Al Qantarah - Musiche in Sicilia al Tempo di Dante

Hybrid Stereo SACD

Tube processed digital master

Recorded by Giulio Cesare Ricci at the Auditorium of the Piaggio Museum in Pontedera on July 4-5, 2021

Dante never visited Sicily, though he loved it and thought of it as a mythical place, a hotbed of ancient Mediterranean cultures. There are some interesting connections between him and the island.

In this musical journey through Sicily between the 13th and 14th centuries, Al Qantarah seeks sonic and poetic suggestions attributable to the influence of the great poet, and back to his own education, strongly shaped by the cultural past that found fertile ground in Sicily.

The Ensemble's spirit seeks to avoid creating a conflict between the use of learned sources and oral tradition, mixing them. Indeed, it is precisely in the Sicilian tradition that we find poetic themes, forms of polyphony, and musical instruments found in surviving manuscripts and medieval iconography. The aim is always to draw on the written documents of the past and bring them to life through the style preserved by the people of Sicily, and conversely to select and purify today's traditional repertoires of inevitable stratifications, in an imaginary performance in Dante's time.

Recorded in stereo DSD on a Pyramix Recorder using dCS A/D and D/A converters.

SACD mastering was done by Giulio Cesare Ricci using the analog and valve Signoricci system.

1. Echo la primavera / Vinni la primavera

2. Nota di lavandaie della Chianta

3. Assolo di marranzanu

4. Furnarisca

5. Dolce lo mio drudo

6. Canto di carrettiere

7. E Vanténde

8. Reis glorios/Spara lu forti ‘i l’Andria / Ballettu

9. Estampida ghaetta

10. Tan m'abellis

11. Tarantellina

12. Surfarara

13. Meravigliosamente

14. Rex glorius

15. Cantu a capuana

16. Ben volgra

17. A la mazzarisa

18. Barcillunisa

19. ‘U pisari

20. Strenci li labri

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