Description

Ponderosa: Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino — Pizzica Indiavolata (Audio CD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

Product Type: Audio CD
Brand / Label: Ponderosa Music & Art
Artist: Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
Title: Pizzica Indiavolata
Featured Guests: Ballaké Sissoko, Piers Faccini
Release Year: 2012
UPC: 8030482001129
Catalog Number: CD 102
Genre: World, Folk
Style: Pizzica, Taranta (Salento)
Condition: New / Factory Sealed

Product Features

Format: CD
Discs: 1
Tracks: 13
Packaging: digipak
Guest artists: Ballaké Sissoko (kora), Piers Faccini
Supported by Puglia Sounds

Overview

Pizzica Indiavolata is a fierce, hypnotic record from Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS), Italy's most celebrated folk ensemble and the leading voice of Salento's pizzica and taranta traditions. Drawn from the heel of Italy, this is the ancient trance music of the tarantula dance, reimagined with thrilling modern energy.

Founded in 1975, CGS has carried the music of the Salento region — sung partly in the local Griko (Greek-derived) dialect — to stages around the world. Here the tambourines drive relentlessly, fiddles wail, and voices weave between Italian and Griko in songs of love, longing and possession.

The album reaches outward too, with guest appearances from Malian kora master Ballaké Sissoko on "Aremu an me 'gapà" and "E chorà' tu anemu," and singer-songwriter Piers Faccini on "La voce toa." These collaborations open the pizzica to wider Mediterranean and West African currents without diluting its raw power.

For lovers of world and folk music, Pizzica Indiavolata is a vivid, percussive journey — earthy, ecstatic and utterly alive. A standout from one of Europe's great roots ensembles.

Interesting Facts

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino was founded in 1975 and is the best-known interpreter of the Salento region's pizzica and taranta music.
"Pizzica indiavolata" roughly means "devilish pizzica" — the pizzica is the frenetic dance tied to the old tarantula-bite healing ritual (tarantismo).
Several songs are sung in Griko, a Greek-derived dialect still spoken in parts of Puglia, reflected in the group's name.
The album features Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko, bridging Salento folk with West African strings.
British-Italian singer-songwriter Piers Faccini guests on "La voce toa."
The record was supported by Puglia Sounds, a regional initiative promoting music from Puglia.