NORTHUMBRIAN MUSIC
NIGHTS
What we said about
il Tratturo
il Tratturo in Allendale Village Hall
If music marks out the landscape of the travelling soul, then Northumbrian pipes are rippling streams misty over ancient weathered fells, and Italian zampogna are breath-taking sheer Alpine paths buffeted with ferocious elements and emerging into glorious tranquil sunshine.
You couldn't spend a weekend in the company of il Tratturo, enjoying an impromptu al fresco concert during a break in the Northumbrian Pipers' Competitions at Morpeth's Chantry Museum, or a late night informal session of musical interchange at The King's Head in Allendale, and pretend to be an unbiased reviewer of their music. But even with these foretastes of the concert last Sunday evening in Allendale's Village Hall, we were not prepared for the emotional feast their live show provided.
Cappy's Drift, the impromptu Northumbrian pipers band that has delighted audiences in Tynedale as well as Scapoli, Italy, started the evening off with a hush and a whisper that caught the attention of all, and twinkled like a sparkling brook through a repertoire of tunes we know and love.
What a seductive preparation, though, for the emotional buffeting that ensued as il Tratturo took to the stage. Have you ever missed seeing something until you looked at it in a slightly different perspective? It was just so with Tratturo's music. Goes the knee-jerk thought -- Italian bagpipes? -- oh, I don't think so.
But let a little preparation set an intriguing aural scene, and just as the brooding inclines of the North Pennines introduce the intrepid walker to the vaulting reaches of the Alps, so we were gently prepared for an emotional odyssey.
Pietro Ricci's zampogna opened strongly, tumultously, and with what a dynamic rouser of a tune. A great roar erupted from the crowd, and it looked like the beginning of an epic journey on the mountain path. Then Mauro Gioielli's exciting vocals on a rollicking tarantella, and later roller-coasting on a love song, I-ren-e, indicated the sort of variety we could expect. By the time we'd incorporated the ambience of Ivana Rufo's dusky harmonies, and Ernest Carracilla's accordian swells and punchy melodies, against Enzo Miniscalco's steady bass rhythms, we were ready for the piercing ciaramella deliveries of Lino Miniscalco, which seemed to penetrate straight to the heart.
It was such an exciting journey, and the disappointment at the announcement of the imminent break was enough to compel yet another rhythmic tune from the band which was growing tighter and tighter in ensemble.
During the break it was time to celebrate Pietro's birthday, and then swing back into the music. Mauro provided such a sweet lullabye and again an emotional pilgrimage on the Novina that contrasted with his dramatic percussive talents on other numbers, but perhaps the highlight of the show was Pietro's own Dance number, in which his unique zampogna played around and about a tune that contrasted with the ciaramella.
It's no wonder the tiny town of Scapoli, whose representatives over this past week have been discussing transnational cooperation matters with the Northumbrian Music Nights group, are fiercely proud of their band -- Pietro and Lino have spent the past month in Milan at La Scala performing under the baton of Ricardo Mutti, as wandering minstrels in high opera.
It's not such a long way from La Scala to Allendale -- about the distance that defines the emotion we think of as love. It would not be an exaggeration to say that love spilled out and overflowed last Sunday evening in Allendale, as the music swirled around and through us, and our hearts were deeply, fiercely, passionately moved.
