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Italian folk music reflects a long and diverse history.National unification occurred relatively late on theItalian peninsula, allowing its many hundreds of regional cultures to retain distinct musical traditions. Italy’s geographic position—at the southern edge ofEurope and central to theMediterranean Sea—has contributed to a wide array of external influences.Celtic,Slavic,Arabic,Greek,Spanish andByzantine musical elements are readily apparent in regional styles. Italy's mountainous geography and the historical dominance of smallcity-states further encouraged the persistence of localized traditions.
Contemporary classification of Italian folk music often follows the geographic typology proposed byAlan Lomax in 1956,[2] which has been frequently reiterated in later studies. The group and open-voice choral styles ofNorthern Italy reflect Celtic and Slavic influences, while the stridentmonody ofSouthern Italy shows Greek, Byzantine, and Arabic roots.[3]Central Italy exhibits a mixture of these traditions, alongside older indigenous forms such as narrative balladry. The music ofSardinia remains especially distinct, most notably for its polyphonic vocal tradition known astenores.
The modern understanding of Italian folk music developed alongside the rise ofethnomusicology in the 1940s and 1950s and the resurgence ofregionalism in Italy during that period. TheCentro Nazionale di Studi di Musica Popolare (CNSMP), now part of theAccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, was established in 1948 to document and archive musical traditions across Italy. In the 1950s, significant field recordings were conducted by American ethnomusicologistAlan Lomax and Italian scholars includingDiego Carpitella,Franco Coggiola, andRoberto Leydi. Toward the end of the decade, special attention was given to the musical traditions of theMeridione (southern Italy), including an influential study by Carpitella and anthropologistErnesto de Martino on thetarantella.[4]
The early 1960s saw the emergence of socially and politically conscious popular music, including numerous releases by theI Dischi del Sole label. Several notable groups were also formed at this time, includingCantacronache in 1958 and theNuovo Canzoniere Italiano (NCI) in 1962. The NCI brought together musicians and composers, includingGiovanna Marini, and made its first major public appearance at the 1964Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi. The group went on to produce a large number of recordings and live performances.[5]
The Italianfolk revival gained momentum by 1966, when theIstituto Ernesto de Martino was founded inMilan by historianGianni Bosio to promote oral culture and document traditional music. With the formation of theNuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare in 1970, a new model emerged in which ensembles focused on the music of specific regions—in this case,Campania. Many of Italy’s most recognized folk revival bands began during the following decade, includingLa Lionetta (1977),Tre Martelli (1977),La Ciapa Rusa (1978),Re Niliu (1979),Calicanto (1981), andBaraban (1983).[6]
The northern regions of Italy historically exhibited Celtic and Slavic influences in their cultures.[7]Roots revivalists have revived traditional songs, though, fromPiedmont (La Ciapa Rusa,Tre Martelli),Lombardy (Barabàn,Pandemonio) andVeneto (Calicanto).
TheGenoese docks are the home oftrallalero, a polyphonic vocal style with five voices, one of which imitates a guitar. It arose in the 1920s and includes modern groups likeLa Squadra -- Compagnia del Trallalero andLaura Parodi.
The highly urban provinces of northern and central Italy are also known for the medieval sung poetryottava rima, especially inTuscany,Lazio andAbruzzo. Ottava rima is performed by thepoeti contadini (peasant poets) who use the poems ofHomer orDante, as well as more modern lyrics which address political or social issues. It is often completely improvised, and sometimes competitive in nature. Tuscan folk poetry is closer in form and style to high-culture poetry than is typical elsewhere in Italy.
Thesaltarello dance is also popular throughout the region.Canzoniere del Lazio is one of the biggest names from central Italy during the 1970sroots revival. With socially aware lyrics, this new wave of Italian roots revivalists often played entirely acoustic songs with influences fromjazz and others. More modern musicians in the same field includeLucilla Galeazzi,La Piazza andLa Macina.
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A folk dance called thetarantella is still sometimes performed. It was performed to cure the bite ofLycosa tarantula, usually with female victims dancing until exhaustion. Performers used varying rhythms according to the exact kind of spider.
Antonio Infantino has explored the percussion-based tarantolati healing rituals since 1975, when he formed the groupTarantolati di Tricarico.
Puglia is also home to brass bands likeBanda Cittá Ruvo Di Puglia; this tradition has led to collaborations with jazz musicians likeMatteo Salvatore,Battista Lena,Eugenio Colombo,Natale Galletta andEnrico Rava.
Another culturally unique musical tradition in Southern Italy is thezampogna, a form of bagpipe originally played by the shepherd class and is still prevalent in the mountainous regions of Southern Italy and Sicily. The Zampogna, in addition to secular use is associated with the annunciation of Christ and it is still not uncommon to see a zampogna player at a nativity scene during the Christmas season.
Theethnic Greeks living inGrecìa Salentina (Apulia) andBovesia (Calabria) have their own distinct dialects (theGriko orGrecanico, respectively). They have lived in the area for an undetermined amount of time, possibly as early asAncient Greece, at the time ofMagna Graecia, or as late as theMiddle Ages.[8] The community has been largely assimilated by the Italian nation, but there remain speakers of the dialects and other aspects of the culture. There was aroots revival in the 1970s in this area, paralleling similar developments across continental Europe, including Brittany and Catalonia.
Folk musical traditions in the area include a religious piece,Passiuna tu Christù, which recounts thePassion of Christ. The Passion is performed by street accordionists with two singers. An example of apizzica song fromSalento region isKali Nifta (Good night). The lyrics were written in Griko byVito Domenico Palumbo (1856–1918).
Sicily is home to a great variety ofreligious music, includinga cappella devotional songs fromMontedoro and manybrass bands likeBanda Ionica, who play songs from a diverse repertoire.Harvest songs andwork songs are also indigenous to theagricultural island, known as "Italy's granary".Franco Battiato,Fratelli Mancuso,Luciano Maio,Taberna Mylaensis andCiccio Busacca are among the most popular musicians from Sicily. Busacca has worked with Dario Fo, like many Italian musicians, but is perhaps best known for his setting the poems ofIgnazio Buttitta, a Sicilianlanguage poet.
Fratelli Mancuso (brothers Enzo and Lorenzo Mancuso) have fused traditional Sicilian peasant songs (lamintazioni), monodic chants (a la carrittera) and other indigenous forms to create a uniquely Sicilian modern song style.
Probably the most culturally distinct of all the regions in Italy, Sardinia is aMediterranean island known for thecantu a tenorepolyphonic chant, sacred songs calledgozos, andlauneddas, awoodwind instrument similar to the Greekaulos. Launeddas are used to play a complex style of music that has achieved some international attention, especiallyDionigi Burranca,Antonio Lara,Luigi Lai andEfisio Melis; Burranca, like many of the most famous launedda musicians, is fromSamatzai inCagliari. An ancient instrument, dating back to at least the 8th century BC, launeddas are still played during religious ceremonies and dances (su ballu). Distinctively, they are played using extensive variations on a few melodic phrases, and a single song can last over an hour.
The ottava, or eight-line stanza, is a common lyrical form in Sardinia, one which allows the performer a certain amount of improvisation and is not unlike thestornello of south-central mainland Italy.
Rural polyphonic chanting of the tenores is sung with four vocal parts. They arebassu,mesa boghe,contra andboghe (respectively to be properly translated toEnglish fromSardinian as "bass", "middle", "counter" and "soloist"). The most popular group isTenores di Bitti.In November 2005, theCantu a Tenore vocal style of the Sardinian pastoral culture was proclaimed aMasterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity byUNESCO.
Sacredgozos, or sacred songs, can be heard during religious celebrations, sung by choruses likeSu Cuncordu 'e su Rosariu.
Other influential Sardinian musicians includeTotore Chessa (organetto),Maria Carta (singer),Mauro Palmas,Elena Ledda andSuonofficina,Cordas et Cannas,Paolo Fresu (trumpet),Gesuino Deiana (guitar),Tazenda,Marisa Sannia.
In Italy, Greek (known locally as Griko) is spoken today in two small linguistic islands of southern Italy…The dialects of these two linguistic islands correspond for the most part, as regards morphology, phonetics, syntax and lexis to the neoclassical dialects of Greece, but they also present some interesting archaic characteristics. This has led to much discussion on the origins of the Greek-speaking community in southern Italy: according to some scholars (G. Morosi and C. Battisti), Greek in this area is not a direct continuation of the ancient Greek community but is due to Byzantine domination (535-1071); whereas for other scholars (Rohlfs, etc.), the Greek community of southern Italy is directly linked to the community of Magna Grecia.
