Canto Antico

In 2000, the group CantoAntico was created in Milano to revive the repertories of the various styles of tarantella (pizziche, tammurriate, tarantelle from Calabria and tarantelle lucane from Basilicata) along with the work songs and love songs of the Southern Italian folk tradition.
After years of research in the field, numerous encounters and collaborations, CantoAntico has developed its own musical language and sound that, while tied to the Italian music tradition of the south, is free and new, and has been projected in the direction of contemporary ethnic music.
With two of its own compositions taken from the group’s first record album “jesce’a’lla’”, CantoAntico won the Val Tidone International Music Competition for Folk Music in 2006.
In 2008 won the 15th edition of the Folkontest, one of the most important and famous Italian competitions for new and upcoming groups, that play contaminated folk music, and which is presided by a prestigious national jury of journalists and specialists of folk music.
For three years, the group has formed a stable and lasting collaboration with the actress, Marina De Juli, of the theatre company of Nobel winner, Dario Fo, and Franca Rame, writing and performing live the original music to the two performances: “La storia de le meraviglie del mondo” (Stories of the wonders of the world) and “Ho visto un re” (I saw a king).
CantoAntico has also been working over the last year with “La Piccola orchestra del Mediterraneo”, directed by M° Sandro Torriani. Traditional folk pieces from the south of Italy and pieces composed by CantoAntico have been arranged for an orchestra of string and wind instruments and have given life to a suggestive performance in which the sounds of the traditional folk instruments (tammorre and tambourines, shawms and guitars battenti) blend with the classical music and instruments.
CantoAntico, in collaboration with Arci (Italian cultural and leisure association) La Scighera, in Milan produces the review, “Suoni dalla terra e dal mare” (Sounds from land and sea). The review explores and returns to the rich cultural patrimony of Italy through the research, exploration and interpretation of the music and dances created by the folk traditions of Southern Italy.
Since 2000, CantoAntico has also formed a lasting collaboration with Arci Metromondo. Of the many performances, we cite here the most emblematic: the “Sud Sud Festival” (the South South Festival), which has come to its eighth edition in Milan and become a true model for the aggregation of youth not only to the folk music of Southern Italy but also to the folk music from the southern hemisphere of the world.
In the music of CantoAntico, the echoes of the songs and melodies of Southern Italy flourish once more, bringing to life the vibrations of the hypnotic rhythms inseparably connected to the antique and enchanting dances of a hidden culture. But memories flow and become the Present. Tradition inspires new languages, and untold unpublished arrangements are projected into the contemporary ethnic music of Europe.