Avantaggiato, Giovanni - M'oli Tin Passiuna : Ethnica 28
SKU
08-TA028
"It is increasingly rare to find a town where the local musical tradition is a patrimony which extends among the entire community and is shared by all its members. For decades, the disintegration of values, models, and forms of expression have created a scarcity of a collective patrimony, and it is increasingly common for a particular ethno-musical heritage to be entrusted to those individual families who most tenaciously conserve the use and practice of the tradition. In Corigliano d’Otranto, one of the most important towns of the Greca salentina (A part of Apulia and the largest Greek-speaking part of Italy, a probable remnant of medieval Bizantine civilization), there are several families or individuals who have cultivated a particularly intense musical heritage and who are reference points today for their fellow townspeople and for scholars. One of these reference points is Giovanni Avantaggiato: A musician with a lively personality, over 80 years old, who with his hand organ and his voice, is one of the most important repositories in all of the Greek-influenced area of the Salento. In the last 30 years, he has been responsible for bringing together elder musicians, and he was among the founders of the Coriglianese folk music group “Argalio” in the 1970’s. In recent years Giovanni has brought together musicians young and old to keep alive an interest in the vast collection of “grike” (greek) songs of his hometown. Even the Greek language is at risk, as young generations tend to speak the more common Salentino dialect. In documenting the musical knowledge of Giovanni and the other musicians present, an interesting familial musical heritage emerged, especially on the part of his wife, Angela. The couple’s own children and grandchildren are also able to participate musically."