Zampogna (, , ) is a generic term for a number of Italian double chantered

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

that can be found throughout areas in

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whic ...

. The tradition is now mostly associated with Christmas, and the most famous Italian carol, " Tu scendi dalle stelle" (You Come Down From the Stars), is derived from traditional ''zampogna'' music. However, there is an ongoing resurgence of the instrument in secular use seen with the increasing number of folk music festivals and folk music in each December by Italian ensembles.

Construction

All chanters and drones are fixed into a single round stock that the bag is attached to. Each chanter is tuned differently, according to the tradition it represents, and there are dozens. Typically, the double-reeded versions will have a soprano chanter on the right and a bass chanter on the left (called, respectively, ''ritta'' and ''manga''—meaning 'right' and 'left'—in the tradition of Southern

) with an alto drone (''bordone'' being the generic name); but as many as three drones, the other tuned above and below the basic chord can be used, or, in the case of the Marches tradition, no drones at all. The single reed versions consist of the ''surdullina'' types of the Province of

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

and

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

, and the ''ciaramella'' or '' ciaramedda'' of

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

and

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

in Sicily, as well as in Southern Calabria. The ''surdullina'' is a very short chantered version of the instrument that is used to play

tarantella Tarantella () is a group of various Southern Italy, southern Italian Italian folk dance, folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania, Sicilia, and Apulia. It is characterized by a fast Beat (music), upbeat tempo, usually in Ti ...

s primarily, while the ciaramedda can play all of the traditional regional melodies the other types can. The traditional reeds are made from stalks of the Giant Reed '' Arundo donax'', called "canna marina" in Italian. The double reed versions may also be made from plastic. The single reeds are made from a single section of the cane. Traditionally the bags are made from goat hides that are removed from the slaughtered animal in one piece, cured, turned inside out, then tied off just in front of the rear legs, one of the front legs serving to house the blow pipe with its simple leather valve (''soffietto''), and the other tied off. The typical round stock into which both chanters and drones are fixed goes into the neck of the skin. The hair is left on, and is contained in the inside of the bag (''otre''). Today, however, some pipers are substituting the traditional goat and sheep hide bags with a rubber

inner tube An inner tube is an inflatable torus that forms the interior of some pneumatic tires. The tube is inflated through a valve stem and fits inside the tire casing. The inflated inner tube provides structural support and suspension, while the out ...

or wintex which is covered with an artificial fleece. This practice of using the synthetic bag is particularly popular among the pipers from Scapoli in the

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

region, and those of Atina in Latium.

Musical traditions

Map Folklore I 1990 - Strumenti musicali tradizionali - Touring Club Italiano CART-TEM-096

The double reeded version of the ''zampogna'' is generally played with the piffero (called ''biffera'' in

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, or ''ciaramella'' or ''pipita'' in other regions; a shawm, or folk oboe), which plays the melody and the zampogna provides chord changes, "vamping" or rhythmic harmony figures or a bass line and a soprano harmony as accompaniment. This double reed tradition would include Central Italy (Latium, southern Abruzzo and Molise), that of southern Basilicata ( Pollino) and nearby areas of Calabria, and some areas of Sicily ( Syracuse,

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

). Single reed versions are played solo in the Calabrian tradition of the ''surdullina'' (Cosenza), and a version with a plugged chanter called the ''surdullina albanese'', and the Sicilian or ''ciaramella'' (Catania, Messina, and

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

). The chanters and drones vary, according to the tradition, from a few inches long (surdullina) to nearly two meters in length, such as used in the cathedral of Monreale (Palermo) and nearly every size in between. The pipes are related to the Sardinian , a single reed "triple clarinet" comprising two chanters and a drone and played in the mouth by circular breathing.

Etymology

The word derives from the Latin ''symphonia''. It is etymologically related to the Greek ''sumphōnía'' (), meaning "concord or unison of sound" (from ''syn-'', "with, together" + ''phōnḗ'', "sound") and applied later to a type of bagpipe. It is a cognate of Greek ''

tsampouna The tsampouna (or tsambouna; ) is a Greek musical instrument and part of the bagpipe family. It is a double- chantered bagpipe, with no drone, and is inflated by blowing by mouth into a goatskin bag. The instrument is widespread in the Greek isla ...

'', the word for the Greek island bagpipe (itself a

reborrowing Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. A reborrowed word is sometimes called a ''Rückwanderer'' (German, a 'returner') ...

of ''zampogna''); Romanian , which means "symphony" or "many sounds played together"; Georgian ; and Spanish ''

zampoña Siku (, , also sicu, sicus, zampolla or ) is a traditional Andes, Andean panpipe. This instrument is the main instrument used in a musical genre known as sikuri. It is traditionally found all across the Andes but is more typically associated wit ...

'', which refers to Andean pan pipes.

History

*There is a bagpipe museum, the Museo della Zampogna in Scapoli, Molise. *In 2010 a feature-length documentary about the zampogna was published entitled
''Zampogna: The Soul of Southern Italy''

References

External links