The fourth album for UARAGNIAUN, a key group in the research and rediscovery of Southern Italian folk music. Continuing on the path which began with Canzoni dell’Alta Murgia (1990), followed by Uailì (1990) and Octofolium (1998) Maria Moramarco, Luigi Bolognese and Silvio Teot have enlisted a wide range of esteemed collaborators for this latest chapter in their personal reinterpretation of the folk music of Puglia and in particular of the Murge region, a geographical area with peculiar ethnic characteristics and a unique vocal style. And it is of course the magnificent voice of Maria Moramarco, with her profound knowledge of the local repertoire, which provides the guiding thread along which the pieces on the album are strung: songs about the trials of daily life, the rites and social occasions typical of the peasant world, work songs and religious songs, lyrics and narratives, lullabies and dirges.
The consistently high standard of Skuarrajazz is testament on the one hand, to the depth of
fieldwork carried out by the interpreters, and on the other to their musical excellence in
performing and reinterpreting a traditional folk repertoire with a contemporary sensibility
that nonetheless does not compromise its spirit or dilute it by mixing in other musical
styles and genres. The album springs from the direct and close contact that the members of the group have with their community, and the freshness of the music presented allows the listener to put themselves in touch with a bygone peasant culture which is still rich with surprises. In Skuarrajazz they can enjoy typical narrative songs such as Brunette which recounts the story of a girl forced into a reparatory marriage, Pugliese tarantellas the likes of of O re re, or the ditties of Murgia represented here by Quande jè belle.
If with Skuarrajazz UARAGNIAUN demonstrate exceptional rigour in their reworkings of traditional folk music, they also reveal themselves to be an extremely ‘open’ group, who feel the need to seek out and work with other musicians on the same wavelength. The artists assembled on this occasion show a remarkable unity of purpose and a common sensibility that makes Skuarrajazz, despite its multiform elements, a truly solid and cohesive work.
01 - Ballo di Mastro Gerardo
02 - Quando jè belle
03 - 21 Fiorile 1799
04 - Cantos
05 - Motus
06 - Brunette
07 - O Re Re
08 - Natale Internazionale
09 - Nenia
10 - Uè figghia figghia
11 - Uccelloz
12 - Rocca rocca - Uè mamme mamme
13 - Passe e spasse
14 - Quanne Sand'Anne
15 - U pastaure
16 - Putresenella
Luigi Bolognese: guitar, mandoloncello, bouzouki
Maria Moramarco: voice
Silvio Teot tammorra: darbouka, percussion
Guests:
Daniele Sepe saxes
Ambrogio Sparagna melodeon
Piero Ricci bagpipe
Lino Miniscalco ciaramella
Nico Berardi charango, flute
Giovanni Loiudice cello
Enzo Miniscalco bass guitar
Rocco De Rosa keyboards
Alfredo Cornacchia keyboards
Pino Colonna flute
Filippo Giordano violin
Davide Torrente tammorra