![\"Utriculus47Cover\"](\"https:\/\/zampogna.org\/wpsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/Utriculus47Cover.png\")
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Editorial, by A. Caccia, p. 3<\/strong> The Northern Italy bagpipes, by B. Grulli, p. 7<\/strong> The zampogna at the foot of Vesuvius, by V. Marasco and A. Giordano, p. 25<\/strong> Two Zampognari of the Molise died in Naples during the cholera epidemic of<\/strong> The zampogna, the reapers and the harvest time melodies, by A. Caccia, p. 37<\/strong> The rediscovered guitar, by M. Brindisi, p. 79<\/strong> Sympathetic resonances. Musics, musicians, guitars and more, by V. Lombardi, p. 85<\/strong> A precious finding, by S. Villani, p. 91<\/strong> Sylloge of the sources concerning the Carnivals of Scapoli and Castelnuovo al<\/strong> UTRICULUS N. 47 – Abstracts by Antonietta Caccia Editorial, by A. Caccia, p. 3 Because of its second long interruption (the former was in the period 2000\/2004 and the last issue published has been that of April\/June 2008) many people … Continua a leggere
\nBecause of its second long interruption (the former was in the period 2000\/2004
\nand the last issue published has been that of April\/June 2008) many people thought
\nthat the experience of Utriculus was over. I thought the same too, or better,
\nI was afraid of that, whenever any attempt to start again failed for one reason or
\nanother, so much that even writing these lines I can hardly believe that we did it
\nat last. For correctness towards those members who continued to support us even
\nwithout getting the magazine I should say something more than a simple \u201csorry
\nfor the delay\u201d. But the list of excuses and lamentations would be too long and it
\nwould make us so sad that the best thing to do is to save us from that.
\nBesides, even if the time of the sorrows and of the difficulties (mainly econo-
\nmic) is not finished, what matters is that we are here again. So, let\u2019s look ahead,
\neven more jointly if possible as together and enthusiastically we have been working
\nfor the bagpipes and more generally for the cultural heritage nowadays called \u201cintangible\u201d.
\nWhat we have done during the last years (magazine and festival\u2019s vicissitudes
\napart) is in the \u201c2008-2013 Yearbook\u201d by A. Bavaro at page 53 while the recognition
\nthat gratifies and drives us to pursue our activities enlarging their ambit as
\nwell, has been the accreditation of the Circolo to act in an advisory capacity to the
\nIntergovernmental Committee of the Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding
\nof the Intangible Cultural Heritage. A goal which has been possible to reach also
\nthanks to the support of the wide network of members, sympathizers and cooperators
\nof various kind, coming from several countries besides Italy.
\nIn the internet time we have been long doubtful if it had still sense a paper magazine.
\nAt the end, according to the opinion of several members, we decided to
\ncontinue with the paper format and maybe in the future with a digital version as
\nwell. In any case, some changes have been adopted: in the typographical format,
\nin the number of the pages and in the periodicity since now six-montly.
\nLast but not least, I make reference to the cover with which we wish to homage
\nto Amedeo Lanci, great contemporary artist and our unforgotten friend, who has
\ndied on January 30th 2011. Called also the painter of the music because of the presence
\nin almost all his paintings of musicians and musical instruments (mainly
\nthe guitar), he expressed a great interest towards the world of the mountain, of the
\npastoral culture and of the bagpipers as well.<\/p>\n
\nAs indicated in the figures at pages 8, 9, 12 (n. 1, 2 and 4), in the article the author
\nfirstly places that the bagpipes of Northern Italy (generally called with the term
\n\u201cpiva\u201d) belong to the wider family of that of West Europe of which they represent
\nthe south-east section. The \u201cpive\u201d can be considered extinct as cultural entity since
\nthe thirties of the last century despite the presence of isolated players until the
\nsecond post-war years while the emigration to the North of zampogna players
\ncoming from Southern Italy, started since distant times, obscured the memory
\nof the local bagpipes. The folk revival of the seventies partly made up for it. Then,
\nsome have been recovered. They are: the Piva Ticinese (in the Swiss Canton of
\nTicino), the Baghet (in Bergamo area), the Musa (in the Appennine valleys between
\nthe rivers Scrivia and Trebbia) and the Piva Emiliana (in the area between
\nthe rivers Trebbia and Enza). These instruments were used mainly to accompany
\nthe dances and also in other several civil, religious and funeral occasions. But in
\nthe article the author doesn\u2019t speak about the mentioned four bagpipes because
\nalready rich of a wide bibliography, players and finds of instruments. He wants
\nto speak about the remaining North where various evidences (oral testimonies,
\nsongs, tales, sayings, iconographies with which the author gives detailed information
\nfor each region, areas and places) lead to believe in a remote but more large
\ndiffusion of \u201cpive\u201d probably similar to the recovered ones. In this perspective the
\nauthor points out, through a rich bibliography and some iconographic evidences,
\nthe results of the researches made by himself and other musicians and scholars all
\nover the Northern areas not included in that concerned with the presence and the
\nuse of the recovered four bagpipes.<\/p>\n
\nFirstly the authors point out that in the piedmont area of Vesuvius, particularly
\nin the West and South-East side of the volcano, what since centuries characterizes
\nthe local folk music is the dark and the deep sound of the tammorra (the big
\ntimbrel) combined sometimes with other instruments. In one of the villages of
\nthat area, called Boscotrecase, since the end of the 19th century a little community
\nof zampogna and ciaramella players started to become visible. The families who
\nintroduced the pastoral instruments in the urban area of Boscotrecase were those
\nof the Esposito and Catapano.
\nIt has been possible for the authors to rebuilt their adventure with the tradition
\nof the zampogna thanks to the testimony of the last descendant of the Catapano
\nfamily, Antonio, an excellent player known as The ciaramella of Vesuvius.
\nAccording to the authors the zampogna and ciaramella were introduced in the
\narea by the zampognari coming from the Province of Caserta who during the
\nChristmas time used to go in the villages around Vesuvius playing the Novena. In
\nthe picture at page 31 you can see the battered zampogna of Antonio\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
\n1836, by M. Gioielli, p. 33<\/strong>
\nIn this contribution Gioielli refers about two zampognari coming from Matese,
\nthe mountain chain that dominates an area of the Molise in which still today they
\nare active bagpipers mainly in some places like the village of San Polo Matese and
\nthe small town of Boiano.
\nThe sad story of the two players (father and son) is narrated in the book of the
\ndramatist Giovanni Emmanuele Bidera entiled The last ninety days of 1836. The
\ncholera in Naples, published in 1837. In the tale of the book dedicated to them, the
\nauthor refers that the two bagpipers, arrived in Naples for the Christmas Novena,
\nunlike the other zampognari who escaped from the city, decided to remain in
\nspite of the epidemic because of the needs of their family. So, they started yhe service
\nof the Novena firstly visiting, in accordance with the tradition, the habitual
\ncustomes to confirm the performance. But on December 2, they were affected by
\nthe deadly disease and both died.<\/p>\n
\nAs historically certified along all the modern age and also a little more, every year thousands of peasants came down the mountains of Molise to be employed
\nin various farm works mainly in the vast estates of Puglia region and specifically
\nin its Northern part called Tavoliere (Tableland). The reapers constituted the larger
\nnumber of these workers: between 30,000 and 50,000 those who went to Puglia
\nat the end of the 18th century to whom they must be added the reapers coming
\nfrom the High Valley of Volturno river (that didn\u2019t belong to Molise region at the
\ntime) who for the most part were used to go to the so called Labor Land, an area
\nincluding both the Volturno valley and the Province of Caserta.
\nThe aim of the research, carried out in Scapoli and from which the article was
\noriginated, is not the reaping but the zampogna and its use in the rural world.
\nEven if, on the traces of the instrument and its players it has been unavoidable
\nto look over the historical context and the human vicissitudes of some reapersbagpipers
\nand their relatives; naturally, just touching on these subjects in the context
\nof the present discourse.
\nThe article takes as a reference the period from the end of 19th century to the
\nfirst decade of the 20th. Almost all the information have been acquired through
\ninterviews with local old people who had lived both the experience of being reapers
\nand bagpipers or had memory of them, of songs, way of life etc.
\nThe first fact emerging from the oral testimonies is that, before and besides the
\ndefinitive emigration, two seasonal emigrations represented a solution for many
\npeasants to better themselves: going to play the Novena in Christmas time and
\ngoing to reap in Summer time. In both cases there was the zampogna. In the first
\none, as the musical instrument so \u201cpar excellence\u201d to lead most of the people to
\nidentify the bag instrument and its players as the proper symbol of Christmas and
\nto think that there wasn\u2019t any reason for its existence except this festivity. In the
\nsecond one, as the homely sound that sharpened the nostalgia of the reapers and
\nperhaps made their hard work more tolerable. In fact, the reapers (almost all also
\nzampognari) took the zampogna with themselves and playing it and other instruments
\n(ciaramella and accordion) they left on foot towards their destination at the
\nbeginning of June.
\nAs referred by an informer, the day of the departure they gathered before the
\nsunrise in predetermined places where \u201cthey made a great harmony\u201d after which
\nthey set off still playing and the music could be heard until they turned the last
\ncurve towards the next village. Sometimes, even though it was forbidden, some
\nreapers brought together a young son or daughter with the job to pick up the ears
\nof wheat that they let fall down while harvesting. About one of these clandestine
\ncollectors of ears\u2014her name was Maria\u2014in the article are remembered the hard
\nlife when she was a little more than a child and the tragic destiny when she was
\na little more than fifty years old. The November 11, 1943 Maria was shot by a German
\nsniper and died some days later because of the severe wounds.
\nDuring the research, besides information about \u201cmythical\u201d reapers who were
\nalso excellent bagpipers, one of the informer has referred on several melodies that
\npeople were used to sing during the harvest time. The songs could be about love,
\nagainst the owners or satirical. The important thing was \u201cto sing with the tonality
\nappropriate to the harvest time otherwise you might be considered crazy\u201d. The
\nright tonality was that in extended voice and according to the informer it was
\npractised only while harvesting; in all other periods or occasions they used the
\ntonality called \u201cat serenade\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nIn the article the authoress tells about the finding that she made at the end of
\nMarch 2012 of a rare model of chitarra battente (lit. \u201cbeating guitar\u201d) coming
\nfrom the historical and famous workshop of musical instruments of Borraccino
\nfamily who had been active in Cerignola, Province of Foggia (Puglia region) for
\nabout one century and half starting from the early 19th century.
\nThe place of the discovery has been an old house, which former owner had been
\na family of players, in the little village of Macchia Valfortore (where the authoress
\nlives) once belonging to Puglia today to Molise region.
\nAs result of her researches about the particular guitar (of which the ethnomusicologist
\nSalvatore Villani speaks on the following article) Mrs. Brindisi gives a list
\nof players who, together with the oral testimonies, can be considered as the evidence
\nof a large use of the instrument in the village of Macchia Valfortore. From
\nthe same testimonies it emerges that the guitar was used both to play serenades
\nand to accompany dances and songs.
\nThe article describes also the context, the reasons and the passions that all together
\ngave the authoress the possibility to bring to light a model of guitar of which
\nshe had always only heard in the village. But it has been possible also because
\namong other passions Mrs. Brindisi cultivates a special interest for the airs of the
\noral tradition that she sings playing a similar guitar in the duo \u201cThe Musicians
\nof the Memory\u201d formed with her husband Mario Mancini maker and player of
\ntimbrels. A heartfelt profile of the couple and of their activities is in the following
\ncontribution by the ethomusicologist Vincenzo Lombardi.<\/p>\n
\nThe contribution is organized into three short chapters: the gift, the musical
\ninterests, the rediscovered guitar.
\nThe gift is the natural talent of which Mariella Brindisi has been blessed, that
\nshe has been able to recognise and to cultivate translating it in the will and in
\nthe everyday activity directed to pass on to others what she discovers and learns.
\nBesides she is able \u201cto infest\u201d all those who get in touch with her, first of all her
\nhusband Mario Mancini who shares with her the passion and the gift expressing
\nboth in a quite original modalities. From this incredible mix of passions several
\nactivities originated and are still alive:
\n\u2014 a museum called \u201cThe house, the professions and the culture of the memory\u201d
\nwhich consists in various \u201crooms\u201d diffused in the old centre of the village and
\nthat they buy, restructure and fit out with objects and memories of the past
\nwith the aim of \u201ccollecting, preserving and promoting the knowledge, free, of
\nall that concerns the folk culture\u201d besides researching, to safeguard it, what
\nstill living in the area (songs, tales, stories of life, saving of ancient arts and
\ncrafts)\u201d;
\n\u2014 a workshop where Mario makes timbrels and\u2014
\nfrom some time\u2014also beating
\nguitars;
\n\u2014 a centre of interest in natural sciences;
\n\u2014 an important collection of audio-video records concerning the main traditional
\nand musical events of Molise and neighbouring regions.
\nAs for the musical interests, the aim of the couple with the duo \u201cThe Musicians
\nof the Memory\u201d is simply to put back into circulation traditional songs of Molise
\nin the way that Mariella practised and remembers or how people remember and
\nsing them still today. It is not a \u201cre-proposal\u201d or a \u201ccopy\u201d. The idea is different. It
\nis to point out the musical \u201cwhat and how\u201d in its actuality and contemporaneity,
\nthe manner in which some musical expressions are still practised by some section
\nof population, mainly the elderly one.
\nFinally, in the chapter \u201cThe rediscovered guitar\u201d the author points out that it
\nshould be enough clear why the instrument, after years, decided to be found by two
\npersons like Mariella and Mario, thanks them for the reopening of a cultural matter
\nthat was waiting to be investigate and gives some information about the cultural,
\nsocial, economic and administrative relations between Molise and Puglia.<\/p>\n
\nThe third article concerning the beating guitar, called also chitarrino (lit. small
\nguitar), is by the ethnomusicologist and scholar of this kind of instruments, called
\nby Mariella and Mario for the organological study of the musical find. In the
\nfirst part of his contribution the author refers that after 30 years of researches in
\nthe areas of Gargano and Centre-Southern Adriatic, of the vast production of guitars
\nby the Borraccino family that found in Macchia Valfortore is at the moment
\nthe second one. Then, he tells about the mentioned family who has been active in
\nCerignola (Province of Foggia) since the early 19th century and whose last descendant
\nqualified as chitarraro (guitar maker) died in 1973 at age 67.
\nEven if the researches didn\u2019t give any information about when in Cerignola the
\nmaking of musical instruments stopped, according to oral testimonies the production
\nof the beating guitars disappeared in the early thirties of the 20th century.
\nFrom the commercial point of view, besides in Cerignola the guitars were marketed
\nin places of pilgrimage like Monte Sant\u2019Angelo and San Giovanni Rotondo.
\nThe instruments also appear in a catalogue, dateless but probably dating from the
\nearly thirties, of the accordion company \u201cPaolo Soprani\u201d from Castelfidardo.
\nThe last part of the article is dedicated to the organological description of the
\ninstrument of which the author provides classification, characteristics, tuning
\nand measures.<\/p>\n
\nVolturno. With morphological synopsis, by A. Testa, p. 101<\/strong>
\nThe author has dedicated to the carnival zoomorphic mask of the contiguous
\nvillages of Scapoli and Castelnuovo al Volturno\u2014called The Dear or The Wilde
\nBeast\u2014a well documented and very ample study in the book Il Carnevale dell\u2019uomo-
\nanimale. Le dimensioni storiche e socio culturali di una festa appenninica (The
\nCarnival of the man-animal. The historical and social cultural significance of an
\nApennines feast, shortly presented at page 125).
\nIn this sylloge he collects all the sources available at the moment about this carnival
\nand that, directly or indirectly, come from field researches made by experts
\nor generally by scholars and already appeared in various publications. The selection
\nmethods of the sources have been thought on the basis of the present state of
\nthe available documents.
\nAs regards Scapoli the mentions are very few. In this village since many years
\nthey don\u2019t act any more folk drama, \u201crites\u201d or any other kind of feasts so called
\n\u201ctraditional\u201d or recovered from the past; apart from the try made in the nineties
\nby the Circolo della Zampogna with the promotion of carnival gastronomic specialties
\n(that is to say has been successful) and with the revival (not successful) of
\nthe mask of \u201cThe Wilde Beast\u201d. With reference to that in the absence of starting
\npoints concerning the present situation the interest of scholars and other people
\nwho could collect testimonies has been rather low. On the contrary, in Castelnuovo
\nal Volturno after years of interruption since 1985 the carnival of the \u201cmananimal\u201d
\nhas been revived thanks to the action of a cultural association devoted
\nto it and today is a well known event even if with considerable changes because
\nof directing-choreographic needs (or foolish ambitions) or again, in any case, to
\nanswer purely spectacular purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"