Italian Folk Music

Italy · 1800s

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Description

Italian folk music encompasses a mosaic of regional traditions that developed across the Italian peninsula and islands, each with distinct languages/dialects, instruments, dance rhythms, and vocal practices. While the roots reach far back, the repertoire and identity we recognize today were largely documented and consolidated from the 19th century onward.

Characteristic elements include lively dance forms such as tarantella, pizzica, saltarello, and tammurriata; robust polyphonic traditions like Sardinia’s canto a tenore and Liguria’s trallalero; narrative stornelli and ballads; and ritual songs tied to the seasons, work, and devotion. Typical instruments are frame drums (tamburello/tammorra), diatonic accordion (organetto), Italian bagpipes (zampogna) with shawm (ciaramella), launeddas (Sardinia), chitarra battente, mandolin, and fiddle. Modal melodies, drones, and call-and-response vocals are common throughout.

Beyond entertainment, the music historically served social and spiritual functions—from communal dance to religious processions and even the famous (and debated) "tarantism" healing rituals in the South. In modern times it thrives in both local festivities and the global world-music circuit.

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Compagnia il Cerchio, Roberto De Simone & Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare

La tarantella: Antidotum tarantulae

L' Arpeggiata / Christina Pluhar / Lucilla Galeazzi / Marco Beasley

Vai mo'

Pino Daniele

Homo fugit velut umbra...

[anonymous] / L' Arpeggiata / Christina Pluhar

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Influenced by

Traditional Folk Music

Traditional folk music refers to orally transmitted songs, tunes, dances, and performance practices that arise within communities and are maintained across generations. It typically features simple, memorable melodies; strophic lyrics that narrate local history, work, love, or ritual; and functional roles such as accompanying dance, marking seasonal cycles, or supporting communal labor. Authorship is usually collective or anonymous, and variants proliferate as pieces are adapted to local language, instruments, and custom. While every culture has its own folk traditions, the modern concept of “folk music” was shaped in late-18th–19th-century Europe, when scholars and collectors began to document ‘the people’s’ song as distinct from courtly or commercial music.

European Folk Music

European folk music is an umbrella term for the traditional, community-based music practices of Europe, spanning ballads, dance tunes, ritual songs, and work songs passed down largely through oral transmission. It emphasizes local languages, modal melodies, and characteristic rhythms linked to social dances and seasonal customs. While many of its musical roots are older, the idea of “folk” as a category coalesced in the 19th century alongside nation-building, when collectors and scholars documented village repertoires and instruments. Today, European folk music encompasses both preserved regional traditions and living, evolving practices that continue to inform contemporary genres.

Byzantine Chant

Byzantine chant is the monophonic, a cappella liturgical music of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Church, sung primarily in Greek and organized around the octoechos (eight-mode) system. Its melodies are modal rather than harmonic, unfolding in one line supported in later practice by a sustained drone (ison). The repertory sets biblical psalms and hymnic poetry (e.g., troparia, kontakia, stichera, and canons) to melodies that follow textual accent and rhetorical pacing rather than strict meter. Notation employs neumes that encode melodic direction and ornate formulae, preserving a highly codified oral tradition. The sound is characterized by free rhythm, microtonal inflections in certain modes, and an austere, prayerful timbre designed for resonant ecclesiastical spaces. Byzantine chant remains central to the worship of the Eastern Orthodox Church and has shaped a wide family of chant traditions across the Mediterranean and Slavic worlds.

Arabic Music

Arabic music is the modal, largely non-harmonic art and folk music tradition of Arabic-speaking societies across the Middle East and North Africa. It is centered on the maqam system (a constellation of scales, characteristic melodic phrases, and modulation pathways) and the iqa'at cycle-based rhythmic system. Its sound is defined by microtonal intervals (often featuring neutral seconds and micro-inflected pitches rather than equal-tempered quarter-tones), expressive melismas, and a heterophonic ensemble texture in which multiple instruments ornament the same melody simultaneously. Core instruments include the oud, qanun, nay, violin/kamanja, riqq, and darbuka/tabla, with larger firqa (orchestral) lineups common in 20th‑century Cairo. The tradition values poetic text-setting, extended improvisation (taqsim and layali), and the affective aesthetic of tarab—intense musical ecstasy and emotional transport.

Greek Folk Music

Greek folk music (Dimotiká) is the traditional song and dance culture of Greece, shaped by centuries of life in villages, islands, and mountain communities. It is largely modal rather than tonal, drawing on the maqam/echoi systems and favoring melismatic vocals, drones, and expressive ornamentation. The style is highly regional: Epirus favors slow, austere polyphonic singing and clarinet-led laments; Macedonia and Thrace feature lively gaida (bagpipe) and violin tunes; the Aegean islands and the Dodecanese emphasize lilting syrtos; Crete highlights the bowed lyra, laouto (lute), and improvised mantinades couplets; Pontic music uses the kemenche (lyra) with driving rhythms. Dance metres frequently use asymmetrical patterns such as 7/8, 9/8, and 5/8, accompanying forms like syrtos, kalamatianos, tsamiko, and hasapiko. Typical instruments include the klarino (clarinet), violin, laouto, Cretan or Pontic lyra, santouri (hammered dulcimer), kanonaki (psaltery), gaida, zournas (shawm), daouli (double-headed drum), and defi (frame drum). Themes cover love, migration, seafaring, klephtic (brigand/heroic) traditions, seasonal rituals, and historical memory.

Sardinian Folk Music

Sardinian folk music is the traditional music of Sardinia (Italy), characterized by striking vocal polyphony, ancient reed-pipe instruments, and a living dance repertory. Its best-known vocal form is cantu a tenore, a four-part, overtone-rich male polyphony featuring the parts bassu, contra, mesu 'oche, and 'oche (solo), now recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Equally prominent are devotional and paraliturgical songs (gosos/cuncordu), improvised poetic forms (mutetu), lament songs (attitu), and the guitar-accompanied cantu a chitarra/chiterra. Instrumentally, Sardinia is famed for the launeddas, an ancient triple-pipe cane instrument played with circular breathing, as well as the organetto (diatonic accordion) that drives social dances like ballu tundu, passu torrau, and su dillu. Melodies favor modal inflections (often Dorian, Aeolian, and Mixolydian), sustained drones, and heterophonic textures, while lyrics are predominantly in Sardinian varieties (Logudorese, Campidanese), Gallurese, Algherese Catalan, and Italian.

Has influenced

Tarantella

Tarantella is a family of fast, swirling Southern Italian folk dances and musical styles, typically in compound meters such as 6/8 or 12/8. It is most closely associated with regions like Apulia (Puglia), Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily. Historically linked to the folk healing/possession ritual of tarantism, tarantella music drives dancers with a propulsive tambourine (tamburello) groove, ringing mandolins or chitarra battente, accordion, violin, zampogna (bagpipe), and reed pipes (ciaramella). Melodies often favor minor modes (Aeolian or Dorian), repetitive ostinati, and call-and-response vocals, creating an ecstatic, trance-like momentum. Across Italy, regional variants include the Salentine pizzica, the Calabrian tarantella, and Campania’s tammurriata (closely related), each with distinct steps, rhythmic accents, and instrumentation but sharing a kinetic, communal, and celebratory character.

Pizzica

Pizzica is a fast, trance-inducing folk music and dance tradition from Salento in Apulia (southern Italy), considered a regional branch of the broader tarantella family. It is closely tied to the historical ritual of tarantism, in which insistent rhythms and circular dances were believed to heal victims of the tarantula bite (or psychosomatic afflictions) through cathartic movement. Its sound is driven by the tamburello (large frame drum), organetto (diatonic button accordion), guitar (often chitarra battente or strummed classical guitar), violin, and call-and-response vocals in the Salentino and Griko (Greek-Salentinian) dialects. Today, pizzica thrives both as a social dance music at festivals and as a contemporary concert style, blending tradition with modern arrangements while preserving its communal, ecstatic energy.

Cantu A Tenore

Cantu a tenore is a four-part, male a cappella polyphony from the Barbagia region of central Sardinia (Italy). It is performed by small ensembles using distinct timbres that include an overtone-rich, guttural bass and a nasal lead voice. The four voices are typically called: oche or boghe (the solo lead that carries the text), mesu 'oche/mesa boghe (a middle part that thickens the texture), contra (a pressed, buzzing part that locks into the harmony), and bassu (a very low, growling part). Together they form hollow, open sonorities centered on perfect fourths and fifths with flexible, modal tunings. Texts often reflect pastoral life, love, dance, and community rituals, and performances occur in intimate circles at bars, festivals, and village gatherings. Recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, cantu a tenore is both a living community practice and a striking example of Mediterranean multipart singing with unique timbral techniques.

Cantu A Chiterra

Cantu a chiterra (Sardinian for "singing with guitar") is a solo vocal tradition from Sardinia in which a highly ornamented voice is supported by a single acoustic guitar. It is especially associated with the island’s central and northern areas (Logudoro, Gallura, Montiferru, Planargia) and with public singing contests. The style blends Mediterranean lyricism with Iberian-influenced guitar idioms. Singers deliver melismatic, rubato introductions that lead into metrically steady stanzas set to recurring harmonic cycles. The poetry draws on Sardinian dialects (notably Logudorese and Gallurese) and traditional forms such as battorinas (quatrains), ottave (ottava rima), and mutetus (improvised or semi-improvised quatrains).

Trallalero

Trallalero is a traditional male a cappella polyphonic singing style from the Ligurian region around Genoa, Italy. Ensembles perform without instruments, weaving five or more independent vocal parts into bright, ringing harmonies that often move with dance-like energy. A distinctive hallmark is the “chitarra” voice, a specialized part that imitates a guitar’s rhythmic arpeggios using non-lexical syllables, underpinning the harmonic framework in lieu of actual instruments. Typical parts include a lead tenor (primmu), second tenor (secondu), a high falsetto alto (contràto), baritone, bass (bassu), and the chitarra. The texts are commonly in the Genoese (Zeneize) dialect, drawing on serenades, love songs, and urban folk narratives. Trallalero balances rough, work-song vigor with refined, close-harmony craft, producing a sound that is at once communal, agile, and rhythmically buoyant.

Canzone Napoletana

Canzone napoletana (Neapolitan song) is a lyrical, melodically rich tradition from Naples, Italy, sung primarily in the Neapolitan language. It fuses folk street-song roots with operatic bel canto phrasing and salon/classical songcraft. Characterized by soaring vocal lines, emotive rubato, and memorable refrains, it often features themes of love, longing, the sea, and the city of Naples itself. Typical accompaniments include guitar, mandolin (with tremolo), piano, or small orchestra, supporting strophic or verse–refrain forms that spotlight the singer’s timbre and expression. Iconic standards such as “’O sole mio,” “Funiculì funiculà,” “Torna a Surriento,” and “Santa Lucia” became international calling cards for Italian vocalism, helping define the archetype of the tenor-led popular ballad.

Folk Rock

Folk rock is a fusion genre that blends the narrative lyricism, modal melodies, and acoustic timbres of traditional folk with the backbeat, amplification, and song structures of rock. It typically pairs acoustic or traditional instruments (acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle) with a rock rhythm section (electric guitar, bass, drums), often featuring chiming 12‑string guitar textures, close vocal harmonies, and socially conscious or storytelling lyrics. The result ranges from intimate, reflective ballads with a steady backbeat to more anthemic, roots‑driven rock. Emerging in the mid‑1960s through artists such as Bob Dylan and The Byrds, folk rock became a gateway for traditional and roots materials to enter mainstream popular music, and it seeded later movements from country rock and Americana to jangle pop and modern indie folk.

Croatian Folk Music

Croatian folk music is the traditional music of Croatia’s diverse regions, shaped by centuries of life between the Adriatic coast, the Pannonian plains, and the Dinaric hinterland. It encompasses distinctive vocal practices (such as klapa, ojkanje, and ganga), regional dance tunes, and instrumental traditions featuring tamburica ensembles, bagpipes, sopile double-reeds, and the bowed gusle. Coastal Dalmatia is known for close-harmony, largely a cappella klapa singing and Mediterranean colors; inland Slavonia favors lively tamburica bands, bećarac couplets, and kolo circle dances; Istria and Kvarner preserve archaic modal systems (the Istrian scale) and piercing sopile timbres; and the Dinaric highlands cultivate epic gusle recitation and powerful, microtonal polyphony. Together, these strands form a living heritage that is communal, lyrical, and dance-driven, and today it thrives in festivals, village celebrations, and contemporary folk/ethno-fusion projects.

Rioplatense Music

Rioplatense music refers to the musical traditions that emerged around the Río de la Plata basin—centered on Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Montevideo (Uruguay). It blends Afro-Uruguayan rhythms, gaucho song forms, and a wide palette of European immigrant dances and salon styles into a distinctive urban sound. At its core are tango, milonga, and candombe, whose characteristic syncopations, bittersweet melodies, and expressive performance practices (rubato, arrastre, canyengue swing) embody the region’s cosmopolitan yet local identity. Typical ensembles feature bandoneón, violin, piano, double bass, and guitar, while rhythmic foundations often trace back to the Cuban habanera and Afro-Uruguayan drum patterns. Lyrics frequently use lunfardo (local slang) and dwell on love, longing, night life, migration, and urban nostalgia.

Corsican Folk Music

Corsican folk music is the traditional music of the island of Corsica, renowned for its striking, three‑part a cappella polyphony known as paghjella. Typically sung by male voices standing very close together, the parts—bassu (low drone), secunda (lead/middle), and terza (high)—weave dense, modal harmonies rich in overtones. The repertoire spans sacred and secular spheres: liturgical chants and hymns, improvised call‑and‑response verse contests (chjami è rispondi), love songs, lullabies, and lamentations (voceru). Timbres are robust and nasal, intonation favors modal scales with flexible tuning, and performance often begins with the secunda “setting” the pitch before bassu and terza enter. While predominantly vocal and unaccompanied, instruments such as the cetera corsa (Corsican cittern), flute, violin, guitar, or accordion may accompany dances and newer arrangements.

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