Social Event

Traditional Sardinian musical programme

1. Canto a Tenore
Sardinian pastoral songs by the Vocal ensemble "Populos Tenore Nugoresu"

Canto a tenore has developed within the pastoral culture of Sardinia. It represents a form of polyphonic singing performed by a group of four men using four different voices called bassu, contra, boche and mesu boche. One of its characteristics is the deep and guttural timbre of the bassu and contra voices. It is performed standing in a close circle. The solo singers chants a piece of prose or a poem while the other voices form an accompanying chorus. Most practitioners live in the region of Barbagia and other parts of central Sardinia. Their art of singing is very much embedded in the daily life of local communities. Often it is performed spontaneously in local bars called su zilleri, but also at more formal occasions, such as weddings, sheepshearings, religious festivities or the Barbaricino carnival.

Canto a tenore was Inscribed in 2008 on the representative list of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The performing group, "Populos Tenore Nugoresu", was founded 2000 in Nuoro. The group members are: Pascale Frogheri (boche), Tore Usai (contra), Pascale Fadda (bassu), Bobore Bussa (mesu boche)

2. Launeddas
Performed by Stefano Pinna from Cabras

The launeddas (also called triple clarinet or triplepipe) is a typical Southern Sardinian woodwind instrument made of three pipes. It is a polyphonic instrument, with one of the pipes functioning as a drone and the other two playing the melody in thirds and sixths. They are played by circular breathing. (source: wikipedia)