I CANTI POPOLARI MARCHIGIANI

Italian version

The people from Marches are a population of “cantarini”, instrument players and dancers: since a long time ago it was a real “necessity of the spirit” for the worker. Everyone knew how to sing: the housewives sung whilst doing housework, the laundresses sung whilst doing their job, the weavers that worked form morning to night, the young women that were about to get married sung, the elderly whilst knitting, the craftsman in the workshops, the storytellers in the popular fests, and above all our farmers working hard in the fields. If anyone would of passed through the streets of the small towns at least fifty years ago would of heard seven thousand love melodies, for dancing and out of depreciation. They would sing at any time anywhere: in the cities dances, at work, and one time also at funerals. We can’t not remember that a suggestive usage, also faded away, is linked to the territory of Cingoli: The bridge on the provincial road that connects Cingoli to S. Severino is known as the “ponte dei canti” because since a long time ago, during the summer nights, old and young people, men and women, would meet by the guardrail until late to sing the best rural songs. A great testimony of the singing is found in the poems of Giacomo Leopardi, also from Le Marches, for example in the “Ricordanze” where the poet describes what the young lovers gave to their women, as well as flowers and puddings, also melodies. Another valid document is that of the brother of Leopardi called “Quarantaquattro canti del popolo recanatese”. There was a song for every type of work, for every occasion. So often another voice from another field would join in to a song near by. These songs are the base of the collectivity of the people from Le Marches in general and mostly of the people of the countryside of Macerata. This type of music has arrived to us thanks to ballad singers that, especially during markets, would position themselves along the main road with an accordion or small percussion instruments. The crowd would join in to listen and dance. The ballad singers went from place to place telling important news by singing or decorative billboards. They would be alone, singing or just playing without boring people or boring himself. The reward was an offering or an invite to a feast. These “street artists” where inspired by the chanson de geste, the troubadours and the bards; their diffusion, tied more to the farmers, has action in Italy after the Second World War. In Le Marches many were famous such as “lu zoppittu de mondefà” , Domini from Montefano, “Peppe Ciacciù”, Giuseppe Cervellini from Civitanova Marche, “Pasqualòn”, Odoardo Gisanti from Pesaro and last but not least “Tarquì de Cinguli”, Tarquinio Pelletti, ballad singer from Cingoli that sung and improvised even about the works of brigands or any genre of thing; he was called in occasion of a Wedding and familiy parties, not only in Le Marches but also in Abruzzo. He mostly used a triangle made out of metal. Once each region had its own ballad singer, today no: the teachers of this art come mainly from Sicily and adapt themselves to modern times, selling CDs and videos at the end of their exhibition. Other than the “canterini” and the “cantarinelle”(the women that are very able singers), there were the accordion players: it was beside this instrument that a young lover, singing, would dedicate a love song to a woman that he secretly loved, and it was beside the accordion that there would also be tragic episodes. The accordion player, that learnt how to play just by “ear”, was respected by everyone for his musical quality. The diatonic accordion is an instrument that originates from Le Marches belonging to the Air instruments (aerofoni ad ancia libera). Every family had one, this instrument was considered almost part of the family. The instruments that usually accompanied the accordion where a sort of tambourine(also called Cymbalon) and the metal triangle, usually played by the women and rarely by men. The tambourine was hand made using animal skins and decorated with red, green and white ribbons and bells. The triangle produced a very metallic sound that brought out the rhythm of the songs. The accordion was later substituted by the piano accordion that was more harmonic and had a better tonality. Some musical groups today use another instrument called “violin of the poor”, a piece of wood, decorated by ribbons, bells and bronze dishes 35cm long, on which another wooden stick is arithmetically played. If knowing how to sing, knowing how to play the accordion and knowing how to dance were considered to be elements that enriched a youngster from Le Marches, we have to remember that the stars of a party were the good dancers. A traditional dance from our region is the “saltarello”, very lively and similar to the “tarantella”, to be danced in the open, it foresees jumps in couples and brings up emotional scenes. The rhythm of the “saltarello” can be found at the end of the “Italian” op. 90 symphony (1833) by Felix Mendelssohn-Batrholdy.