In Review--Dance of Spiders
World
Newpoli
Tempo Antico
Beartones
My first impressions of the Italian Tarantata folkloric
tradition came from grainy video footage of Italian women spinning in a trance
caused by the bite of a tarantula spider. I experienced my second impression of
Tarantata when Alessandra Belloni’s Dance
of the Ancient Spider (Sounds True) showed up in my mailbox in 2006. At that point, I gleaned the wisdom of the
true purpose of this ancient ritualistic dance and the rousing songs that
accompanied the frenzied dance (to heal women’s sexual issues and repression). While the dance and songs explore healing
components, you can also find the tradition presented as folkloric music in
concerts and on recordings.
The founding members of Newpoli explored their Italian
culture after arriving in the US to study jazz at Berklee College of
Music. On their third recording Tempo Antico, the musicians travel as
far back as the 1500s where they dug the roots up of some early music gems. The musicians led by the dual vocalists,
Angela Rossi and Carmen Marisco perform on folkloric and early music
instruments from Italy. We feel like we
are enjoying the Italian renaissance at times and at other times like we’re
observing a folk ritual that dates back hundreds if not thousands of
years. We hear passionate vocals singing
irresistible melodies over exotic lutes, violin, frame drums and the Italian
oboe (ciaramella).
Listen to the lively Trapanarella
which hops and skips along or the hypnotic Pizzicarella
or the ballad, Funtana che ddaje acqua
which sounds like it hails from an Italian renaissance courtyard. As we listen
to this recording we engage in time travel, darting between the Middle Age (Amore Amore) to the early 20th Century (Dicitencello Vuje) with the bulk of the
songs hailing from the 16th and 17 centuries.
Certainly, the musician’s scholarly efforts deserve applause as does the
beauty of their performances on this recording.
Newpoli in concert:
Vintage Tarantata footage found on YouTube:
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