In the 1950s, American Alan Lomax and Italians Diego Carpitella, Franco Coggiola and Roberto Leydi recorded many regional traditions in folk music. Carpitella later worked with Ernesto de Martino to study the magical aspects of Italian music, especially the tarantolati. The Instituto de Martino, named after Ernesto de Martino, was founded in the early 1960s to document Italian culture, and soon founded the Nuova Canzionere Italiano, an organization that promoted musicians like Giovanni Marini. Later, artist Dario Do became affiliated with the institution and helped unite the traditions of Italy's diverse regions.
Italy can be divided into four cultural regions. The island of Sardinia is unique, while the Celtic-influenced major mode North contrasts with the minor modes and strong melodies of the south. In central Italy, multiple influences combine, while indigenous traditions like endecasillabo singing (using phrases of eleven syllables) remain.
Sicily is home to a great variety of Christian music, including a cappella devotional songs from Montedoro and many brass bands like Banda Ionica, who play songs from a diverse repertoire. Harvest songs and work songs are also indigenous to the agricultural island, known as "Italy's granary". Franco Battiato, Fratelli Mancuso and Ciccio Busacca are among the most popular musicians from Sicily. Busacca has worked with Dario Fo, like many Italian musicians, but is perhaps best-known for his setting the poems of Ignazio Buttitta, a Sicilian dialect (in reality sicilian is a seperate language, as is sardinian, evolveing independently of italian, any similarities being in virtue of the fact that they have latin influences like catalan french romanian,etc) poet. Fratelli Mancuso (brothers Enzo and Lorenzo Mancuso) have fused traditional Sicilian peasant songs (lamentazioni), monodic chants (alla carrettiera) and other indigenous forms to create a uniquely Sicilian modern song style.
Sicily has the most vibrant jazz scene in the country, based out of Palermo and including Enzo Rao and his group Shamal, who have added native Sicilian and Arab influences to American jazz. Sicily is also home to Franco Battiato, a popular musician and composer who fused rock and roll with traditional and classical influences, beginning with 1979's L'era del cinghiale bianco, a popular landmark album.
The highly urban provinces of central Italy are best-known for the midieval sung poetry ottava rima, from Tuscany, Lazio and Abruzzo. Ottava rima is performed by the poeti contadini (peasant poets) who use the poems of Homer or Dante, as well as more modern lyrics which address political or social issies. It is often totally improvised, and sometimes competitive in nature.
The saltarello dance is also popular throughout the region. Canzioniere del Lasio is the biggest name from central Italy during the 1960s roots revival. With socially aware lyrics, this new wave of Italian roots revivalists often played entirely acoustic songs with influences from jazz and others. More modern musicians in the same field include Lucilla Galeazzi, La Piazza and La Macina.
The northern regions of Italy show a strong Celtic influence in their culture, which has largely disappeared during the 20th century. Roots revivalists have revived traditional songs, though, from Piedmont (La Ciapa Rusa), Lombardy (Baraban) and Padua (Calicanto).
The Genoese docks were the birthplace of trallalero, a polyphonic vocal style with five voices, one of which imitates a guitar. It arose in the 1920s and includes modern groups like La Squadra -- Compagnia del Trallalero and Laura Parodi.
At the southern tip of Italy, Calabria and Puglia are heavily rural. Zampogna bagpipes are comon, and other traditions include the tarantolati and Puglian brass bands. Re Niliu is a group that has done much to popularize Calabrian traditions since 1979, reviving ancient lira (an indigenous violin) as well as composing songs in Calabrese and the local immigrant languages, Greek and Albanian.
Antonio Infantino has explored the percussion-based tarantolati healing rituals since 1975, when he formed the group Tarantolati di Tricarico. Puglia is also home to brass bands like Bando Ruvo di Puglia; this tradition has led to collaborations with jazz musicians like Matteo Salvatore, Battista Lena, Eugenio Colombo and Enrico Rava. Al Darawish, a multicultural band led by Palestinian Nabil Ben Salaméh.
Naples is best-known for its canzone napoletana song tradition, which is said to date back to the song "Te voglio bene assaie" from 1839. It drew upon the rural villanella tradition of the 16th century, and it has been popularized by performers like Enrico Caruso. Canzone napoletana featured often satirical or incisive lyrics with polyphonic harmony and elements of classical music. More modern performers include Roberto Murolo and Sergio Bruni.
Tamura drums and pop love songs called neomelodici are also popular. Other Neapolitan artists include Daniele Sepe, Rita Marcotulli, Nanda Citarella and Ciro Ricci. Sepe is perhaps the most influential, known for using protest songs from all over the world and for his skills as a percussionist, flautist and saxophonist. Tarantella, a 12/8 dance which exists with variations throughout the country, is popular in Naples and across Southern Italy.
Probably the most culturally distinct of all the regions in Italy, Sardinia is an islated island known for the tenores' polyphonic chant, sacred songs called gozos and launeddas, a type of bagpipes. Launeddas are used to play a complex style of music that has achieved some international attention, especially Dionigi Burranca, Antonio Lara, Luigi Lai and Efisio Melis; Burranca, like many of the most famous launedda musicians, is from Samatzai in Cagliari. An ancient instrument, dating back to at least the 8th century B.C, launeddas are still played during religious ceremonies and dances (su ballu). Distinctively, they are played using extensive variations on a few melodic phrases, and a single song can last over an hour.
Rural polyphonic chanting of the tenores is related to Corsican music and is sung with four vocal parts. They are bassu (bass), mesa boghe (middle), contra (counter) and boghe (leader and soloist). The most popular group is Tenores di Bitti.
Sacred gozos, or sacred songs, can be heard during religious celebrations, sung by choruses like Su Cuncordu 'e su Rosariu.
Other influential Sardinian musicians include Totore Chessa (organetto), Maria Carta (singer), Mauro Palmas, Elena Ledda and Suonofficina, Cordas et Cannas, Paolo Fresu (trumpet) and Gesuino Deiana (guitar).Folk music
Sicily
Central Italy
Genoa and North Italy
Calabria and Puglia
Naples
Sardinia