Author Topic: Not your grandfather's tarantella: or Gentlemen/women do play the accordian  (Read 2915 times)

Offline rpf

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There's been a revival and expansion of tarantella - which is thought to have its roots in Dionysian rites of over 2000 years ago - in southern Italy over the last couple of decades. Other musical styles and instrumentation have recently been incorporated into it also, making for some great, interesting music.

The instrumentation is highly eclectic with - traditionally - various types of tamborines, accordions (button and piano), guitars (chittara battente, spanish, classical), mandolins, ouds, fiddles, lira, shawns, flutes, clarinets (and sometimes horns), castanets, and bagpipes utilized. Piano, bass and modern drum kits have also sometimes been added, and some instruments are often electrified.

The dancing is not usually the circle type seen at weddings in this country but rather a single or couples (of any gender) dance with fairly intricate steps and a lot of grace and expressiveness. The music often builds in intensity (tempo, dynamics) and/or complexity (additional instruments and voices, pitch changes, ornamentation, and major/minor mode shifts). The vids range from very lyrical to very rhythmic in emphasis (at best, both at the same time).
No phones, no tinny laptop/iPad speakers please: decent earbuds at least - or you'll probably miss some of the instruments and lines.

Mimmo Cavallaro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnWdE9V-0yQ

Le Briganti di Terra d'Otranto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmNWAXQeFw

Le Muse del Mediterraneo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGahWhpHx4k

Eugenio Bennato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgPbOGmTAB8

I Beddi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gX77h23gB4&start_radio=1&list=RD6gX77h23gB4

Notte della Taranta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPfmzobjdVQ

Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8tBkewq21Q

Karadros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvWlV-MIrvg

Alla Bua
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHk7JQzddkw

Taran Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhF6leskxkQ




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Offline Nick B

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There's been a revival and expansion of tarantella - which is thought to have its roots in Dionysian rites of over 2000 years ago - in southern Italy over the last couple of decades. Other musical styles and instrumentation have recently been incorporated into it also, making for some great, interesting music.

The instrumentation is highly eclectic with - traditionally - various types of tamborines, accordions (button and piano), guitars (chittara battente, spanish, classical), mandolins, ouds, fiddles, lira, shawns, flutes, clarinets (and sometimes horns), castanets, and bagpipes utilized. Piano, bass and modern drum kits have also sometimes been added, and some instruments are often electrified.

The dancing is not usually the circle type seen at weddings in this country but rather a single or couples (of any gender) dance with fairly intricate steps and a lot of grace and expressiveness. The music often builds in intensity (tempo, dynamics) and/or complexity (additional instruments and voices, pitch changes, ornamentation, and major/minor mode shifts). The vids range from very lyrical to very rhythmic in emphasis (at best, both at the same time).
No phones, no tinny laptop/iPad speakers please: decent earbuds at least - or you'll probably miss some of the instruments and lines.

Mimmo Cavallaro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnWdE9V-0yQ

Le Briganti di Terra d'Otranto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmNWAXQeFw

Le Muse del Mediterraneo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGahWhpHx4k

Eugenio Bennato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgPbOGmTAB8

I Beddi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gX77h23gB4&start_radio=1&list=RD6gX77h23gB4

Notte della Taranta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPfmzobjdVQ

Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8tBkewq21Q

Karadros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvWlV-MIrvg

Alla Bua
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHk7JQzddkw

Taran Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhF6leskxkQ


Wow, I’m exhausted watching them dance. The ladies and their twirling and the huge crowd that looked like a rave (not that I’ve attended one). The intensity does indeed build as you say. Interesting blend of instruments and that horizontal accordion was quite interesting to see. It would be fun to see in person, but I’d be watching and not participating 😁
« Last Edit: January 17, 2019, 11:08:19 PM by Nick B »
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Offline rpf

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Huh. Over 300 views and only one reply.

Nick, the video with the crowd of people dancing only comprised several thousand. Try these with upwards of two hundred thousand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0NUalHEl8A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgFOf73Z088&list=LL0g_lhZlcJSZwlSsUPBbXQA&index=35&t=0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65013ESax4&list=LL0g_lhZlcJSZwlSsUPBbXQA&index=12&t=0s

The first two are in Sicilian, the last in Griko (a language derived from Greek once common in parts of Southern Italy). Most of the others I posted were in various dialects of Sicilian (the language of much of Southern Italy before Italian became predominant) with a few in Italian.

There are hundreds of great Tarantula/Pizzica videos in all different styles on Youtube for anyone interested.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2019, 07:39:21 PM by rpf »
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Offline Nick B

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Huh. Over 300 views and only one reply.

Nick, the video with the crowd of people dancing only comprised several thousand. Try these with upwards of two hundred thousand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0NUalHEl8A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgFOf73Z088&list=LL0g_lhZlcJSZwlSsUPBbXQA&index=35&t=0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65013ESax4&list=LL0g_lhZlcJSZwlSsUPBbXQA&index=12&t=0s

The first two are in Sicilian, the last in Griko (a language derived from Greek once common in parts of Southern Italy). Most of the others I posted were in various dialects of Sicilian (the language of much of Southern Italy before Italian became predominant) with a few in Italian.

There are hundreds of great Tarantula/Pizzica videos in all different styles on Youtube for anyone interested.

Thanks for the additional videos. It’s exhausting just watching them....... I didn’t have that much energy when I was a teenager:)
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Offline tmazz

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Huh. Over 300 views and only one reply.


Rob don't feel bad. I am sure that only a very small percentage of those 300 views were made by actual real people. Most of the traffic we get on this site now is from web crawler programs scanning our posts to index them for search engines.
Remember, it's all about the music........

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Offline rpf

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Huh. Over 300 views and only one reply.


Rob don't feel bad. I am sure that only a very small percentage of those 300 views were made by actual real people. Most of the traffic we get on this site now is from web crawler programs scanning our posts to index them for search engines.

Interesting. Thanks Tom.
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Offline rollo

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  COOL ! Thanks. Well then gents start your posting engines and lets get talk'n again Geez dang we can do it again.


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Offline malloy

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Re: Not your grandfather's tarantella: or Gentlemen/women do play the accordian
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2019, 12:52:54 AM »
Not been active of late, but this is the first time I saw this post.

Is it like a ritual? It seems the dancer (the woman) in one of the videos is in an almost trance-like state. Like a dervish. Hmmm. Interesting. Since it is from Italy, there also likely a religious component to it.

Paul