Listen:
ecco donne...
Maria Maddalena
Magggio delle anime

Musicians:
Fabio Bonvicini: flauti, organetto, baghèt, ciaramella, canto
Mario Nobile: violoncello, organetto, ciaramella, canto
Renzo Ruggiero: ghironda, nyckelharpa, mandoloncello, canto
Compagnia del Maggio di Frassinoro - voices

Also by Pivari Trio

Info from the CD notes:
Investigating one's own musical roots may look anachronistic in the present world, which is not moving anymore along the classic channels of oral transmission. It would indeed look anachronistic in a world where the borders between far and near, between the written word, the spoken word and the filmed one are getting weaker every day, where the borders between religions and cultures are never really fixed. In our culture, chorality is a religious root, a common confession, an open space where everyone can participate, also those defined "the simple ones" by St. Benedict: in this way they can be included in the choral voice of the people, beyond their understanding of the texts. Chorality is also a political root, that way of participating, of planning together which is peculiar to our territory. So, chorality means solidarity, in the wake of an ideal thread – which only at a superficial level may sound disrespectful – connecting monks and rice-field workers, the cooperative societies of wheelbarrowers and the organized community who invented the Gregorian Chant. - Francesco Guerra – Councillor for Culture- Municipality of Nonantola

The work presented in this CD by the Pivari Trio and by the soloists of the May Ensemble of Frassinoro takes its origin from a research on the sacred chants of popular tradition commissioned to Fabio Bonvicini and Mario Nobile by the Cultural Department of the municipality of Nonantola (Modena). The research developed on two main levels: on one hand a field enquiry, which availed itself of some recordings of still existing rites and of the direct testimony of elderly informers who sang and narrated their musical memories; on the other hand – well aware we were in quest of a treasure definitively and inexorably fading away – the close study of researches carried forward by previous scholars at a time when this musical tradition, choked nowadays by imported cultures, was still alive.

Once the enquiry stage was ended, the problem arose of how to elaborate and repropose the rich and evocative material we had collected: thanksgiving chants, songs coming from the liturgy, Passion chants, purely popular melodies played on holy days. The first necessity for the Pivari Trio, in comparison with their previous work on the songs and dances of the Frignano area entitled "Passa e ripassa", was to find voices that still bore upon them the mark of an ancient musical history, common to the repertoire and to the cultures in question. At this point came the meeting with Marco Piacentini and the May Ensemble of Frassinoro, who immediately agreed to the project of working together to the elaboration and reproposal of the repertoire we had assembled in the course of our research. The selection, the arrangements, the instruments, the voices, the project organization, everything was formulated and discussed together, to get to the result which is now presented by the Pivari Trio and by the May Ensemble of Frassinoro.

The order of the songs follows the course of the solar year: from the Epiphany to Christmas. The choice of the instruments and of the arrangements – mainly directed by Marco Piacentini – has been organized according to two main themes: we could call the first one a liturgical one, based on absorbed and intimate sounds, more apt to narrate the events of the Passion and to perform the tunes of more strictly liturgical origin; the second one, which we could define as festive, gathers together, in a more joyful and abounding style, the church songs linked to the celebration of holy days and popular traditions, where the Christian message mingles with ancient pagan festivities such as the Befana (an old fairy bringing toys to children) or with extra-religious musical traditions such as the dramatic May. What hasn't been touched at all but reproposed, on the contrary, in all its transparent authenticity, is the colour, the accent, the vocal expression of the May singers. Like the faces of "The Gospel according to St. Matthew" by Pasolini, or the language of "Funny Mystery" by Dario Fo, the ancient voices of the May singers bring a message from another culture, from a world which today can only be found in the folds, in the salvation oases of a musical landscape too often flattened and reduced to a single, monotonous, deafening colour. - Fabio Bonvicini

About the songs:

• Ecco donne la befana – Valzer della Befana
  Song collected in Frassinoro (Modena) on the occasion of the Epiphany. Informers: Marco Piacentini, Stefano Marcolini and Flavio Pierazzi.
• Maria Maddalena
  Song collected by Placida Staro in Monghidoro (Bologna). Informer: Maria Grillini. Published by P. Staro in "Il canto delle donne antiche. Con garbo e sentimento", Lucca, L.M.I. 2001. Vacchi Archives 15180.
• La maténna del Vègner Sènt
  Song collected by Placida Staro in Monghidoro (Bo). Informer: Maria Grillini. In P. Staro, cit. Vacchi Archives 15181
• Stabat Mater - Miserere
  Songs gathered in Frassinoro (Modena) on the occasion of the living Via Crucis. Informers: Flavio Pierazzi and Marco Piacentini.
• Christus crucifixus est
  Song collected in Fiumalbo (Modena) on the occasion of the Sepulchres procession on the Holy Friday. Informers: Valerio Nardini and Lino Giambi.
• Maggio delle anime – Scottis di Riolunato
  Song collected in Riolunato (Modena) on the occasion of the May festivity for the Souls in Purgatory. Informer: Emilio Rocchicioli.
• Maggio drammatico
  The Dramatic May is an ancient form of popular theatre born in the Tuscan Apennines
• Torna, deh torna Song collected by Marco Piacentini and Fabio Bonvicini in Polinago (Modena). Informer: Gabriella Ghirardini.
• Kyrie Song published by Don Cesare Vignocchi, Vicar of Pievepelago (Modena) on "La rassegna frignanese".
• Agnus Dei
  Songs published by Don Cesare Vignocchi, Vicar of Pievepelago (Modena) on "La rassegna frignanese".
• Santa Lucia – Intermezzo del Maggio di Riolunato
  Song collected in Gaggio Montano (Bologna) by Paolo Bernardini. Informer: Irma Poggi. Vacchi Archives 11194.
• Andiamo noi pastori – Tu scendi dalle stelle
  Song collected by Placida Staro in Monghidoro. Informer: Maria Grillini. In P. Staro, cit. Tu scendi dalle stelle, collected in Frassinoro. Informer: Marco Piacentini.

I brani sono stati disposti seguendo il corso dell’anno solare: dalla Befana al Natale. La scelta degli strumenti e gli arrangiamenti – in gran parte curati da Marco Piacentini - sono stati organizzati lungo due filoni tematici: l’uno che potremmo definire da chiesa, con sonorità raccolte ed intime per raccontare i fatti della Passione ed eseguire i brani di provenienza più strettamente liturgica; l’altro -che invece potremmo chiamare di festa- che raccoglie in uno stile più ricco e gioioso i canti delle ricorrenze liturgiche legati alle feste e alle tradizioni popolari, dove il messaggio cristiano si mescola ad antiche feste pagane come nel caso della Befana, o a tradizioni musicali esterne all’ambito religioso come il Maggio drammatico. Ciò che non è stato per nulla toccato, ma anzi riproposto nella sua trasparente autenticità, è il colore, il tono, l’espressione della vocalità dei cantori del Maggio. Come le facce de “Il Vangelo secondo Matteo” di Pasolini, o la lingua del “Mistero buffo” di Dario Fo, le voci antiche dei maggiarini portano il messaggio di un’altra cultura, di un mondo ormai reperibile soltanto nelle pieghe, nelle oasi di salvezza di un mondo sonoro troppo spesso omologato ad un unico, assordante colore.