPORE ON REPUBLIC DAY, AT THE GREAT "ROSE ROMANCE" EVENT SPONSORED BY THE EMBASSY OF ITALY.

In the unique setting of Gardens by the Bay illuminated with the colors of Italy, thousands of visitors won over by the Pizzica and the Trulli.

The Orchestra of the Notte della Taranta, official ambassador of the pizzica in the world, among ancestral songs and overwhelming Salento dances, gave the Singaporean audience a fascinating sonic journey into the romantic and welcoming Puglia, in an all-Apulian setting among Trulli, traditional ceramics and typical products.
"Rose Romance," the grand event held from today until July 16 in the iconic Gardens by the Bay, symbols of the City-State, was inaugurated on Republic Day, in the presence of Minister Indranee Rajah, Italian Ambassador to Singapore Mario Andrea Vattani, Vice President of the Puglia Region Raffaele Piemontese, representatives of the Italian community, international diplomacy and local authorities. This is the flagship event of the Italian Festival, promoted by the Embassy of Italy and organized in collaboration with Pugliapromozione.

"It is an honor for the Region of Puglia to be present in Singapore on the occasion of the Republic Day celebrations with a leading role," says Vice President Raffaele Piemontese, "Being here opens up prospects for international relations with this very interesting area of the world. The atmosphere in Gardens by the Bay is all Apulian, with the trulli of Alberobello, our ceramics, the overwhelming warmth of the Notte della Taranta, the tasting of typical products, the images of the territory from Gargano to Leuca, thanks also to the collaboration of Pugliapromozione. 300 thousand people are expected at this event, this makes us understand what opportunities can be opened to promote our land, our companies, the excellence of products and services made in Puglia. I thank Ambassador Vattani for such a prestigious institutional collaboration."

"Today is our national holiday and here in Singapore we celebrate it with Puglia, with the trulli and with Singaporeans," says Ambassador Vattani. "Singapore is not only a City-State of 6 million inhabitants, a smart city known worldwide for its technology. Here we are inside a greenhouse that reproduces not only the climate of the tropics but also our Mediterranean. And right here we are visited not only by Singaporeans and tourists visiting this region, which is currently experiencing the greatest global growth: 15 million people arrive every year to visit these beautiful greenhouses that we have peacefully occupied with trulli and all the explanatory panels about what Puglia is and how to get there. For all this we are truly grateful to the Puglia Region and Pugliapromozione because they have been able to grasp where you need to be at this time in the world, when all of tourism is starting to take off again; and especially to introduce one of the most beautiful regions of Italy to tourists from this area of the world."

"The big event on June 2 in Singapore opens the new strategy for promoting Puglia in Southeast Asia," says Tourism Councillor Gianfranco Lopane. Our sights are set on Italian Cuisine Week to be held in Tokyo in November and then in Osaka in the fall at TEJ, Japan's National Tourism Fair, and finally Expo Osaka 2025. We are working to revive the strong international interest in the luxury segment, in tourism products related to art, Apulian food and wine and the offerings of our masserias, which until 2019 had led to a steady growth in tourist flows from Southeast Asia and Japan and an increasingly strong awareness of the regional cultural heritage. Suffice it to say that between 2018 and 2019 the increase that Puglia recorded from Southeast Asia was +37 percent for arrivals and presences, while tourist flows from Japan were increasing in the order of +2 percent annually."

According to Pugliapromozione's data, long haul, long-haul air traffic has resumed since 2021 for the United States, while for Japan and other Southeast Asian countries only starting in the fall of 2022, along with the disappearance of Covid-related restrictions that have severely affected extra-regional travel by Asian audiences.

"A strong rebound, already underway, of flows from Asian countries, especially from Southeast Asia and the Far East, is expected - says Francesco Muciaccia in charge of Non-EU Markets Pugliapromozione - to the benefit of European destinations, including Italy itself, which is going to be among the most sought-after destinations. Investing in the promotion on these markets, means encouraging the seasonal adjustment of flows, one of the main objectives of the Strategic Tourism Plan: specifically, then, it should be remembered that Singapore is a market characterized by a high-spirited public and a sophisticated cultural profile, a real window on Asia and the whole world because of the many expats from 5 continents who work in the City-State."

The Notte della Taranta Orchestra will perform in Singapore until June 4, with singer Consuelo Alfieri, musicians Gianluca Longo - mandola, Giuseppe Astore - violin, Nico Berardi - woodwinds, Carlo De Pascali and Gioele Nuzzo - tambourine, and dancers Serena Pellegrino, Mihaela Coluccia, Stefano Campagna and Mattia Politi.

"Our goal," says Foundation President Massimo Manera present in Singapore together with Board member Graziano Vantaggiato, "is to promote the cultural excellence of our region in sectors ranging from those best known to the Singaporean public - culture, fashion, food and wine - to those of technology, energy and scientific research. A better understanding of Puglia's cultural potential will support the growth of tourism presence in our region."

The rose in folk music is a symbol of woman but also of purity and youth. Among the most beautiful folk verses are those sung by Niceta Petrachi known as "La Simpatichina": "I loved you like a rose, like a rose the kindest, and like a flower that in April passes the time and goes."