# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  Southern Italian Mandolin

## brunello97

I sprung for the John Barbera collection of songs of the south.  (Courtesy Sig. Baia and as noted on the MC homepage.)  I've only worked through a few songs, but am happy that this music and tradition is being documented-a fun summer ahead.  I've had access to a lot of recordings from the south and enjoy playing this music a lot.  Getting back into frame drums is a likely corollary. 

I am interested in others' responses, reactions, references to the collection......

"When they play that tarantella all the hounds will start to roar."

Mick

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## vkioulaphides

I don't know this _particular_ collection, but I know John _himself_-- quite well, actually,  :Smile:  considering I hired his group, *I Giullari di Piazza*, numerous times in my "previous life" as concert manager; he and artistic co-director *Alessandra Belloni* ALWAYS whipped up a musical storm!  :Mandosmiley: 

In my book, John is a true one-of-a-kind, both as an artist and as artistic _persona_. Good guy, too...

Cheers,

Victor

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## MLT

I haven't sprung for this book...yet.  I was going to do it over the weekend but time just slipped away.  I did notice that everywhere I looked (Mel Bay, Amazon, Elderly, etc.) I did not see a listing (partial or otherwise) of the songs included.  It is my understanding that for many of these tunes this book is the first printed representation (at least for a long time).  Could you post some of the more recognizable titles?

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## McMandolin

I bought it yesterday. I'm looking forward to many happy hours of tarantellas.

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## MLT

Are you buying directly from Mel Bay, through Elderly, somewhere else?  I just checked Amazon, and they don't show it being available until July

 Product Details
Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle (Paperback - Jul 2009)
Buy new: $17.99

Available for Pre-order
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
Books: See all items

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## McMandolin

I bought it at a local music store  here in Ottawa

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## Jim Garber

> II did notice that everywhere I looked (Mel Bay, Amazon, Elderly, etc.) I did not see a listing (partial or otherwise) of the songs included.


These are not the std Neapolitan or Ballo Liscio tunes that we all know but (I assume) more of the real folk music. Mick and others: are these mostly instrumentals/dance music?

From melbay.com:

Abballati, Abballati    	
Alla Carpinese   	
Alziti Bbella   	
Angelare   	
Antidotum Tarantulae (part 1)   	
Antidotum Tarantulae (part 2)   	
Bo e la ri-bo   	
Cu Ti Lu Dissi   	
Danza Siciliana   	
Fasola Siciliana   	
Figghia di'n Massaru   	
Fischiettando   	
Fronni d'Alia   	
II Ritornello delle Lavandaie del Vomero   	
La Ndrezzata   	
La Palumella   	
La Procidana   	
La Sant Allegrezza   	
La Zita Passa   	
Marenaresca   	
Matajola   	
Motivo di Cantastorie   	
Pizzica-Pizzica   	
Pizzicarella   	
Pizzicarella Mia   	
Ricciulina   	
Serenata Amalfitana   	
Sonos E Memoria   	
Tammurriata   	
Tarantella dell 600   	
Tarantella di Ogliastro   	
Tarantella Nfuocata   	
Tarantella Paesana   	
Villanella Ch all Aqua Vai   	
Volumbrella   	
Vurria Addeventare

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## brunello97

Jim, many of these are dance numbers, the tarantellas, of course and the pizzicas.  Most have some lyrics-which tend to be stories almost, but who knows when words and melody actually came together.  There are a few serenades and some other romantic tunes.  Folk tunes, perhaps,  but in general not as 'sophisticated' say as the ballo liscio pieces that Sheri Mignano assembled.  Great stuff nonetheless.  The fact that these are not 'typical' to the canon is what makes the collection appealing.   John includes a brief bit on the progeny of each piece, though I would wish for much more background overall.  But as Victor suggests, we southerners have to stick together. 

There are so many great groups from down that way. (I have Martin to thank for directing me blog-ward.)   I love the percussion as well, no doubt of North African influence.

MLT, I did get my copy directly through Mel. 

Mick

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## MLT

Jim

Thanks for the tune list.  I don't know how I missed that on the Mel Bay site, but I managed  :Redface: .  


brunello97, thanks for the info, I will go ahead and order from Mel too since it is already available.  

Victor, as you have mentioned that you know John, what do you hear about a Northern Italy companion version to this release?  I will start here...as part of my family emigrated from Brindisi in the south and Bergamo in the north.

Thanks again.

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## vkioulaphides

I'm sorry to say I haven't kept up with John...  :Frown:  There's GOT to be a way for you to reach him, though. The "specialty" of I Giullari was in fact _southern_ Italian folk music. I must admit I don't know what _other_ projects John has at this time. I can at least look around, see what I can find...

Cheers,

Victor

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## fishdawg40

> "When they play that tarantella all the hounds will start to roar."


_And the boys all go to hell then Cubans hit the floor_


Nice one Mick.

But I'm glad you guys are talking about this.  I'm of Italian heritage (Southern Italy and Sicily) and I only delved a little bit into Italian Mandolin.  This book looks great.  I'll be ordering soon.

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## Martin Jonas

Haven't tried that book, but I thought I'd mention a couple of other sources for Italian folk dances/tunes:  

Victor is too modest to mention that he has just published _Echoes From Magna Graecia_, which is a suite of Greek-influenced Southern Italian folk tunes arranged for mandolin and guitar.  Available from Victor directly.  I have a copy, but haven't got around to playing it much -- looks great from a brief glance-through, though, just like his Greek folk mando arrangements.  

Not specifically arranged for mando, but mostly playable and enjoyable on it, here are 72 Italian folk dances (""Monferrina, Sbrando, Courenta, Valzer, Polca, Mazurca, Saltarello, Saltarella, Tarantella etc", both from the North and the South) in ABC format.  I've previously mentioned it in this thread of a few years ago, where there are also some instructions on how to convert the ABC to standard notation.

Martin

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## brunello97

Martin, thanks for the recommendation.  Victor? What gives?  (Maybe we can arrange for a dropoff when I am in NYC in July.) I've heard some great music from a group under the Magna Graecia aegis, Ghetonia:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/ghetonia

I second the recommendation on Martin's link to the folk dances.  Fun stuff to play.  It would be a worthwhile exercise to just get them all over to standard notation.  The Sbrandos always put me in the mind of the Godfather movies, for some reason.  

Mick

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## vkioulaphides

Well, Mick... if you would like a copy of (my edition) *Echoes from Magna Graecia*, please just shoot me an e-mail (at vkioulaphides@earthlink.net) with your postal address, and I will put a copy in the mail for you first thing tomorrow morning; no advance payment is required, as this is hardly a "business" venture. If you choose to keep the score, we'll take care of the rest.

The repertoire featured in this volume of my (tiny, and non-commercial) *GrecoMando Editions* comes in fact from the Greek-dialect-speaking regions of Southern Italy. While... *ahem*... I don't want to make this thread sound like a classifieds ad, I'd gladly share the introduction printed on the front-page of this particular volume with anyone who asks for it, also via e-mail. That brief, descriptive text gives a general idea of the contents. 

Cheers,

Victor

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DavidKOS

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## Mandophile

Why would someone (who has just about everything published) buy yet another Italian mando book? But I agree that this is a fine collection of authentic dances from the heart of the South. I wasn't disappointed and felt that the background to the songs enhanced the experience. Bravo! Sheri

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DavidKOS

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## Martin Jonas

> Are you buying directly from Mel Bay, through Elderly, somewhere else?  I just checked Amazon, and they don't show it being available until July
> 
>  Product Details
> Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle (Paperback - Jul 2009)
> Buy new: $17.99


Just for a change we're better of in the UK: I've just ordered my copy from Amazon UK, where it was in stock and for a change without much of a markup (GBP11.66 with free shipping).

Update: Curiously, when I ordered it, the listing said "Hurry up: only 1 left in stock".  Going back to it now, it says "This title has not yet been released".  Let's see if I get that one copy that was said to be in stock, or whether this was a phantom listing.

Martin

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## Jim Garber

> I'm sorry to say I haven't kept up with John...  There's GOT to be a way for you to reach him, though. The "specialty" of I Giullari was in fact _southern_ Italian folk music. I must admit I don't know what _other_ projects John has at this time. I can at least look around, see what I can find...


Victor: since you didn't mention that you reached him --

JTLB's site

I did try to reach him via email when this thread started but never heard back.

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## billkilpatrick

the tarantella features heavily in music from puglia - it's fun now (i love it) ... but i find it a little dark and creepy in its original context.

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## vkioulaphides

For the record, I _did_ just receive a most gracious note from John always the gentleman and warm-hearted artist I recall from my previous professional association with him. I look forward to catching up with one of his live performances eventually, and warmly recommend the same to all others. To _speak_ of John's performances is one thing; what ~really~ counts, of course, is to _attend_ one.  :Smile: 

Cheers,

Victor

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## Chris Berardi

I just received this book the other day -- ordered from Barnes and Noble. It seems very interesting -- already learning some tunes. The music of southern Italy is one of the main areas of music I am very interested in learning. 

My only complaint is that I wish there were MORE musical selections.  :Grin:

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## Dan Hoover

i picked this book up almost a year ago,last month i started playing around with it..this is a really good book..and for someone like me,trying to learn to read notation..the cd comes in very handy...i can see how it should sound...great book..

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## chriss

> here  are 72 Italian folk dances (""Monferrina, Sbrando, Courenta, Valzer, Polca, Mazurca, Saltarello, Saltarella, Tarantella etc", both from the North and the South) in ABC format.  I second the recommendation on Martin's link to the folk dances.  Fun stuff to play.  It would be a worthwhile exercise to just get them all over to standard notation.  The Sbrandos always put me in the mind of the Godfather movies, for some reason.  
> 
> Mick


I've put this ABC file into a PDF and would be glad to post it or send it to anyone interested- PM me.  
I also recommend ABC Explorer (http://abc.stalikez.info/abcex.php/) as a free, easy to use program to display, print AND PLAY THE AUDIO of these ABC files.  Being able to play the audio has made them a lot more accessible for me.  Much easier to pick out which ones I want to work on.  Quadriglia di Abruzzo is perhaps my favorite.

Here's a link to the Matteo Casserino mp3 and PDF scores - - i think these are terrific.

And I also **heartily** recommend Sheri Magnino's CD of PDFs.  Well worth the $ IMHO.
http://www.brucezweig.com/music/matteo/

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## Jim Garber

Chriss: I think you can post pdfs right here.

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## Jim Garber

> Quadriglia di Abruzzo is perhaps my favorite.


I could not find that in the file. I see a few Quadriglias but nothing of that name. Do you have a number for it in the file?

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## chriss

Quadriglia di Abruzzo is index #8 in the ABC file, or at least the one I'm working from.  I'll post the ABC file if anybody wants but I'm pretty sure it's the same one the link above goes to.

Jim thanks for the hint on posting attachments... here's the PDF of the ABC file.

For Jim and anybody else who might get into it, I'd appreciate it if you'd come back online and post which tunes you're enjoying.  There are so many that I've struggled to get thru them all and find more that are worth developing, and I'd like to know which ones other people are enjoying.
Chris

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## brunello97

Thanks, Chris, for the effort on this.  I have printed out any number of these, but have never gone through methodically and generated an overall file like this.  I certainly will enjoy it!  It is nice to have some songs from the north as well as the south.  I also enjoy playing the Abbruzini Quadriglia.  A few pages down is a Saltarella by Rapacchietta that I was just playing this am.  I like these twisty turny simple melodies familiar to jig players. The odd resolutions here and there make it curious and it sounds very Italian, of course.  

Mick

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## ELSOL102

In Amazon or one of those it lets you look inside the book and you can see some of the tunes...I've seen some of the titles.

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## Martin Jonas

For what it's worth, I've recorded five tunes from this book for my Youtube channel last weekend.  I haven't played these very much, and so my playing doesn't quite have the Italian bounce these pieces need, with the pizzica in particular not nearly up to required speed -- John plays these much better on the CD that comes with the book (plus he has guitar backing which helps a lot in getting the pulse going on the dance tunes).  I'm still working on getting the feel better, but in the meantime, these clips may give people an idea of what the book is about.  These are among the easier tunes; there are more difficult ones, too, that I still need to get my head around.  My favourite tune in the book is actually "Tarantella del '600", but I ran out of time on Sunday to make a recording of that one.  Some tunes are very short, so I repeat them a few times to make it worthwhile.  Altogether, these are clearly folk tunes and quite different from the much more elaborate _ballo liscio_ dances and songs found for example in Sheri Mignano's book. 


La 'ndrezzata  -- first part only (I'm still working on the second part)
La Palumella
La Sant' Allegrezza
Cu Ti Lu Dissi (mazurka) -- this doesn't seem to have much to do with the folk song of that name.
Pizzica Pizzica

Martin

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## journeybear

Aha! So it's _your_ channel I've been talking about. Lots of nice tunes, and nice Embergher.  :Wink:

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## Martin Jonas

> Aha! So it's _your_ channel I've been talking about. Lots of nice tunes, and nice Embergher.


Yep, that's me.  Thanks for the nice words -- there's a thread in the classical forum here where I've put some comments on a lot of my uploads.

In the meantime, I got around today to recording and uploading another four tunes from that book including my favourite, Tarantella del '600:

Tarantella del '600
Motivo di cantastorie
Pizicarella Mia
La Zita Passa

Martin

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## journeybear

I followed the link chriss provided and downloaded the program, but don't see how to open the files) the ones from that pdf file) to listen to them. I found an album at itunes that had some of these on it and I can play :30 samples there but that isn't enough to get a good idea of some of them. Surprised to learn they were accordion tunes.  :Disbelief:  Having a little trouble coordinating these information streams into something really useful and would appreciate some help. Thanks!

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## Martin Jonas

> Quadriglia di Abruzzo is index #8 in the ABC file, or at least the one I'm working from.  I'll post the ABC file if anybody wants but I'm pretty sure it's the same one the link above goes to.
> 
> Jim thanks for the hint on posting attachments... here's the PDF of the ABC file.
> 
> For Jim and anybody else who might get into it, I'd appreciate it if you'd come back online and post which tunes you're enjoying.  There are so many that I've struggled to get thru them all and find more that are worth developing, and I'd like to know which ones other people are enjoying.
> Chris


Somewhat delayed, but I've been playing around a bit with this file lately -- I've had a decent printout for some years now (quite similar to Chris's PDF but a different and slightly prettier conversion from a now-defunct online converter), but I hadn't looked at it for some time.

The tunes that I could make sense of and enjoyed on mandolin on a quick playthrough are:

All five of the Quadriglia from Abruzzo
Mazurka (from Umbria)
Furlana
Valzer Triste
I Disertori - Valzer
Mazurca di Ivano
Giga (from La Ciapa Rusa: ten.. 1d)
Principessa
Sbrando del Roero
Sbrando di Bra
Monferrina modenese
Monferrina (from Tre Martelli)
Brando (from Tre Martelli -- both tunes)
Courento dla Rocho
Ballo La Vienna Corentina (although I struggle with the "Suo Saltorello" part)

If and when I get around to it, I might record a few of these -- probably the two Valzers and the Quadriglia first, which are both easy and good.

Martin

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## journeybear

I've been working my way through these too, slowed down a bit by a need to memorize them, plus a long absence from reading music (never my strong point), but repetition is improving that. Starting with the quadriglie - pretty straightforward and not too daunting - my favorite being the one by Veroni, and then Dour, with its delightful double stops in the second part. I kept making the same mistake, which though it increased the difficulty, oddly made it easier. It seems if I was going to make the same mistake anyway, incorporating it into my arrangement made sense. If I ever feel confident enough, I'll post a version.

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## Martin Jonas

> If and when I get around to it, I might record a few of these -- probably the two Valzers and the Quadriglia first, which are both easy and good.


Well, I got around to recording a few of the tunes from that ABC file today, all on my Mid-Mo.  I think these are all originally transcribed from accordion recordings (as credited in the ABC), and for many of these there really is a strong accordion feel, particular the Riccardo Tesi waltz.  All good fun!

1. Quadriglia di Abruzzo (Domenico Rosica)



2. Brando (Tre Martelli) -- there are two of those in the file, this one is the second.



3. Valzer Triste & I Disertori (Valla/Guglielmetti): These are two separate tunes in the file, but both from the same source CD (called "Traditions of the Oboe", strangely enough), and they work well as a set.



4. Valzer (Riccardo Tesi):



5. Ballo La Vienna Corentina e suo Saltarello (Roberto Tombesi):



Martin

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## journeybear

Thank you for taking the time to record and share these. I especially appreciate the Rosica Quadriglia. I've learned the other four, but the syncopation and lengthy third part of this have given me problems. Hearing it has helped considerably. 

You are correct about these being accordion tunes. I found an album that contains a lot of them here. These are just :30 clips but they help. 

I see you are doing the same thing I am - ignoring the trills where notated. I couldn't get those to sound right, and decided they are suitable for the characteristics of the  accordion but not mandolin. Hearing someone who has spent more time with this genre do the same validates my decision. The tunes don't suffer from their omission. Thanks again for sharing these - they are delightful.  :Mandosmiley:

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## journeybear

I forgot to mention - I also combined a couple of these, the two short quadrilie by D'Amico and De Rosa, in that order. They are half the length of the others, and seem to go together thematically. (This also explains the count in my previous post; I already think of them as one.)

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## mandolinoman

I love southern Italian music with mandolins.

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## Martin Jonas

In case anybody reading this thread has missed the announcement on the Cafe front page: there is a new book on _Northern_ Italian folk tunes, to go with the La Barbera book on Southern Italian tunes.  Also published by Mel Bay, this one is written by Carlo Aonzo with Clara Ponzoni and Giorgio Borsani.  The Cafe article is here, and the Mel Bay page with samples and list of contents is here.  

I'm a bit surprised there are so few tunes in it, though (only 16 on 78 pages), and that they seem to be more of the "ballo liscio" type also found in Sheri Mignano's book, rather than the more folkloristic material in the La Barbera book or the ABC file we've been discussing in this thread.  I'm not sure what makes Speranze Perdute or Tra Veglio E Sonno specifically "Northern Italian" and given that these two are already available for free online, such as on Jim Garber's site, I would have preferred that Carlo had used the space for more obscure material.  Still, there is plenty of promising material there, and given Carlo's proficiency as a player and a teacher I would expect that great care has gone into the preparation of the book and, particularly, the CD.  I presume there are so few tunes as each of them is longer and more complex than the La Barbera tunes.

Available at Elderly at Mel Bay's full recommended price of $24.99.  However, as a heads-up to UK members, I've just ordered my copy on Amazon UK for GBP 8.71 (plus 2.75 shipping), around half the list price.  At that money, it's worth it for the CD alone.

More once I've received my copy.

Martin

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## Jim Garber

I am also a little puzzled since Munier (altho the tune is Carnevale di *Venezia*) and Calace are also listed.

Here is the list of tunes for convenience:



> Al Grott del Fin    	Remo Giambonini
> Carnevale di Venezia    	Arr. Carlo Munier
> Cesarina   	Cesare Pezzolo
> Czardas   	Vittorio Monti
> Graziella   	Pino Guerra
> L’Alborela   	Remo Giambonini
> La Sisina   	Traditional
> Nina Pancha   	José Garcia
> Ninna nanna   	Giuseppe Aonzo
> ...

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AndrewMTO

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## M.Marmot

> I followed the link chriss provided and downloaded the program, but don't see how to open the files) the ones from that pdf file) to listen to them. I found an album at itunes that had some of these on it and I can play :30 samples there but that isn't enough to get a good idea of some of them. Surprised to learn they were accordion tunes.  Having a little trouble coordinating these information streams into something really useful and would appreciate some help. Thanks!


Just a quick note (i really should get to work) on the accordion thing...

I was reading an interview recent enough with Stefano Valla, an Italian musican who plays the 'piffero' (a neat little woodwind) and who specializes in traditional regional Italian folk music from the North. In the interview they were discussing how, in his region, dances and processions were originally played with piffero and a native type of bagpipe, the bagpipe later becoming replaced by the accordion.

Strange to admit, but, I do like that, that there is more to Italian folk music than mandolin.

Anyhow, I would also suggest to anyone interested in Italian northern folk music to check out Valla's albums with the accordionist Daniel Scurati, they're just fine albums with some good tunes, that they are played on the piffero is a bonus as the melodies stand out that way.

Also, by way of Northern Italy, i'd reccomend an album by 'Arco Alpino' which presents traditional fiddle music from the Alpen regions. Fair enough, this means that you'll get some French Occidental tunes too, but, considering the history of those regions then one should not be too rigid about respecting todays borders when looking for good folk music  :Smile:  The Arco Alpino album has the bonus of the involvment of Patrick Vaillant, a singular mandolin player from the South of France/Occident... his own recording work might also of interest to anyone interested in the music of these regions.

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## Martin Jonas

> I was reading an interview recent enough with Stefano Valla, an Italian musican who plays the 'piffero' (a neat little woodwind) and who specializes in traditional regional Italian folk music from the North. In the interview they were discussing how, in his region, dances and processions were originally played with piffero and a native type of bagpipe, the bagpipe later becoming replaced by the accordion.
> 
> Strange to admit, but, I do like that, that there is more to Italian folk music than mandolin.


Thanks for that -- I also like the Northern Italian tunes, even when there is no mandolin (as is often the case).  Regarding Valla, two of the tunes in my clips above (Valzer Triste and I Disertori) are from an album he did with Franco Guglielmetti.  I've just come across this great clip on Youtube of I Disertori played by the band Enerbia, which includes Guglielmetti on accordion but not Valla (the piffero is being played by Stefano Faravelli).  As there is no moving image, I suspect this has simply been copied from a CD.



Martin

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## Jim Garber

> Strange to admit, but, I do like that, that there is more to Italian folk music than mandolin.


There is a lot more to it, for sure. I know I have had this discussion with various folks on these forums, the ballo liscio music  is more the urbane folkish or folk style music (by known composers, for the most part) whereas the pure traditional stuff can be quite raw and odd played on flutes and bagpipes. 

I know we are talking about northern Italy, but take a look at this video about southern music played on the zampogna. Imagine tourists getting on a gondola with one of those.  :Smile:

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DavidKOS

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## brunello97

I am excited about this collection: not available yet on amazon.us but hopefully soon.  Why you can get it cheaper in the UK than here ($16.49) is puzzling.   The group I Suonatori della Valle del Savena does a great 'northern' version of Speranze Perdute on horns.  An iTunes link to their recording: http://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/emi...ka/id333692054
I look forward to hearing Carlo's arrangements, ideally less about virtuosity and more deeper melodic feeling-which is what I find compelling about JLB's songs of the south.

Mick

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DavidKOS

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## Martin Jonas

I've just received my copy of the new Mel Bay Northern Italian & Ticino mandolin book.  I haven't played any of the pieces yet or listened to the CD, but a few initial comments are:

1. This is a somewhat less elaborate production than the La Barbera book: It is thinner and staple-bound, not ring-bound, with much less editorial content compared to pure music.

2. There is a total of four pages of writing, each in English and Italian: a one-page general introduction followed by a short (and sometimes very short) paragraph on each of the 16 pieces.  The English is clear, but sometimes decidely odd, suggesting that nobody at Mel Bay got involved in the editorial process.  Not all the info is reliable: for example Carlo suggests that Speranze Perdute was first published in 1950 as a piano piece -- Michael Reichenbach has scans of a mandolin version from 1938 at his web site.

3. The pieces look to be more complex than those in the La Barbera book, both in terms of the compositions themselves (and most of them are composed, rather than traditional) and in the arrangements.  A fair amount of double-stopping and ornamentation, but mostly (though not entirely) in the first position.

4. Given that the pieces are longer than in the La Barbera book, and are presented in tab and notation, it is more or less inevitable that most of them are spread over more than two pages (the longest is six pages for Monti's Czardas).  This means that one needs to make photocopies for performance purposes.

5. Generally, the pieces are presented in notation and tab for one mandolin voice, with chord symbols for the guitar accompaniment.  The exception are Ninna Nanna, which is for unaccompanied mandolin, as well as Calace's Tarantella and Munier's Carnevale di Venezia, both of which have a fully notated guitar part, but in standard notation only (no tab).

Martin

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## Jim Garber

Thanks, Martin for the thorough review. I tyhink SP might go further back that even 1938. I do not see a copyright on my scanned version but I would not be surprised if it was more like 20's or teens.

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## Martin Jonas

> I've just received my copy of the new Mel Bay Northern Italian & Ticino mandolin book.  I haven't played any of the pieces yet or listened to the CD, but a few initial comments are:
> ...


A quick follow-up to note that it is a bit unclear from the book to what extent Carlo himself was actually involved in the writing of the book: it is credited "by Carlo Aonzo with Clara Ponzini and Giorgio Borsani", but I note that according to the instrumental credits for the CD, Carlo plays on only two out of the sixteen tracks: "Ninna Nanna" is a solo mandolin piece played by him, and "Tra Veglia E Sonno" is a duet with Beppe Gambetta.  Of the remaining 14 tracks, seven are duets of Ponzoni on mandolin backed by Borsani on guitar, five are duets of Ponzini with Manuela Maffi Steger, and two have none of the credited authors playing and instead feature Giorgio Caneva on mandolin with three different accompanists.

Martin

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## Jim Garber

Seems like the book is already out of stock at Elderly (due 11/18) and Amazon. Who knew how popular it would be.  :Smile:

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## Martin Jonas

> Thank you for taking the time to record and share these. I especially appreciate the Rosica Quadriglia. I've learned the other four, but the syncopation and lengthy third part of this have given me problems. Hearing it has helped considerably. 
> 
> You are correct about these being accordion tunes. I found an album that contains a lot of them here. These are just :30 clips but they help.


I've sat down this weekend and recorded a fair few more of the tunes in this ABC file -- there are a lot of fun tunes there, essentially fiddle tunes on acid.  This batch is partially on the Mid-Missouri and partially on my Embergher.  Changing the mandolin does change the character of the tune, too, at least to my ears.

1. Due Quadriglie di Abruzzo (De Rosa/D'Amico):  These are the two tunes that Journeybear has also combined -- they do indeed work well together and as they're fairly short, combining them makes them roughly the same length as the other quadriglie.



2. Quadriglia (Veroni)



3. Quadriglia (Tavani)



4. Mazurca di Ivano (Valla/Guglielmetti)



5. Valzer Triste: I've already recorded this with the first batch on the Mid-Mo, but this one is taken a bit slower and in a more somber mood on the Embergher, which I think suits the tune better (the name is the giveaway...).



6. Saltarella (Yann Dour)



7. Furlana



8. Principessa Mazurca



9. Sbrando de Roero



10. Monferrina (Tre Martelli)



11. Brando (Tre Martelli) -- a different one from the one I recorded last week.



12. Courento dla Rocho



13. Bisagna (La Ciapa Rusa)



Martin

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## Jim Garber

> there are a lot of fun tunes there, essentially fiddle tunes on acid.


Fiddle tunes on acid? Whatever do you mean? I don't hear the psychodelia. Or do you mean excess stomach acid?  :Smile:

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## Martin Jonas

Maybe a poor metaphor: what I mean is that the rhythms are familiar from, say, Irish fiddle tunes and fall readily under the fingers in a jig picking pattern creating an initial sense of familiarity and comfort, but then the phrasing goes all strange and old-worldy.  It's difficult to pinpoint what precisely in these tunes makes them uncannily Italian and distinctly _non_-Irish, but that's how they are.  No mind-altering substances involved...

Martin

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## journeybear

Thanks for putting those up, Martin. As I believe I mentioned previously, hearing them played by someone else (particularly someone who is more familiar with this genre than I) helps confirm that I have been figuring them out correctly from the sheet music (always a dubious matter for me). Add into this interpretation, arrangement, and embellishment (plus the odd error) and my versions differ here and there. I am getting to the point where I will feel confident enough to record some of these and offer them for perusal, amusement, and/or confusion.  :Wink: 

BTW & FWIW, I combined those two short quadriglie the other way (D'Amico-DeRosa), so the ascending line in the DeRosa appears as the third theme, which falls into the general tendency in these pieces.

Not sure how this relates to the previous amusing interchange, but I have been thinking of slipping some Irish tunes into my sets. "Irish Washerwoman," for one, sounds like it could work in an Italian context. (Admittedly, I'm thinking about melody more than playing technique.) I've already added Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" (bartender's request), and it blends well with "O Sole Mio" (aka "It's Now Or Never").

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## Jim Garber

For one thing, they travel a different route chordally. It is very interesting, but I have lately been thinking about the differences between these Italian ballo liscio tunes vs. the French bal musette and some of the choro tunes I have been exploring. There are certainly similarities in the chord structures and melodies and differences in rhythms and instrumentation but it is not all that easily explained. Maybe drugs would help!!

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## Martin Jonas

> I've sat down this weekend and recorded a fair few more of the tunes in this ABC file -- there are a lot of fun tunes there, essentially fiddle tunes on acid.  This batch is partially on the Mid-Missouri and partially on my Embergher.  Changing the mandolin does change the character of the tune, too, at least to my ears.


Oops: forgot to link one tune -- this is the anonymous mazurka from Umbria.  Nice one, too, for practising mazurka rhythm:



Martin

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## Martin Jonas

Three more:

1. Polka di Nello (from Tre Martelli) -- a really fun polka!



2. Furlana di Virgilio (from La Piva Del Carner)



3. Giga (from La Piva Del Carner)



Martin

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## Martin Jonas

This is just to add links to five more of the nice Northern Italian dance tunes I've been working on from the ABC file earlier in this thread:

1. Marlipo Mazurka (from the repertoire of La Ciapa Rusa):



2. Mazurka Uacia-ch'al-pianz (from the repertoire of Tre Martelli):



3. Polka di Ernesto Sala (from the repertoire of La Ciapa Rusa):



4. La Casa di Vronovsky (this is a schottisch from the repertoire of La Ciapa Rusa):



5. Pifferata degli Abba (no, nothing to do with Swedish pop -- it's a polka traditionally played on the piffera, i.e. the pipe):



Martin

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## bluesmandolinman

picked up a Vega Cylinderback from the classifieds and I think it sounds great for this italian folk stuff

this is my try on : Cu Ti Lu Dissi

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## Lou Giordano

> picked up a Vega Cylinderback from the classifieds and I think it sounds great for this italian folk stuff
> 
> this is my try on : Cu Ti Lu Dissi


I agree, I think it sounds great. Just right for that tune. Nice playing too.

Ciao  :Coffee:

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## billkilpatrick

cu ti lu dissi - ("who's told you I'm gonna leave you?") ... mamma mia - (who says the italian language is easy?) - finally found a translation on youtube.  nice playing - lovely sounding mandolin.

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DavidKOS

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## Martin Jonas

Yes indeed -- nicely played, Rene, and the cylinderback sounds great.  I like that tune from the La Barbera book (my own Youtube clip of it is linked earlier in this thread), even though it seems somewhat different from the many versions of the song of the same name that one finds on Youtube.  The closest vocal rendition I could find to the La Barbera version, and also the most charismatic, is this improvised street performance.  Also notable for its innovative approach to avoiding having to use a capo on the guitar...



Martin

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## bluesmandolinman

> Also notable for its innovative approach to avoiding having to use a capo on the guitar...
> Martin


 :Laughing:  :Laughing: 

thanks for the kind words, beeing a pizza junkie I was exposed to italian music all my life at the restaurants and I allways liked it and now finally thanks to this great book I am starting to learn to play myself, so much fun !

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## Martin Jonas

I had mislaid my copy of the La Barbera book for some months, and have just found it again and as I am currently dabbling in multitrack recordings, I have taken the opportunity to play a duet with myself on the wonderful 16th century tune "Ricciulina", a villanella from the Commedia dell'Arte in Naples (the only duet in the book).

Double-tracked on my Embergher Tipo A bowlback (first voice right, second left channel), with tenor guitar accompaniment:



Martin

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## MLT

Martin, 

Very nice.  Are you utlizing a special hardware (recorder) or software to do the multi-track?

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## Martin Jonas

> Martin, 
> 
> Very nice.  Are you utlizing a special hardware (recorder) or software to do the multi-track?


I use Audacity to make the multi-track recordings -- it's free and I like the way it works.  Audacity is audio-only, which is why unlike for my unaccompanied Youtube clips, my multi-track ones are all set to slide shows, in this case of pictures of Commedia dell'Arte stock characters and costumes.

Martin

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## Gibson John

Jim, I just came across your post with a list of songs on "Southern Italian Mandolin".
I just got a copy of the song *La Procidana*, would you or anyone have the lyrics to this song if it even exist.

Thanks
John

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## Jim Garber

Is this the same song? He may be singing in a regional dialect? Do you have further info about the song?

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Simon DS

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## Beanzy

When our duo do our "Italian evening" we play this one as a tune.

The info on my notes for follow-up say it might be a serenade from a "dramma per musica" music by Giuseppi Latilla, with a libretto available on Google books https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=dptJRYU8OiYC  I've never had a chance to look further to see if or where the tune may fit in there, the two may be unconnected apart from the name. 


More like the pace we play it, but never sung by us.


There's a facebook page about the history & culture of Procida which I haven't had a chance to look into too much but might be of interest (certainly looks like a good setting for a drama) https://www.facebook.com/La-Procidana-745687315511211

Got me looking now & I found this for the version sung by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Populare ;

Ih quant'è bella l'aria de lu mare
Nu' me ne dice core de partire
Ce sta 'na figlia de 'nu marenaro
Tanto ch'è bella che me fa murire
'Nu juorno me nce voglio arresecare
'ncoppa 'a la casa soia voglio saglire
Tanto la voglio astregnere e vasare
A'nzì che dice: Ammore, lassem'ire  

Will have a read of the libretto later to see if it's in there.

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Simon DS

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## Martin Jonas

The lyrics to "La Procidana" are in the La Barbera book.  There are also quite a few text variants online, all differing to a lesser or greater extent from La Barbera and from each other:

http://www.ivillanella.com/testi/studio/procidana.html
https://www.angolotesti.it/N/testi_c...na_290274.html
https://genius.com/Nuova-compagnia-d...ocidana-lyrics
https://www.folkmusicworld.com/proci...-isola-procida

Martin

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## Simon DS

Here's a set of lyrics from La Procidana, a song that can sound very beautiful and romantic to a non-Italian speaker.
Indeed, there are vast variations in the lyrics in terms of dialect… but also vast variations in raunchiness. 
It’s a minefield, tread carefully!   :Laughing: 

Translated by Google, the song talks about a young couple in love.
I like the line: ‘This procedure makes me feel comfortable’.

LA PROCIDANA

I how beautiful the air of the sea
he doesn't tell me to leave.

There is a daughter of a sailor
so beautiful that it makes me die.

'I don't want to give up
'ncoppa' to the soy house I want to sag.

I really want to tighten and kiss her
instead of saying: Love, let me go.


This procedure makes me feel comfortable
It’s enough that they just see her and pass
Rucielli pe volia, ‘ncuitate’ the will
Jessa is not there
Chella doesn't do it

Nice girl and well you don't have to pray
‘Or‘ I know you like it and it makes you frown and frown
My cock I want you just have fun
Do it for charity
Don’t make me ‘sad’ anymore.

He proceeded to lie down, and comforted her
if he knows it's beautiful he does cicchete and cia.
‘Look at it, we couldn’t stand it.
Do a charity,
you spit it out



-Words! 
This is why I love just playing the mandolin!   :Smile:

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## Beanzy

Bloomin' Google translate.
I think we need an emergency translation!
Quick! is there a Sicilian speaker in the house?
 :Whistling:

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## brunello97

> Bloomin' Google translate.
> I think we need an emergency translation!
> Quick! is there a Sicilian speaker in the house?


Eoin....Procida is actually an island off the coast of Napoli...so to sort this out you'll want someone familiar with the _Neapolitan_ lingua.

Such a wonderful tune, Simon.  I learned this actually from one of John Barbera's collections.

Iirc he has some lyrics in his book, but I'm a long way away from that right now.

Mick

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DavidKOS, 

Simon DS

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## Bob Clark

> Eoin....Procida is actually an island off the coast of Napoli...so to sort this out you'll want someone familiar with the _Neapolitan_ lingua.
> 
> Such a wonderful tune, Simon.  I learned this actually from one of John Barbera's collections.
> 
> Iirc he has some lyrics in his book, but I'm a long way away from that right now.
> 
> Mick


Right you are, Mick.  It's in John La Barbera's _Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle Tunes_ (MelBay Publishers), and it has lyrics in Italian.  A notation states that these tunes should be played with the soothing rhythm of rowing.  MelBay's almost constant sales makes this book really affordable.

Some music books that you purchase for a few good tunes and the others are all 'meh'.  Not this one.  This one is full of tunes you will want to play.  I really like this book and recommend it to anyone who desires to play the music of Southern Italy.  And really, who wouldn't want to play music intertwined with the traditions and history of our beautiful instrument?

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brunello97

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## Martin Jonas

Hi Mick,

Yes, John La Barbera has a set of lyrics in his book.  Having recently found my copy again, I have just played "La Procidana" as well as "Cu ti lu dissi" and "Ricciulina" for the SAW Group.  Wonderful tunes, all three of them.

Martin

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brunello97, 

Joe Bartl

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## Beanzy

> Eoin....Procida is actually an island off the coast of Napoli...so to sort this out you'll want someone familiar with the _Neapolitan_ lingua.
> 
> Such a wonderful tune, Simon.  I learned this actually from one of John Barbera's collections.
> 
> Iirc he has some lyrics in his book, but I'm a long way away from that right now.
> 
> Mick


yes I actually knew that from the LaBarbera book from where we first learned the tune & the cultural tourism link I posted .  
Momentary brain fart, probably brought on by reading the extended lyrics in Google translation. 
It really is a brutal tool to take to a song.

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brunello97

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## brunello97

> Hi Mick,
> 
> Yes, John La Barbera has a set of lyrics in his book.  Having recently found my copy again, I have just played "La Procidana" as well as "Cu ti lu dissi" and "Ricciulina" for the SAW Group.  Wonderful tunes, all three of them.
> 
> Martin


Thanks, Martin!

Great to hear from you as always.
Yes, that trio of songs are favorites of mine as well. 

From my rough take:  _Cu ti lu dissi_ means something along the lines of "Who told you that?"
One can imagine what the speaker is referring to.

It's a temolo lover's dream tune.

Bob's right, John's book is a treasure trove for those of us on the outside listening in.

Mick

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DavidKOS

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## Simon DS

I remember in the 80’s in the Dolomites the music was very local-area specific. Each valley had it’s dialect and tunes, even certain instruments and you could tell which valley the girls came from by their dresses. Oh yeh!   :Smile: 

There were greater (Nationalist) differences nearer the border with Austria, especially in areas after the war where the inhabitants had voted to be in one country or the other. I lived in one place where they were bi- or tri-lingual and they’d get furious if anyone played ‘Italian’ music.

There was a certain amount of migration too. A bit like Carolan’s music in Ireland.

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Bob Clark, 

brunello97

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