The Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino was founded in 1974 with the aim of studying and performing the folklore of Salentino, one of the offshoots of the boot of Italy. It turned out that local folklore was laced with tarantism, a dance rage caused by a bite from the tarantula. The cure for this dance frenzy is tarantella, a fast rotating South Italian dance. The idea behind the tarantism is that the
… poison would leave the body through the sweat, but only if the music, the dance and the colors of the clothes etc. were in the right form so that the cosmic order could be restored. Over the centuries, much has been philosophized about tarantism and many songbooks and tracts have been written about it. This is also the case in Salentino. Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino performs traditional tarantellas, but also 'new' tarantati. Tarantism is taken to a higher level by the younger generation of musicians. The dance fury from the bite of the tarantula is turned into anger at the injustice in contemporary society. Be that as it may, the music on this CD is just fun to listen to. (GO) _more
