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| DeCalamus debut album  Val di Comino, the territory native to the cultural roots of the vocal-instrumental (large ensemble), is a land of people, families and groups that have been constantly in movement, swarming in Europe and the rest of the world: artisans, experts of restoration and hospitality, with innovative and successful outcomes, whose names are not cited here (too much space would be necessary.)Also, it's a land of musicians: some of those who left were itinerant musicians, at the service of devotional practices very common in the Christian environment, powered by the typical "tools' of that lifestyle: zampogne (double chantered pipes), fifes, drums, accordions, guitars. Then again, with considerable outcomes: not few have obtained from it their income and their houses, built after their return. Zampogne and fifes, therefore, are the "mythical" objects of these practices: they left a profound memorial sign that has produced multiform capitalization instances (museums, thematic festivals, schools, etc.) and nourished the imagination and the interests of today's musicians, not anymore engaged in ritual or ceremonial processes, but increasingly active in live performances, with authorial proposals that fondly draw from those memories with affection, continuity and originality. The DeCalamus CD is an interesting and vivid testimony of these feelings and intentions, in that area of musical experiences and productions that today we tend to ascribe to the so-called "ethnic music" or to the "neo-folk" movement. The instance of the affectionate "nostalgia" (not regret) toward social figures and experiences of the past–rather frequent in those who look at remote rural and pre-industrial world as a reservoir of narrative and poetic themes–emerges in numerous songs: through the recall of typical societal operators with low obsolescence (in this case "Gli Arretine", that is the 'knife grinders, ' in other instances the street vendor, or the junkman, or the carter, etc., ) in the recall of seasonal festivals and dances ("Danza dell'albero di Maggio, " that is, Dance of the May tree, ) or in the curious and amusing catalog of ills that afflicts the unwary protagonist of "L'Aseateca di Alvito." Relevant as well is the quote of the farmers' work: very emotional is the song titled "Donna" (Woman) (original title, "So stat'a lavorà Montesicuro") that retrieves a traditional text from the Tuscia region, which entered in the widespread awareness after the epic show "Ci ragiono e canto" (I reason about it and sing) directed by Dario Fo in 1966; it is one of the most beautiful songs dedicated to the experience of the seasonal migration of the laborers in the borderlands of the old Papal states, often afflicted by the risk of malaria contagion and a place of fierce exploitation of seasonal workers: passionate and well conducted there appears the feminine voice, especially in the sustained sounds, tense and fixed (no vibrato and ornamentation whatsoever). Eloquent is the quote of the tarantella of Montarano (a locality of Irpinia, with a carnivalesque device among the most developed and investigated): a dance very much loved by the "neo-folk" musicians–which has become almost a "standard" with which many assess themselves–and already present in the first experience of "folk musical revival", in the sixties and seventies of last century. Very effective are all the instrumental dances (ballarelle [local denomination of the "saltarello"] and polkas), entrusted to zampogne and shawms as principal musical instruments, in which one can recognize the deepest identity trace: an "auratic" repertoire, irresistible to the musicians of the group, also because of the proximity of the original sources (memories and instruments from the local musicians, narratives and family stories, etc.) So is for the "canto alla zampogna" [song to the zampogna], also an ancient practice–and well-marked by primary (someone could say: elementary) nobility and beauty–, which remains poignant in the "neo-folk" revival: a first testimony of the sung verses may be found in the research conducted in the twenties and thirties of the last century by Luigi Colacicchi in all of Ciociaria, and there also recurs the Monte Meta ("the Meta", ) looming presence in the landscape. A trait of particular interest, in all the CD, is detected in the accuracy of the orchestration, which demonstrates particular exuberance profiles in the flute and piccolo parts, but also in the organetto's, especially in the most intense dance episodes, and wide mutability within the long iteration processes, again in the dances and stornelli (with effects of double strings in the bass, not so frequent in the "neo-folk" orchestration, different phrases arranged alongside in parallel and in counterpoint, effective and compact percussion, very pertinent tonally.) A compact and coherent "writing", not at all rhetorical, the one proposed in disc by DeCalamus, which I think is able to present itself with the same effectiveness even in the "live" concerts, in the town square as well as in the theater. Maurizio Agamennone University Of Florence Credits 1. Vento by Calamus (A. Di Petrillo- M. Antonelli) 2. Danza dell'albero di maggio (F. Agostini – M. Antonelli) 3. Gli Arretine (R. Gulia - A. Cedrone - elab. L. Di Tullio) 4. Seta e Malizia (R. Brancatisano - S. Pagnani - A. Di Petrillo- M. Antonelli) 5. Glie Briegande (F. Cucuzzo) 6. Donna (elab. O. D'Achille – M. Antonelli) 7. Omaggio a Montemarano (A. Di Petrillo- M. Antonelli) 8. Est (A. Di Petrillo - M. Antonelli) Nord e Sud (G. Perilli) Marcia dei zampognari ( A. Di Petrillo - M. Antonelli) 9. L'asieateca di alvito (D. Bucilli - elab. A. Di Petrillo - M. Antonelli) 10. Canti alla stesa e Ballarella piciniscana (elab. G. Astrei – M. Antonelli) Maura Amata voice Serena Pagnani voice, guitar Marc Iaconelli accordion, bagpipes Massimo Antonelli bagpipes, pastoral flutes, voice Francesco Loffredi accordion Luca Lombardi flute Laura Fabriani frame drums Francesco Manna frame drums Alessandro Del Signore doublebass CREDITS recorded at PM Studio (Alatri) and PoliStudio Recording (Roma) mixed by Marc Iaconelli, Alessandro D'Alessandro, Massimo Antonelli, Andrea Saponara press agent Elide Di Duca with collaboration of Roberto Miele, Marcelline Daucourt, Roberto Vettese, Mattia Facchini, Paola Amata pictures Igor Todisco graphic project samsastudio traslation by Tiziano Thomas Dossena write your comments about the article :: © 2016 Jazz News :: home page |