| The musical tradition of Magna Graecia |
From the leaflet-cd «The Greek tradition of Magna
Graecia», Ministry of Culture, House of Arts and Letters, Folklore
Institute of the Peloponnese 275 2028379.
During the period that the Greek language prevailed in Southern Italy,
a particular musical tradition was also developed with different songs
in the regions of Salento and Calabria. These songs are sung in this
special dialect (Grecanica) – a mixture of Greek and Italian. The songs
were recorded in the last quarter of the 20th century and became very
popular in Greece.
Love song from the Salento villages ‘’My beautiful dove” :
4. Please note that the translation into English misses
to convey the peculiarities of the local dialect.
| My beautiful dove (little one)…
My beautiful and lovely dove
Always cheerful.
You go on laughing – always joyful
You go on laughing my little one!
You look like a carnation,
Like a spring bird
And you go on flying my spring bird
For ten years now I always look at you
And it’s never enough
I look at you,
It’s never enough
To look at you my little one! |
(Please click to listen to the song)
Tarantella “pitsika”
A folk dance, connected with the phenomenon of tarantism, some sort of
crisis or mania that was provoked by the sting (pitsika in Italian) of
a spider, the Lycosa Tarantula which takes its name after the city of Taranto.
A «musical exorcism», during which the ‘tarantato’, the afflicted, according
to the spider that had bitten him, fell into ecstasy with one of the 12
melodic themes the band played, and was cured of his crisis. The duration
of the therapy could take up to two days. Tarantism, which is connected
to the Dionysian dances of ancient Greece, ceased to exist after the Second
World War.
| Tarantella ¨pitsika’’
Get up my dear, and get ready
the dawn comes, it comes
It’s Sunday morning..
I hear the bell since dawn,
I rise from bed
and pray to Jesus Christ.
I get dressed, I go out there
and look at the sky, to see if it’s a bright day.
I go to the basin for some water
I put it in the pan and wash my face.
I take the clean and pretty towel, and dry my face so that I can
wake up
Then I go …and start the engine, I am off for my field and off
to work.
There is my dog that keeps me company, and we really live in harmony |
(Please click to listen to the song)
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| A ‘tarantata’ in crisis (picture © Franco Pinna,
1959) |
A Greek speaker in Salento, at the beginning of the 20th century (picture © G. Palumpo). |
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