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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

Taranta Night Festival

#taranta25 #WeAreinPuglia

www.lanottedellataranta.it

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Superstar of the pizzica, the Popular Orchestra enchants the square of Recoleta in Santiago. g

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kjJO4WiVifeY2D8JNKKCvi1LxGuNzAM8?usp=sharing

25 years of Notte della Taranta, 40 years of Womad. The two prestigious festivals dedicated to world music meet in Recoleta, the old quarter of Santiago del Chile, and the audience explodes with joy. A golden year for the Orchestra Popolare, superstar of the pizzica, which on New Year's Eve and during Water Week was called upon to represent Italian popular music at EXPO DUBAI.

A Latin-Mediterranean concert, with a contemporary sound, the one proposed at Peter Gabriel's Womad, with a sequence of hypnotic pizziches capable of transforming the encounter between stage and audience into a popular ritual of the highest value: finding oneself in a choral embrace after two years of pandemic restrictions. To the ancient idea of musical exorcism, the Popular Orchestra retrieves the liberating ancestral dimension and triumphs. Led by Gianluca Longo, the eclectic mandolin player who now coordinates the band, the voices of Stefania Morciano and Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda and the musicians Attilio Turrisi (beating guitar), Antonio Marra (drums), Valerio Combass Bruno (bass), Giuseppe Astore (violin), Nico Berardi (woodwinds) Alessandro Chiga (tambourine) thrilled the Womad audience in an irresistible percussive groove. Hundreds of stories posted on social networks by Santiago's fans, who gave a sentimental memory of the live performance by dancing with dancers Mihaela Coluccia and Andrea Caracuta.  Realised in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Santiago and with the support of Puglia Sounds and Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, the Notte della Taranta concert was greeted with enthusiastic reviews from the Chilean press, which described the orchestra as 'a leading exponent of international popular music, a symbol of quality cultural offerings in the world' (El Mostrador), which 'exports the energy of Salento music to the world' (ADPrensa). A concert that began with a tribute to the Nobel Prize winner for literature, the Chilean Gabriela Mistral, who in her 'Ronda' compares plants shaken by the wind to tarantulas dancing to the moon or the sun.

"A formidable ensemble of musicians, immersed in tradition," commented Pablo Farba George, cultural director of Editorial Nascimento, the first publishing house in Latin America to discover Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, who wrote with music an irresistible journey, transformed into rhythm and passion the world of the popular neighbourhoods, pieces of history crossed by dancing. It is a toast to life returning.  A journey that does not forget where it was born and always looks ahead, to new encounters, to new unconventional realities. The Notte della Taranta is the South of the world, poetic and festive, contemporary and urban in its controversial and at times magical look'.

The association Apulians in Chile and Italians in Chile have asked the Foundation to organise a new tour in Latin America for a new triumphant concert.

On 2 and 3 April on the stage of Womad in Chile, the official ambassadors of the pizzica in the world with verses by Nobel prize-winner Gabriela Mistral. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dzqQ7QGAROBl7KtkY1kF_A5CgsOxOzq2?usp=sharing

The Popular Orchestra La Notte della Taranta returns to Womad, Peter Gabriel's festival scheduled for 2 and 3 April in Recoleta, Chile. A leading group on the world music scene, the Orchestra returns after 17 years to pluck the Womad audience. The first time was in 2005 in Taormina with concertmasters Stewart Copeland and Vittorio Cosma.

Today the Orchestra with its unique and unmistakable sound presents its repertoire. A musical quantum leap recognised by the public and awarded by Womad.  In Chile, the masters of the Salento pizzica will be the protagonists together with a multicultural cast:  Inti-illimani (Chile), Estusha (México), Puuluup (Estonia), Dongyang Gozupa (Republica de Corea), Virgen Suta (Portugal), Bia Ferreira (Brasil), The Synaptik (Palestine), and Mauricio Redolés, Carmen Lienqued, Pascuala Ilabaca Y Fauna, Mano Stern, DJ Maxicat, Lataty, Newen Afrobeat, Chico Trujillo, Reptila and Foex & Paulopulus (Chile).   

This is a great recognition for the Popular Orchestra, which took over the artistic direction of the Melpignano Concert and won over audiences around the world with its contemporary vision of the 'pizzica' but still linked to the ancestral power of popular and tribal music of the tambourine rhythm, as evidenced by the 2020 DIOR planetary event,  "Reincanto" in 2021, the video concert broadcast by ItsArt the digital stage of Art and Culture in Italy, and the recent success at Expo Dubai, the first universal exhibition in the Arab Emirates that hosted La Notte della Taranta twice, on New Year's Eve and during Water Week in March.  

The masters of the Salento pizzica at the World of Music and Dance Festival, the event that promotes the sounds of faraway countries in a pop dimension, will be the stars on 3 April at 9 pm in the heart of the municipality of Recoleta, in the metropolitan region of Santiago. On stage: Stefania Morciano and Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda with Gianluca Longo, Alessandro Chiga, Nico Berardi, Giuseppe Astore, Valerio Combass Bruno, Antonio Marra, Attilio Turrisi, and dancers Mihaela Coluccia and Andrea Caracuta.  On 2 April at 4.30 pm, musicians and dancers will conduct a workshop on the pizzica.

The Popular Orchestra's participation in Womad Chile benefits from the prestigious collaboration of the Italian Cultural Institute in Chile and the Italian Embassy in Santiago, and from the support of Puglia Sounds and Teatro Pubblico Pugliese.

The Foundation's video launch is a poetry camèo realised in collaboration with Pablo Forba George of Editorial Nascimiento, the first publishing house in Latin America that has published Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, Vicente Huidobro and the Nobel Prize winner for Literature Gabriela Mistral. From Mistral's 'Ronda de los aromas' are the verses chosen for the promotion of Culture in the World:

Bailan atarantados/ Tarantolati dance

a la luna o al sol / to the moon or to the sun

flying cabezuelas / scattering petals here and there

talles y colour / and stems in colour.

"This is the story of a generation of artists and cultural managers who have changed Salento," points out Massimo Manera, president of the Foundation. "This is the story of the Notte della Taranta, which in 2005 landed in Taormina at Peter Gabriel's Womad as Stewart Copeland's ensemble and which today takes the same stage as the Popular Orchestra, bringing with it the story of a people who have found the future in their roots. The resumption of live concerts after two years of pandemic is an extraordinary source of energy for music. A great challenge also for us who are working for a Concertone, on 27 August 2022 in Melpignano, open to the public".

#WOMAD2022

#tarantatour2022

www.womad.cl

30 December - 18:30/19:30 - Saudi Arabia Pavilion

31 December - 16:30 - All Wasl Plaza

    31 December New Year's Concert Italian Pavilion

Official hashtags #WeArein Puglia #nottedellataranta

New Year's Eve to the rhythm of pizzica at EXPO DUBAI 2020. Puglia will be the protagonist of the most magical night of the year with La Notte della Taranta. Three prestigious events are scheduled for 30 and 31 December in the world showcase of projects, ideas, and innovative models. 

The objective: to make the Puglia region's cultural excellence and tourist destinations known to the large public of the universal exhibition, which hosts 192 nations and has already exceeded 7 million visitors. 

"Pugliapromozione's presence in Dubai is part of the new strategy of repositioning the Puglia brand on international markets in anticipation of the reopening of tourist flows, after the restrictions imposed by the authorities due to the Covid 19 pandemic," says Luca Scandale, Pugliapromozione's general manager. This action by Apulia is part of the broader framework of the national action put in place by ENIT - the Italian Tourist Board for the relaunch of Italy as a destination. According to the most recent ENIT data, Italy turns out to be the most sought-after luxury segment destination in the world, not only for the richness and variety of its cultural and high-end offer, but also in function of the capacity shown in the management of the pandemic with the guarantee of high standards of health safety offered to national and international travellers". 

"The collaboration of Pugliapromozione," continues general manager Luca Scandale, "with Fondazione La Notte della Taranta allows us to strengthen the institutional partnership in the promotion of the destination Puglia in new emerging markets.

"The choice of Italy and Saudi Arabia to host the Notte della Taranta in the most important scenario of the Universal Exposition decrees the incomparable success of the Popular Orchestra as an international reality of World Music that dialogues with the peoples of the world through the identity language of the pizzica - underlines Massimo Manera, president of the Fondazione La Notte della Taranta - . The research in the field, the result of the collaboration with the Saudi folk group, once again confirms the Foundation's vision: to bring the music and dance of Salento into the future. It is no coincidence that we will play and dance under the dome of the Expo, Al Wals Plaza, which means, connection'. 

DUBAI WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON 30 AND 31 DECEMBER 

DECEMBER 30th - In the Saudi Arabian Pavilion there will be the first show with the Popular Orchestra and the Saudi Folklore Performance Group that will blend the ancestral rhythms of the Arabian and Salento folk traditions in two appointments: at 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm there will be the vibrant show with the dance of various Arabian regions "Al Khubaiti" and the "Pizzica d'amore" of Salento. This will be the first major international event since the start of the pandemic. 

31 DECEMBER - At 4.30 p.m. La Notte della Taranta will enchant the audience at Expo 2020 Dubai in the iconic All Wasl Plaza. A live show structured as a great folk festival, an immense inclusive round-up of the beauty of Puglia with the hypnotic sounds of the tambourine from Gargano to Salento. 

31 DECEMBER AT MIDNIGHT - 

It will be a countdown to the rhythm of pizzica on New Year's Eve at the PADIGLIONE ITALIA, which has chosen Apulia to welcome in the New Year amidst the magnificence of Italian art.

The Popular Orchestra from 11.30 p.m. will mark the wait for the tricolour midnight while the Dubai sky will be coloured by the fireworks launched from the Burj Kahlifa. An extraordinary concert with Consuelo Alfieri (vocals, accordion and tambourine), Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda (vocals and tambourine), Giuseppe Astore (violin), Attilio Turrisi (beating guitar), Leonardo Cordella (accordion), Carlo De Pascali (tambourine) and dancers Lucia Scarabino, Serena Pellegrino, Ludovica Morleo, Stefano Campagna, Fabrizio Nigro and choreographer Mattia Politi.

In the first Universal Exposition in history hosted in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region, Puglia will light up the New Year for millions of visitors with three exceptional performances, coloured by the tambourines and scarves of the dancers branded #WeAreinPuglia.   

SOCIAL MEDIA: You can follow the events in Dubai through the official hashtags #WeArein Puglia #nottedellataranta. 

New Year's Eve at Expo 2020 Dubai is a project supported by Regione Puglia, Puglia Promozione in collaboration with Fondazione La Notte della Taranta. 

THE NIGHT OF THE TARANTA 

La Notte della Taranta is the biggest and most important popular music festival in Europe and will celebrate 25 years of history in 2022.

Since 1998, La Notte della Taranta has made possible the international promotion and dissemination of the music and dance of the Salento: the pizzica.

An annual summer event, it attracts thousands of people from all over the world to Melpignano, a small town in the Salento region of Grecìa. It is a true ritual where the ancestral power of the tambourine transforms the night of music into a great dancing and free community.

The 'pizzica' is a dance belonging to the tarantella family used in the past as a cure for the 'tarantate', disadvantaged women who, according to popular belief, were plucked by the poisonous spider. A small orchestra and the dance of the pizzica with the intercession of St Paul and other saints, again according to popular belief, led to healing. The socio-anthropological phenomenon of tarantismo is well described by Ernesto De Martino in his 'La terra del rimorso'. 

Today, the Taranta people no longer believe in the legendary bite of the tarantula, but the spider has become the symbol that creates a new and contemporary ritual around the zoomorphic deity: the Taranta. There is no longer exorcism but worship around the dancing god. Those who come to Melpignano or dance the pizzica anywhere in the world no longer need to be attacked by an external element to share in the ritual. There is no tarantismo device in our time, but La Notte della Taranta was the trigger for a new way of conceiving dance and music in Salento, and the Concertone is the lighting of the votive fire of this modern gathering that ends every year at the crack of dawn. During the pandemic, the Concertone was broadcast in 2020 by RAI 2 and in 2021 with an extraordinary success by RAI 1. In 2021, the Popular Orchestra created the digital Concert REINCANTO for Europe, which is available free of charge on ItsArt, the platform of the Art of Culture of Italy. 

Dardust, the world's most-listened-to new-generation Italian pianist and composer, is the maestro Concertatore of the twenty-fifth edition of the Melpignano Concert, scheduled for 27 August 2022

A multi-platinum producer, Dardust will conduct the Orchestra Popolare della Taranta, world excellence of World Music and official ambassador of the pizzica in the world.  

Dardust, who has set to music events such as the Superbowl (2018) and the NBA All Star Game (2019), met the musicians of the Notte della Taranta at the Bari fairgrounds to launch the planning of the Concertone, which is set to become the international event of the 2022 Apulian summer.

Dardust's sound culture and taste for experimentation led the Fondazione La Notte della Taranta to entrust the direction of the Concertone to one of the most important authors and producers on the Italian scene. Dardust's musical sensibility is behind such hit songs as Nuova Era by Jovanotti, Voce di Madame, Seta by Elisa, and Soldi by Mahmood. Dardust will have the task of uniting three seemingly distant worlds: popular music with its ancestral pizzica with piano solo and electronics.  

"We chose Dardust, one of the most influential producers in Italy," explained Massimo Manera, president of the La Notte della Taranta Foundation, "for his ability to have an international outlook and Mediterranean empathy, for his continuous research and experimentation work.  In the twenty-fifth edition, with the Artistic Direction of the Popular Orchestra, we therefore take on a new challenge and for the first time entrust the Concertone in its complex fusion of languages to a producer who loves the contrast between tradition and the future and the cosmic atmospheres that his name inspires: the alien Ziggy Stardust created by David Bowie. We like to imagine Concertone 25 as a spaceship launched into the future, projecting this immense and intangible cultural heritage, generated by the pizzica, into space. We are certain that Dardust will amaze us with his musical and emotional journey of stylistic and technical invention, imagination and magic". 

DARDUST  

His latest collaboration, due out in November 2021, sees him alongside Sophie and The Giant, Benny Benassi and Astrality on the single Golden Nights.

As a producer and songwriter, he has collaborated with leading Italian artists: Jovanotti, Fiorella Mannoia, Elisa, Marracash, Madame, Elodie, TheGiornalisti, Marco Mengoni, Fedez, Francesca Michielin, Annalisa, Luca Carboni, Mahmood, La Rappresentante di Lista, Irama and many others, boasting a palmares of over 60 platinum records.

S.A.D. Storm and Drugs was released internationally in January 2020 by Sony Masterworks and Artist First. The last chapter of a discografic trilogy that crosses the Berlin-Reykjavík-Edinburgh geographic/musical axis, the first Italian instrumental music project capable of uniting the minimalist piano world with the current electronic imagery of the Northern European matrix. In October 2020, the track STURM I - FEAR, extracted from this record, was chosen by the computer giant Apple Inc. as part of Apple's annual keynote for the launch of new product presentations. The event was streamed from the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. In March 2021, he presented a special and unique project: S.A.D The Movie, an animated short film directed by Brazilian animator Guilherme Gehr, distributed by Red Couch Pictures and soundtracked based on his record trilogy. 

After touring all of Italy in 2019 with the LOST IN SPACE TOUR, Dardust returns live in the summer of 2021 with STORM AND DRUGS LIVE, articulated in two acts: the first, Storm, more intimate and with a theatrical cut, which takes up the poetics and imagery of the 18th-century sturm und drang in every visual aspect; the second, Drugs, which draws on the more electro side, creating a true rave atmosphere.

THE NIGHT OF THE TARANTA 

La Notte della Taranta is the biggest and most important popular music festival in Europe and in 2022 it will celebrate 25 YEARS OF HISTORY.

Since 1998, La Notte della Taranta has made it possible to promote and spread internationally the music and dance of the Salento: the PIZZICA.

An annual summer event, it attracts thousands of people from all over the world to Melpignano, a small town in the Salento region of Grecìa. A true ritual where the ancestral power of the tambourine transforms the night of music into a large, free dancing community. The 'pizzica' is a dance belonging to the tarantella family used in the past as a cure for the 'tarantate', disadvantaged women who, according to popular belief, were plucked by the poisonous spider. A small orchestra and the dance of the pizzica with the intercession of St Paul and other saints, again according to popular belief, led to healing. The socio-anthropological phenomenon of tarantismo is well described by Ernesto De Martino in his 'La terra del rimorso'. 

Today, the Taranta people no longer believe in the legendary bite of the tarantula, but the spider has become the symbol that creates a new and contemporary ritual around the zoomorphic deity: the Taranta. There is no longer exorcism but worship around the dancing god. Those who come to Melpignano or dance the pizzica anywhere in the world no longer need to be attacked by an external element to share in the ritual. There is no tarantismo device in our time, but THE NIGHT OF THE TARANTA was the trigger for a new way of conceiving dance and music in Salento and the CONCERTONE is the lighting of the votive fire of this modern gathering that ends every year at the crack of dawn and that during the pandemic was broadcast by Rai 2 in 2020 and by Rai 1 in 2021 and also landed throughout Europe on ItsArt the platform of Italian Art and Culture with the special project Reincanto. 

Dardust, il pianista italiano della nuova generazione più ascoltato al mondo, è il maestro concertatore della venticinquesima edizione del Concertone di Melpignano in programma il 27 agosto 2022

È DARDUST, il pianista e compositore italiano della nuova generazione più ascoltato al mondo, il maestro Concertatore della venticinquesima edizione della Notte della Taranta in programma il 27 agosto 2022 a Melpignano. 

Produttore multiplatino, Dardust dirigerà l’Orchestra Popolare della Taranta  eccellenza mondiale della World Music e ambasciatrice ufficiale della pizzica nel mondo.  

Dardust che ha musicato eventi come il Superbowl (2018) e l’NBA All Star Game (2019) ha incontrato i musicisti della Notte della Taranta nel quartiere fieristico di Bari per avviare la programmazione del Concertone che si candida a diventare l’evento internazionale dell’estate pugliese 2022.

La cultura del suono e il gusto per la sperimentazione di Dardust,  hanno spinto la Fondazione La Notte della Taranta ad affidare la direzione del  Concertone all’autore e produttore tra i più importanti nel panorama italiano. C’è la sensibilità musicale di Dardust dietro a brani di grande successo come Nuova Era di Jovanotti, Voce di Madame, Seta di Elisa, Soldi di Mahmood, Dardust avrà il compito di unire tre mondi apparentemente lontani: la musica popolare con la sua pizzica ancestrale al piano solo e all’elettronica.   

“Abbiamo scelto Dardust, uno dei producer più influenti in Italia,  ha spiegato Massimo Manera presidente della Fondazione La Notte della Taranta,  per la sua capacità di avere uno sguardo internazionale ed un’empatia mediterranea,  per il suo continuo lavoro di ricerca e di sperimentazione.  Nella venticinquesima edizione, con la Direzione Artistica dell’Orchestra Popolare,  affrontiamo dunque una nuova sfida e per la prima volta  affidiamo il Concertone nella sua complessa fusione di linguaggi ad un produttore che ama il contrasto tra tradizione e futuro e le atmosfere cosmiche che il suo nome ispirano: l’alieno Ziggy Stardust creato da David Bowie. Ci piace immaginare il Concertone 25 come un’astronave lanciata nel futuro che proietta questo immenso e immateriale patrimonio culturale, generato dalla pizzica,  nello spazio. Siamo certi che Dardust ci stupirà con il suo viaggio musicale ed emotivo per invenzione stilistica e tecnica, per fantasia e magia” 

DARDUST  

La sua ultima collaborazione, in uscita a novembre 2021, lo vede al fianco di Sophie and The Giant, Benny Benassi e Astrality nel singolo Golden Nights.

Come produttore e autore, ha collaborato con i principali artisti italiani: Jovanotti, Fiorella Mannoia, Elisa, Marracash, Madame, Elodie, TheGiornalisti, Marco Mengoni, Fedez, Francesca Michielin, Annalisa, Luca Carboni, Mahmood, La Rappresentante di Lista, Irama e molti altri vantando un palmares di oltre 60 dischi di platino.

S.A.D. Storm and Drugs è stato pubblicato sul mercato internazionale a gennaio 2020 da Sony Masterworks e Artist First. Ultimo capitolo di una trilogia discografica che attraversa l’asse geografico/musicale Berlino-Reykjavík-Edimburgo, il primo progetto italiano di musica strumentale capace di unire il mondo pianistico minimalista all’attuale immaginario elettronico di matrice Nord Europea. A ottobre 2020 il brano STURM I – FEAR, estratto da questo disco, viene scelto dal colosso informatico Apple Inc. all’interno del keynote annuale Apple per il lancio di presentazione dei nuovi prodotti. L’evento è stato trasmesso in streaming dallo Steve Jobs Theater di Cupertino, California. A marzo 2021 presenta un progetto speciale e unico nel suo genere: S.A.D The Movie, il cortometraggio animato diretto dal regista animatore brasiliano Guilherme Gehr, distribuito da Red Couch Pictures e sonorizzato sulla base della sua trilogia discografica. 

Dopo aver girato tutta l’Italia nel 2019 con il LOST IN SPACE TOUR, Dardust torna live nell’estate 2021 con lo STORM AND DRUGS LIVE, articolato in due atti: il primo, Storm, più intimo e dal taglio teatrale, che riprende la poetica e l’immaginario dello sturm und drang settecentesco in ogni aspetto visivo; il secondo, Drugs, che attinge alla parte più electro, creando una vera atmosfera rave.

LA NOTTE DELLA TARANTA 

La Notte della Taranta è il più grande e importante festival di musica popolare d’Europa e nel 2022 celebrerà 25 ANNI DI STORIA.

Dal 1998 La Notte della Taranta ha reso possibile la valorizzazione e la diffusione internazionale  della musica e della danza del Salento: la PIZZICA.

Appuntamento annuale estivo, richiama a Melpignano piccolo centro della Grecìa salentina, migliaia di persone provenienti da ogni parte del mondo. Un vero e proprio rito dove la forza ancestrale del tamburello trasforma la notte di musica in una grande comunità danzante e libera. La pizzica è un ballo appartenente alla famiglia delle tarantelle utilizzata nel passato come cura per le “tarantate”, donne disagiate che secondo la credenza popolare venivano pizzicate dal ragno velenoso. Una piccola orchestrina e il ballo della pizzica con l’intercessione di San Paolo e altri santi, sempre secondo la credenza popolare, portavano alla guarigione. Il fenomeno socio-antropologico del tarantismo è ben descritto da Ernesto De Martino nel suo “La terra del rimorso”. 

Oggi il popolo della Taranta non crede più al leggendario morso della tarantola ma il ragno è diventato il simbolo che crea un rituale nuovo e contemporaneo intorno alla divinità zoomorfa: la Taranta. Non c’è più esorcismo ma adorcismo intorno al Dio che balla. Chi arriva a Melpignano o balla la pizzica in ogni parte del mondo non ha più bisogno di essere aggredito da un elemento esterno per condividere il rituale. Non c’è nel nostro tempo il dispositivo del tarantismo ma LA NOTTE DELLA TARANTA è stato il volano scatenante di un nuovo modo di concepire la danza e la musica del Salento e il CONCERTONE è l’accensione del fuoco votivo di questo moderno raduno che si conclude ogni anno alle prime luci dell’alba e che durante la pandemia è stato trasmesso da Rai 2 nel 2020 e da Rai 1 nel 2021 ed è anche approdato in tutta Europa su ItsArt la piattaforma dell’Arte e della Cultura italiana con il progetto speciale Reincanto. 

The late evening beats the first with the popular music of Salento.  

La Notte della Taranta wins the second night of television.
The Concertone of Melpignano, broadcast for the first time by RAI 1, recorded a 9.4% share with 735,000 viewers and also beat the film that preceded it. The peak of the broadcast at 24.12 minutes, with 10.33% share and 886,000 viewers listening during the song "Fuecu", the tribute to Daniele Durante, the artistic director who died recently.

A great success for the popular music event. Listenings doubled compared to the last 4 editions first on Rai 5 and then on Rai 2.

Social success with over 3,160,270 impressions on Instagram and 2,700,000 users reached on Facebook. People connected also from abroad, from Brazil, Argentina and many European countries, who virtually commented on La Notte della Taranta 2021. One of the most commented videos was the one of the very young Madame, which with Marea in a pizzica key conquered the public and Calinitta interpreted by the three tenors of Il Volo. 

Orchestra Popolare Notte della Taranta and Orchestra Notturna Clandestina conducted by maestro Enrico Melozzi

Unpublished verses: Madame.

Guests:  Al Bano, Il Volo

Choreography: Thomas Signorelli

Direction: Stefano Mignucci

 

Today 4 September, in the late evening on RAI 1 and Radio 1 RAI, the eagerly awaited event of the Notte della Taranta will be broadcast with an exceptional narrator: Al Bano Carrisi.

The Apulian artist will accompany viewers on a journey through the sounds and colours of Puglia with a tribute to Domenico Modugno.

The "Notte della Taranta", wrote the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli in his message of greeting, is one of the most significant events on popular culture in Europe, it is an event capable of enhancing the values of the European Union in the best way, since in the course of these 24 years of history it has managed to create, through music, an open dialogue in the heart of the Mediterranean and to promote important opportunities for exchange and confrontation".

The Taranta rock proposed by the maestro concertatore Enrico Melozzi, with the participation on the lyrics of the maestro concertatrice Madame, will host Il Volo. The three tenors will open the evening with the anthem in Grico Calinitta-Buonanotte, a wish for the new Rai 1 audience that will follow the concert after the musical film dedicated to Raffaella Carrà.

The opening is an unpublished image that opens the doors of the Carmine church of the Agostiniani architectural complex in Melpignano, a shot that contains the message of the 2021 edition: return to free the space of the Arts from the restrictions imposed by Covid to welcome the public.

Conducted by Enrico Melozzi, the Orchestra Popolare della Taranta and the Orchestra Notturna Clandestina captivated the audience of a thousand at the recording of the event with the power of the rhythm of the pizzica that meets the rock and pop sounds proposed by the maestro concertatore. The concert opened with Nanana, the song by Al Bano Carrisi in the Cellino San Marco dialect, followed by Calinitta performed by the artists from Il Volo. This is followed by Marea di Madame that meets Aria Caddhipulina.

Aria dei trainieri with Giancarlo Paglialunga opens Pizzica di San Vito and brings Madame back onto the stage in a new version as a pizzica dancer. With Fuecu, the Orchestra Popolare pays tribute to Daniele Durante and choreographer Thomas Signorelli transforms the stage into a popular festival of "strittuli", the small streets of villages where songs and dances were improvised at the end of the day. Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda opens Taranta di Lizzano which he proposed in the Concertone for the first time in 2018, while Enza Pagliara intones La Luna, a verse taken from the research of Flavia Gervasi, an anthropologist from the University of Montreal who died prematurely, to introduce Pizzica di Torchiarolo.

Wrapped in a 30-metre linen dress, woven on an olive loom, based on an idea by choreographer Thomas Signorelli and made by IJO', Madame returns to the stage to interpret Rondinella in a contemporary key. A piece in which the orchestra also sings in Aremu Greek. The verses in Arbëreshë Lule Lule interpreted by Consuelo Alfieri introduce Pizzica di San Marzano.

L'aria della Cecilia, performed by Alessandra Caiulo, brings Madame back on stage to give the audience an unpublished text written for La Notte della Taranta and included in the traditional song Dici can nu me voi ca su piccinna: "I am tiny, but I trust you, I don't know what love is but love has taken me, I am not so tiny because when I see you I don't ask if it is love but I see it around me".

Antonio Amato's voice "launches a splendour into the air", the opening verse of Pizzica di Aradeo.  Al Bano Carrisi's poignant Amara Terra mia, a tribute to Domenico Modugno, is also a dedication to the many Apulians who have emigrated to Italy and abroad. The finale is a sequence of powerful traditional sounds mixed with rock. With Pizzica della Liberazione written by maestro Melozzi and translated into Salento by Enza Pagliara: "Pizzica pizzica della liberazione, ballamu su sti cori scatinati, pizzica pizzica dell'immaginazione cantamu su sti cori liberati. La danza nu se fermata, la musica se ribella, ballamu tutti insieme pelle a pelle. La musica ha turnata ballamu n'autra fiata, ca la Taranta ntorna m'ha sanata, m'ha sanata - Pizzica pizzica of liberation, let's dance on these unleashed hearts, pizzica pizzica of imagination let's sing on these liberated hearts. The dance doesn't stop, the music rebels, let's dance all together skin to skin. The music is back, let's dance one more time the Taranta has healed me, it has healed me". And the recontextualisation of traditional texts initiated by Daniele Durante in his last years as artistic director continues in 2021.

Enza Pagliara has written new verses on Fimmene Fimmene, a song of work and protest by women abused in the fields: "Fimmine fimmine (in Torchiarolo diction ) ausamula la uce, e pe sta terra ca sta chiede pace. Fimmine fimmine sta canzune ha cangiare. La terra è mamma nu se po bbandunare. Intra le campagne nun c’ete chiui nisciunu. Sulu lu fuecu la face te patrunu." Fimmine Fimmine ausamula la uce e pe staterra ca sta chiede pace - Women women this song must change. The earth is a mother and cannot be abandoned. In the countryside there's no one left but the fire is the master. Women, women, let's raise our voices for this land that is asking for peace.

The nursery rhyme "Pinguli pingulo Giuvacchinu" interpreted by Stefania Morciano lights up the grand finale on the Melpignano stage with Pizzica of Galatone.

"There is a great teamwork, commented the coordinator of the Popular Orchestra Gianluca Longo. We have composed and written together with Maestro Melozzi and Madame the songs of the concert with the energy of those who find the audience in presence and our wish is to return in 2022 in the great square of Melpignano".

Dance is also the protagonist, with choreography by Thomas Signorelli, performed by the Taranta dancers and academic dancers: "I have included the chairs of the small festivals in the villages of Salento and the stairs of the olive pickers, but also mirrors to rediscover the wonder of the other lost during the long months of lockdown".  The set design, a mix of looks at the 16th-century architecture of the Carmine church illuminated by director of photography Marco Lucarelli and the futuristic vision of a 3D spider, was created by Marco Calzavara. The stage is surrounded by 35 monoliths of Salento's Mariano Light illuminations and by some luminous totems on which images of Puglia have been projected: Lago di Lesina, Castel del Monte, Bari, Brindisi, Taranto and Lecce.

An Apulian brand was chosen to dress the Orchestra, the dancers and Madame: IJO'.

The Concertone, directed by Stefano Mignucci, with texts by Marco Zampetti and executive coordination by Cristiano D'Agostini, will be broadcast by RAI 1 on 4 September at 23:30. "It is a challenge that we have accepted with enthusiasm", commented the deputy director of RAI 1 Angelo Mellone.


ORCHESTRA NOTTURNA CLANDESTINA

The Orchestra Notturna Clandestina is an independent symphony orchestra born in 2016 from an idea of maestro Enrico Melozzi. 32 elements on the stage of La Notte della Taranta.  On violin: Valentina Del Re, Monica Vacatello, Alessia Rancitelli, Grazia Neri, Dina Guetti, Mariacarmela Li Pizzi, Maria Agnese Sielli, Francesca Colombo, Elisa Agosto, Francesca Bottini, Sabrina Floccari (France), Gabriele Liscia, Alessia Rosini.
On viola: Davide Oltra, Chiara Ciancone, Valentina Calicchia, Tatiana Veloccia, Valentina Negroni. Cello Riccardo Giovine, Sara Ciancone, Francesco Maria Mattacchione, Francesca Lovotti, Claire Briand (France).
On flute:Francesca Raponi. On ottavino: Ludovico D’Ignazio. On clarinet:Carmelo Maria Colajanni. On trumpet: Alessandro Fresu e Iacopo Gozzo. On cornet: Vincenzo Parente, Francesco Massimiani, Francisco Rodriguez (Panama), Enrico Imperioli. On trombone: Stefano Coccia, Edward Jesus Arosemena Rodriguez (Panama), Augusto Ruiz Henao (Colombia). Edgar Alberto Dutary Barrios (Panama) On tuba and timpani Fabrizio Candidi and Paolo Quattriglia.
All the texts of the 2021 edition can be consulted here: https://www.lanottedellataranta.it/it/concertone/testi-canzoni-2021

La Notte della Taranta is a project of the Fondazione Notte della Taranta supported by the Region of Puglia, the Union of Municipalities of Salento, the Diego Carpitella Institute in collaboration with Puglia Promozione.

Main sponsor of the event D.M.J. Gruppo De Mariani.

Playlist of songs:
Nanana - Al Bano
Calinitta - Il Volo
Marea - Madame
Area de li trainieri - Giancarlo Paglialunga
Pizzica di San Vito - Voci dell’Orchestra Popolare
Fuecu – Orchestra Popolare La Notte della Taranta
Taranta di Lizzano - Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda
Pizzica di Lizzano - Voci dell’Orchestra Taranta
La Luna - Enza Pagliara
Pizzica di Torchiarolo - Voci dell’Orchestra Popolare
Aremu - Voci dell’Orchestra Taranta
Rondinella – Madame
Lule Lule – Consuelo Alfieri
Pizzica di San Marzano – Voci dell’Orchestra Popolare
Aria della Cecilia – Alessandra Caiulo
Dici can u me voi ca su piccinna – Madame
Splendore in aria – Antonio Amato
Pizzica di Aradeo – Voci dell’Orchestra Taranta
Amara terra mia – Al Bano
Pizzica della Liberazione – Voci dell’Orchestra
Fimmine Fimmine – Voci dell’Orchestra Popolare
Pinguli Pingolo Giuvacchinu – Stefania Morciano
Pizzica di Galatone – Voci dell’Orchestra Popolare   

Guests: Al Bano, Madame, Il Volo

Popular Orchestra and Orchestra Notturna Clandestina conducted by maestro Enrico Melozzi.

Choreography by Thomas Signorelli

The Taranta to the rock sound of "Pizzica della Liberazione" returns to enchant the most eagerly awaited Apulian Night of the Italian summer and opens the doors, for the first time in the history of the event, of the Church of the Carmine lit up to its altar.

One thousand spectators represented the return to the applause and chants of the audience in Melpignano in front of the facade of the former Convent of the Augustinians, where usually, for each "Concertone", the Salentine pizzica involves a river of people.

A show between memory and vision, tradition and innovation: the three tenors of Il Volo sang one of the songs in Grico, symbol of the Salento tradition, Calinitta.

Madame, the concert master  together with Enrico Melozzi, the orchestra director, dressed in white, charmed the audience with "Rondinella", her hit "Marea" arranged in a pizzica key and "Dimmi ca nu me voi ca su piccinna", a song in which she expressed in her poetic language all the beauty of being "small" in love. She danced Madame wrapped in the white of the clothes woven with the ancient looms of Salento and created for her by Annalisa Surace of IJO' Design. She spoke of love and understanding. A strong message against all forms of division. Like her, Al Bano also spoke of the strong bond with the land. Of the bond with his roots, with his land. He paid homage to Modugno with "Amara terra mia" and gave the audience a rock version of "Na Na Na".

Two orchestras were on stage: the Orchestra Notturna Clandestina, a guest of the Orchestra Popolare della Taranta, which took over the artistic direction of the Concertone after the death of Daniele Durante and is the official ambassador of the pizzica in the world. The theme of the 24th edition was the value of freedom. In Melozzi and Madame's reinterpretation, traditional folk songs took on a new look.

 The Concertone opened with the Pizzica della liberazione, composed by the  concert master  Enrico Melozzi. Fimmene Fimmene, a song of  female pain recontextualised by the voices of the Orchestra, closed with the verse "Fimmene fimmene ausamula la voce e pe sta terra ca sta chiede pace. Fimmene Fimmene sta canzune ha cangiare! La terra è mamma non se po po abbandonare. In the countryside there is no one. Women women let's raise our voices for this land that is asking for peace. Women women this song must change The land is mother and cannot be abandoned. In the countryside there is no one left, only fire is the master".

Dance is also the protagonist, with choreography by Thomas Signorelli, performed by the Taranta dancers and academic dancers. Pictures of great emotional impact that introduce into the Fuecu scene the chairs of a popular feast set on fire at the end by the warmth of the community and the ladders of the olive pickers to recall the work and sacrifice of the peasants of Apulia.

The set design, a mix of looks at the 16th-century architecture of the Carmine church illuminated by cinematographer Marco Lucarelli and the futuristic vision of a 3D spider, was created by Marco Calzavara. The stage was surrounded by 35 monoliths of Salento's Mariano Light illuminations and some luminous totems on which images of Puglia were projected: Lago di Lesina, Castel del Monte, Bari, Brindisi, Taranto and Lecce.

An Apulian brand was chosen to dress the Orchestra, the dancers and Madame: IJO'.

Three original dresses were created for the maestra concertatrice, the one for "Rondinella" measuring thirty metres in length.

A hymn to sustainability, also embraced by Aquedotto pugliese, which installed dispensers for the free distribution of public water.

The Concertone, directed by Stefano Mignucci, with texts by Marco Zampetti and executive coordination by Cristiano D'Agostini, will be broadcast by RAI 1 on 4 September at 11.15 pm. "It is a challenge that we have accepted with enthusiasm", commented the deputy director of RAI 1 Angelo Mellone.

To ensure access to the disabled, the Integrazione Onlus Abil Festa has welcomed those who have booked to participate in the event.

The Notte della Taranta is a project of the Fondazione Notte della Taranta supported by the Apulia Region, the Union of Municipalities of Salento, the Diego Carpitella Institute in collaboration with Puglia Promozione. Main sponsor of the event D.M.J. Gruppo De Mariani.