Zampogna
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Zampogna (, , ) is a generic term for a number of Italian double chantered bagpipe that can be found as far north as the southern part of the
Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
, throughout areas in
Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...
,
Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whi ...
,
Molise Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
,
Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...
,
Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
,
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
,
Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...
and
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
. The tradition is now mostly associated with Christmas, and the most famous Italian carol, "
Tu scendi dalle stelle "" (; "From Starry Skies Thou Comest", "From Starry Skies Descending", "You Came a Star from Heaven", "You Come Down from the Stars") is a Christmas carol from Italy, written in 1732 in Nola by Saint Alphonsus Liguori in the musical style of a pas ...
" (You Come Down From the Stars) is derived from traditional ''zampogna'' music. However, there is an ongoing resurgence of the instrument in secular use seen with the increasing number of folk music festivals and folk music ensembles.


Construction

All chanters and drones are fixed into a single round stock that the bag is attached to. Each chanter is tuned differently, according to the tradition it represents, and there are dozens. Typically, the double-reeded versions (Marche, Abruzzo, Latium, Campania, southern Basilicata and parts of Sicily and southern Calabria) will have a soprano chanter on the right and a bass chanter on the left (called, respectively, ''ritta'' and ''manga''—meaning 'right' and 'left'—in the tradition of Southern
Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whi ...
) with an alto drone (''bordone'' being the generic name); but as many as three drones, the other tuned above and below the basic chord can be used, or, in the case of the Marches tradition, no drones at all. The single reed versions consist of the ''surdullina'' types of the Province of Cosenza and
Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...
, and the ''ciaramella'' or ''
ciaramedda {{unreferenced, date=December 2014 The ciaramedda or ciaramèddha ( Sicilian) is a type of zampogna with equal length double chanters. Other terms for this instrument include "zampogna a paru" and "terzalora" or simply "cornamuse". The ciaramedda ...
'' of
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
and
Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
in Sicily, as well as in Southern Calabria. The ''surdullina'' is a very short chantered version of the instrument that is used to play
tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...
s primarily, while the ciaramedda can play all of the traditional regional melodies the other types can. The traditional reeds are made from stalks of the Giant Reed ''
Arundo donax ''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' a ...
'', called "canna marina" in Italian. The double reed versions may also be made from plastic. The single reeds are made from a single section of the cane. Traditionally the bags are made from goat hides that are removed from the slaughtered animal in one piece, cured, turned inside out, then tied off just in front of the rear legs, one of the front legs serving to house the blow pipe with its simple leather valve (''soffietto''), and the other tied off. The typical round stock into which both chanters and drones are fixed goes into the neck of the skin. The hair is left on, and is contained in the inside of the bag (''otre''). Today, however, some pipers are substituting the traditional goat and sheep hide bags with a rubber
inner tube An inner tube is an inflatable ring that forms the interior of some pneumatic tires. The tube is inflated with a valve stem, and fits inside of the casing of the tire. The inflated inner tube provides structural support and suspension, while the ...
or wintex which is covered with an artificial fleece. This practice of using the synthetic bag is particularly popular among the pipers from
Scapoli Scapoli is a town and ''comune'' located in province of Isernia, which is part of the region of Molise, southern Italy. As of 2011 it had a population of 758. Geography Located in the western area of the province, near the region of Lazio, it bo ...
in the
Molise Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
region, and those of Atina in Latium.


Musical traditions

The double reeded version of the ''zampogna'' is generally played with the
piffero The ''piffero'' () or ''piffaro'' is a double-reed musical instrument of the oboe family with a conical bore ( Sachs-Hornbostel category 422.112). It is used to play music in the tradition of the ', an area of mountains and valleys in the north-w ...
(called ''biffera'' in
Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
, or ''ciaramella'' or ''pipita'' in other regions; a shawm, or folk oboe), which plays the melody and the zampogna provides chord changes, "vamping" or rhythmic harmony figures or a bass line and a soprano harmony as accompaniment. This double reed tradition would include Central Italy (Latium, southern Abruzzo and Molise), that of southern Basilicata (
Pollino The Pollino (Italian: ''Massiccio del Pollino'') is a massif in the southern Apennines, on the border between Basilicata and Calabria, southern Italy. It became part of the Pollino National Park in 1992. The main peaks include Monte Pollino (2,2 ...
) and nearby areas of Calabria, and some areas of Sicily ( Syracuse,
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
). Single reed versions are played solo in the Calabrian tradition of the ''surdullina'' (Cosenza), and a version with a plugged chanter called the ''surdullina albanese'', and the Sicilian or ''ciaramella'' (Catania, Messina, and
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
). The chanters and drones vary, according to the tradition, from a few inches long (surdullina) to nearly two meters in length, such as used in the cathedral of Monreale (Palermo) and nearly every size in between. The pipes are related to the Sardinian , a single reed "triple clarinet" comprising two chanters and a drone and played in the mouth by
circular breathing Circular breathing is a technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by breathing through the nose while simultaneously pushing air through the mouth using air stored ...
.


Etymology

The word is etymologically related to the Greek ''symphōnia'' (), meaning "concord or unison of sound" (from ''syn-'', "with, together" + ''phōnḗ'', "sound") and applied later to a type of bagpipe. It cognates to ''
tsampouna The tsampouna (or tsambouna; el, τσαμπούνα) is a Greek musical instrument and part of the bagpipe family. It is a double- chantered bagpipe, with no drone, and is inflated by blowing by mouth into a goatskin bag. The instrument is wides ...
'', the word for the Greek island bagpipe (itself a
reborrowing Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. This path is indicated by A → B → A, where A is the originating language, an ...
of ''zampogna''), Romanian , which means "symphony" or "many sounds played together", and Georgian .


History

*There is a bagpipe museum, the Museo della Zampogna in
Scapoli Scapoli is a town and ''comune'' located in province of Isernia, which is part of the region of Molise, southern Italy. As of 2011 it had a population of 758. Geography Located in the western area of the province, near the region of Lazio, it bo ...
, Molise. *In 2010 a feature-length documentary about the zampogna was published entitled
''Zampogna: The Soul of Southern Italy''


See also

*
Bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
* Music of Calabria *
Music of Italy In Italy, music has traditionally been one of the cultural markers of Italian national and ethnic identity and holds an important position in society and in politics. Italian music innovationin musical scale, harmony, notation, and theatree ...
*
Music of Sicily The Music of Sicily refers to music created by peoples from the isle of Sicily. It was shaped by the island's history, from the island's great presence as part of Magna Grecia 2,500 years ago, through various historical incarnations as a part o ...
*
Types of bagpipes Northern Europe Ireland *Uilleann pipes: Also known as Union pipes and Irish pipes, depending on era. Bellows-blown bagpipe with keyed or un-keyed 2-octave chanter, 3 drones and 3 regulators. The most common type of bagpipes in Irish traditional ...


References


External links


Documentary film on the Italian bagpiper/Zampogna on RedditZampogna italianaS.r.l.s.
*{{cite web , title=.:: ZAMPOGNARI ::. , website=zampognari.org , url=http://www.zampognari.org:80/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116183633/http://www.zampognari.org:80/ , archive-date=2009-01-16 , url-status=dead , language=it Bagpipes Calabrian musical instruments Italian musical instruments