TAMMURRIATA WORKSHOP

The C. T .S. (Centro Teatro Studi) of Naples has organized, within a collaborative project with the Sininen Verstas, a workshop on tammurriata music, dance and construction of traditional drums. The workshop, coordinated by Paola Gargiulo with the assistance of Luisa Elena Mengoni (dance and drums), Antonio Aiese (voice and drums) and Massimo Fornuto (guitar and drums), introduced the participants to the cultural background of tammurriata, as well as to the basic techniques of dancing, drumming and drums construction.

"Tammurriata" is a rhythmic-melodic musical expression of the Campania region, characterized by a specific form of music, song and dance. "Tammurriata" takes its name from the "tammorra" drum, made with a circular wooden frame to which is attached a goat skin and some metal discs (cymbals). The origin of the music and the dance is still uncertain, although a few paintings in Pompeii show musicians playing an instrument quite similar to the tammorra or the smaller "tamburello".

The tammurriata is still practiced in a number of villages around Naples and in the area of Vesuvius during religious celebrations which take place especially from spring time until August. The dates of the festivities are fixed according to the Easter calendar and are connected with the celebration of the Virgin Mary in various and different manifestations. We thus have the Madonna di Bagni in Scafati, the Madonna of the Castle in Somma Vesuviana, the Madonna of the Avvocata in Maiori, the Black Madonna in Montevergine, the Madonna of the Hens in Pagani, the Madonna dell'Arco and the Madonna of Villa di Briano. This religious aspect is combined with a pagan and more ancestral meaning, related to the peasants' life, the cycle of the seasons and of the work in the fields, and the celebration of the spring and the first harvests.

The music is based on a binary rhythm, played by one musician (only in Maiori the music is played by several drummers); that is why tammurriata is also called "song on the drum". The texts of the songs have both a religious connotation and a strong pagan flavour, especially in the ambiguities with a sexual connotation. The tunes are chanted by one or more singers, who often insert new strophes or little jokes (“barzellette”) both for enlivening the atmosphere and exhibiting their ability. The dance, executed with the aid of “castagnette”, represents a love game between a man and a woman or a fight or a competition when made by two men or two women. The music, the lyrics and the dance show minor or more evident variations according to the area or the village.

A specific research work was made by Roberto de Simone during the '70s with the production of an extensive recording of chants made by the most renown personalities of folk music in the Campania region (Roberto de Simone Canti e tradizioni popolari in Campania, Roma: Lato Side Editori s.r.l. 1979).