OCCHI TURCHINI
Songs from Calabria

01 Occhi turchini
02 La scillitana
03 Frasca
04 La fija du marinaru
05 Tarantella ’nfuocata
06 Si partì la Madonna
07 A spuntunera
08 Xaccara calabrese, spagnuola
09 Arietta grica
10 Matajola
11 Te Deum de’ calabresi
12 Canzona a morto
13 Sonata dopo la canzone
14 Amicu, hai vintu
15 La calabrisella
16 Capiddi di sita
17 Veni sonne di la muntagnella
18 Romaica calabreisa
19 Kopile moj kopile

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About this album

With Occhi turchini that inspiring singer, instrumentalist and actor, Pino De Vittorio has returned to the recording studio, fixing his sights on the musical culture of the Italian region of Calabria. For a new recording for Glossa, Franco Pavan and his Laboratorio ’600 have been researching back over the centuries the rich musical texture of the region, known as the “toe” of the Italian “boot”.

Most recently, singer and ensemble worked together for the Siciliane recording, also for the Spanish label. This new programme embraces traditional songs, examples of the adulteration of the local language for comic effect in Baroque Neapolitan opera, and even a parody of the text for the Te Deum in the same Calabrian, but also reflections of other – Byzantine, Greek, Albanian and Arabic – cultures which have permeated the region over the centuries.

Pino De Vittorio – that versatile powerhouse of mood – is the ideal vocal interpreter for this multilayered chequerboard of the region’s cultural history, with Pavan and his ensemble imparting colourful accompaniment for De Vittorio or spirited soloistic playing in instrumental works such as the Tarantella ’nfuocata, La calabrisella, and especially the Canzona a morto, played on the harp by Flora Papadopoulos. Pavan, as well as playing theorbo and the Calabrian chitarra batente, also acts – through his booklet essay – as guide across this rugged, isolated, but immensely rich cultural terrain.