Al compas del mundo – programa #77 - Italian folk music

 

That's amore, buddy!

All covered with cheese
I saw my first meatball
Till somebody sneezed…

 

Pizza. That and inane caricatures were pretty much what I knew about Italy and Italians, growing up in a Germanic household in old Wisconsin. Though really, the only overture to any Teutonic origins at our house were the Saturday night meals of pork hocks or sausages cooked in beer with sauerkraut. But I’m wandering…

So now, decades hence, I’m still well-fed and fully aware of the multitude of cultures scattered about the planet. In fact, I’ve thrown together a streaming Mexican radio program called “Al compás del mundo” (“World Beats”) to celebrate just how brilliant and comforting their varied musical sounds can be. It’s a curious thing to stop and pay real attention to the music from another batch of human beings on the other side of the globe. Some creations (most, actually) beg an explanation as to their origin. I mean, where did music first come from and how did it diverge so incredibly from one group to the next? (Sheesh! Somebody ought to write a book.) What grates on your ears may just soothe mine. Some folks want their funeral music loud and raucous. Others, solemn and subdued. But I’m wandering…

So why Italian folk music as this week’s focus? Because we recently attended a concert at an intimate little venue where the Ensemble Sangineto performed. It was a tour of ten different Italian regions’ music – of the folkish kind – and they were captivating. It’s been hard to get certain sounds out of my head and now they can be stuck in yours as well. The playlist alternates contemporary groups’ versions of traditional folk songs with short clips taken from field recordings of, well, just plain folk. Before these time-honored themes disappear from our consciousness and get replaced by AI-generated narcolepsy, we need to encourage the, mostly, young people reinvigorating our culture with the treasures of the past. As a wise elder stateswoman once said: “It may be old, but it ain’t dead.” - Jim Haas

List for Italian folk music - First broadcast 5-18-23

 

01 Ensemble Sangineto – Rinello

02 anonymous - Supra Na Petra Vurrai Ssittari

03 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Cogli la rosa

04 anonymous orquestra from Pagani - La Pizzica (tarantella)

05 Kalàscima – Aradeo

06 workers chorus in Napoles - La Bella Caterina

07 Il Canzoniere Femminista - Sei nato

08 three women singers from Piedmont - Nen Marìa nostra frighietta

09 Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare – Vulumbrella

The Invincible Lombardis

10 Chiarina Pepe - Nonna Nonna (lullaby)

11 Calic - Dansa del peix (Sardinia)

12 panpipe orchestra – a march from Lombardy

12 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Nu te fermare

13 anonymous accordeon player in Salerno - Ballinello (tarantella)

14 Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare - Alla Montemaranese

15 anonymous - Ballo degli Sposi

16 Xiero - Catene e sospiri (Calabria)

17 anonymous - Importanza di San Giuliano

18 Ensemble Sangineto - Lusive la lune

Three Tremors