Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino toured Zagreb for the first time in December 2021 and delighted the local audience. It was a concert with a fantastic atmosphere, because the Italians were one of the first major foreign groups to visit Zagreb in the post-pandemic period, and this was felt by both the audience and the performers. The energy was palpable, the concert was fantastic and after everything it was only a question of when Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino would return to Zagreb. This will happen on Thursday, June 8, and the stage will once again be the Močvara Club and its world music program Vrelo zvuka.
(This interview was conducted before the group's concert in Zagreb and was originally published in Croatian for Jutarnji list)
This concert is a continuation of the series of great world music bands that have performed at the Močvara in recent years. There have been great performers, but few as great as Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. They are certainly the most popular world music group in Italy, but also throughout Europe. They performed at all major festivals in front of thousands of people, but their first performance in Zagreb is best remembered.
- It was phenomenal. It was a concert just before the introduction of the covid vaccine and after the lockdown, so at the concert we felt for the first time after this painful situation like before the pandemic. The audience was great, we danced and breathed together. It seemed to me that in all the darkness I could see some light again - said Mauro Durante, violinist and leader of the group.
He is, by the way, the grandson of the group's founder, Rina Durante, who started CGS in 1975. She was succeeded by her cousin Daniele, and Mauro is the third family member to lead the group. We were wondering if something special was being prepared to celebrate this anniversary.
- Yes, of course. We are very happy about this anniversary and we are preparing something very important. The first part of the whole story will be released next year, and in 2025 there will be a really big project dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the band.
We assume that one of the things that will mark the 50th anniversary of the band will be a new album that will follow their last work, the album "Meridiana" from 2021. The most important world music chart in the world, World Music Charts Europe, declared this album the best world release of the year.
- We are very proud of everything that happened with this album. We have invested a lot in this album, and all the enthusiasm around it means a lot to us, but the most fun for us are the concerts, and the most important thing is that the album works well in the performances, that is, that it is well received by the audience.
The audience loves pizzica or taranta, traditional music from the south of Italy, from the province of Puglia. It is unthinkable to visit the south of Italy without attending one of the dance performances, and dance is cultivated by the CGS, which includes a magical dancer, Silvia Perrone. She missed the last concert in Zagreb due to illness, but she is coming on Thursday and will be a real stage attraction. Dance is in the blood of all the inhabitants of this region, and dance is also believed to have the magical property of healing. Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino's video for one of their best songs, "Taranta," ends with the line, 'You can not get well if you dance alone."
- Dance and music have the power to take you to another place. They bring us together on an inner level, wordlessly and deeply, but dance and music cannot heal alone; it is not a mechanical process. To heal, you need the active and vibrant participation of the community, it is a collaborative process. The confident faith of an entire community, intimately connected through music and dance, has real healing power. That is why people all over the world love pizza, it is a symbol of freedom and movement. It is a dance for all people, you feel catharsis while dancing.
On Thursday there will be dancing in Močvara, and at the end Durante invites the audience once again to the concert.
- We want to restore the connection we felt 18 years ago. We can not wait to lift and sweat together again.