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All-Singing, All-Dancing Puglia

All-Singing, All-Dancing Puglia

Notte della Taranta Festival coming soon!

The most anticipated event of the year in Salento, the most popular of Puglia’s festivals, the one that inspired Caparezza (go dancing in Puglia), La Notte della Taranta has at last published its Events Programme – something we’ve been waiting for in eager anticipation!

Tens of thousands of people attend each year, dancing until the early hours, swept along by the irresistible rhythms of the Salento music, or “vines comu se cotula lu pete” as they say in Salento dialect; by the bewitching, ancestral sound of the farmer’s lament, and the roar of the gods that is our popular music.

During the Notte della Taranta Festival a series of concerts is held in the most picturesque towns where you’ll find all the best-known musicians and performers of Salento folk music. The Festival culminates with the final concert in Melpignano on August 26th. This year the great Raphael Gualazzi is the Artistic Director and many internationally-renowned guests will be there to mingle with our local stars.

The Festival will take place from 6-24 August and has no less than 16 events: so there’s bound to be one that fits with your holiday. It opens in Corigliano d’Otranto where the Banda Grecia Salentina – the Greek-Salento Band – is performing, the country singers and Mimmo Epifani; and it continues through to the final concert in Martano on 24 August, with melodies from Ariacorte. These may be just names to many of you, but we can assure you that they are the best of the bunch.

Also from Leuca it is easy to go and enjoy the travelling parts of the Festival and indeed this is perfect if you’re keen to avoid the usual post-concert rush. Most of the concerts are less than an hour away by car, and those planned for Alessano and Torre San Giovanni are really close-by. The Taranta Festival hits Alessano on 13 August with the warm, powerful voice of Antonio Amato and the return of his Ensemble and ‘foreign’ guests, the Musicisti del Basso Lazio – the Southern Lazio Musicians. At Torre San Giovanni the line up includes Cardisanti, Aranea, Aria Antica and Antonio Castrignanò, among other things musician and composer of the soundtrack of the film “Nuovomondo” by E. Crialese, winner of the Nastro d’Argento – the Silver Ribbon – at the Venice Film Festival in 2006 and where it was also nominated as best film score.
Talent abounds in our part of Italy and, of course, after relaxing on the beach, enjoying the sunshine and swimming, you won’t want to miss out on the inexhaustible party spirit that keeps everyone dancing late into the night.

To further enrich a lovely holiday and to discover hidden Salento, with its sun-kissed countryside, pajare – the picturesque stone houses – and cicadas, we recommend that you travel by train to Festival events. The leisurely pace of train travel gives you plenty of time to take in the lovely local scenery while still getting you to where you want to go. For example, you could even make it as far as Nardò on the Ionian Sea side or to Zollino on the Adriatic side, or why not, go all the way to the provincial capital.

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