| Berardino
Del Cogliano (aucigghiar') |
|
| Through the centuries, folk songs have transmitted
“cultural material” dealing with the
symbolically most significant events in life—baptism,
marriage, etc.—and the most quotidian moments
as well. |
Song,
as a true expression of popular culture, has deeply
imprinted the history of our folks: infancy, childhood,
love, work, religion.
|
| From early infancy, our children were raised to
the tune of lullabies softly hummed by older women
or by mothers. |
| Our children sang nonsense rhymes and nursery
rhymes when they played in streets and alleyways. |
| In the middle of the night, our youths, standing
by their lady’s balcony or window, expressed
in song their feelings, praising the lady’s
charms and the beauty of her eyes and hair. |
| Their songs were at times ironical, satirical,
or even outright offensive, giving rise not infrequently
to furious quarrels. |
| Different kinds of song could be heard when folks
labored in the fields, in the vineyards, or did
their wash in the brooks and streams. |
| All through the duration of illiteracy, the folk
song proved effective in imparting popular wisdom
through the use of plain rhyme schemes, assonance
and a very elemental kind of melody. |
| In
Calitri the most common type of song were the “sonetti”,
consisting of eleven syllable lines in a scheme
of rhyming couplets or alternating rhymes or assonances. |
| Today, only a few old folks can remember the lullabies
and songs of old. |
| |
The following folk songs
are from the CALITRI CANTA
lp, produced by Radio Irpinia, 1981. |
| The
numbers in parentheses indicate megabytes. |
|
|
| Tott'
r' bon' giov'n' so' pr'mmes' (4,1)
|
 |
Franc'schina
la cal'trana (2,9) |
 |
La
cant'nera (0,6) |
 |
| Lu
zuopp' r' Giacchetta corta (2,4) |
 |
Non
regna più (1,8) |
 |
Mariuccella
(2,7) |
 |
| Ron'
D'nat' m'hav' rat' la sarahogghia (1,6) |
 |
Daharora
r' lu carpat' (2,1) |
 |
S'nett'
(4,8) |
 |
Zì
Luiggij' Stanck' (1,9) |
 |
Lu
passariell' (4) |
 |
O
rondinella (0,8) |
 |
|
|
|