AA.VV.
La Notte Della Taranta

A documentary of the grand night party on 17/08/03: the Night of the Tarantula.

In the town of Melpignano (LE), people hold their traditions dear and translate them into music with the Salento pizzica: a rhythmic, triplet-based genre that is sharp as a spider's bite. But since 1997, Vittorio Cosma (keyboards and related) has been working with his team on a project that reforms this culture and breathes new life into it by creating a crossover of jazz, rock, and world music.

This idea has grown and matured by bringing together in this very take the ethno drumming of a certain Stewart Copeland (The Police... does that ring any bells?) with a massive folk ensemble that included guests of the caliber of Ares Tavolazzi, Parisi, Teresa De Sio, Raiz, Radiodervish, and the Bash percussion ensemble. The Copeland-Cosma collaboration resurrected chilling songs (Lu rusciu de lu mare) with an exorcising (Santu Paulu) and indulgent twist (Menamenamò).

The work is crowned by a delightful DVD that presents the artists' ideas, the backstage footage, and most of the concert, celebrating the backdrop of the event that welcomes 50,000 people: the shadow of the former Augustinian convent in Melpignano built in the heart of Grecìa Salentina. A place where languages and cultures have clashed and met, and where the dialect carries sounds of the Levant (try reading the original texts!).

A concrete and finely studied work designed to impose the power of folk above all else.