Folk Music of Italy, Episode 2: The Italian Musical Calendar (part 1)

Audio file
Date recorded: March 23, 1955
Contributor(s): Performer: Lomax, Alan; Broadcaster: BBC
Subject(s):
Location:
Track Number: 5
Archive ID: B005
Original ID: T557R01
Note: Discussed in this part: The Italian folk calendar largely conforms to pre-Christian feast day pattern. Sound and fury of real folk calendar. New Year's Day in Capri. Brass band. Rite of wishing good fortune in exchange for present of food is pagan. New Year rite in Ferrara. Bagpipers on Epiphany ("Tu Scendi dalle stelle"). The Befana. Carolers from Luca, in Tuscany. Decline of Carnival. Blight of German municipal band. Old Carnival song from Lucania with phallic 'cupa cupa' (friction drum). 'La Zdeza' theatrical company of artisans of Avellino (near Naples) -- a survival of the old Commedia dell'Arte -- perform at Carnival, with brass band.
Belongs to: Folk Music of Italy (BBC)
About the session: The Folk Music of Italy was an eight-part series of Italian folk music produced and hosted by Alan Lomax for the BBC's Third Programme. The recordings were made by Lomax during his Italian field trip in 1954 and early 1955; the series was compiled before his return to England in the early spring of 1955.
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