Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual

Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual, distributed in the United States by Light in the Attic Records, is the second release from European label, publishing house, and exhibition organizer, FLEE. FLEE is a self-described “cultural engineering platform dedicated to the documentation and enhancement of hybrid cultures.” FLEE is dedicated to socially and politically engaging listeners in musical genres, rather than just observing trends. Their most recent release, Tarantismo, came out on November 27 and is an educational piece on an ancient style of music called Pizzica. The album is available digitally and on vinyl with an accompanying book with nine essays that focus on the ritual of Pizzica and the condition of Tarantism. 

Originally practiced in the 11th century in southern Italy, Tarantism is a form of hysteria that many people believe to be the result of a bite from the wolf spider (Lycosa tarantula). The condition was most common in the southern Italian province of Taranto. Francesco Cancellieri, an Italian writer from the 18th century, wrote that “sweat and antidotes relieve the sick,” but the only real cure to Tarantism is music. This music, in combination with a frenetic style of dance, was used as a therapeutic remedy for Tarantism. The common belief at the time was that the act of dancing would keep the afflicted patients alive. It is believed that this dance therapy evolved into a popular style of dance in southern Italy called the Tarantella. Hans Schadewaldt, a German physician and medical historian, studied an outbreak of Tarantism in Apulia, Italy, in 1971. He described the music used in tandem with dance as “strange monotonous melodies accompanied by clapping of the hands or stamping of the feet, always ending in a crescendo.”

The actual album consists of six original field recordings from musician/exorcists Diego Carpi-tella, Ernesto de Martino, and Alan Lomax in the late 1950s in Puglia. There are an additional six tracks which are unique reworks of the original recordings by contemporary producers. The original recordings are haunting, repetitive melodies accompanied in a few cases by just drums and clapping, and other times by a full band consisting of a tambourine player, a fiddle player, a piper, and a few others. The repetitive nature of the music makes sense in context because the music was theoretically supposed to be played until the patient collapsed. The first rework, “Pizzica Tarantata N 26,” is an ambient take on Pizzica by Norwegian producers Bjørn Torske and Trym Søvdsnes. They sample only the ambient noises and percussion of the original recording, and layer a hypnotic bassline and additional percussion that stick with the monotonous style of Pizzica. My favorite rework on the album is another atmospheric interpretation of “Pizzica Tarantata N 30” by Kenyan producer Joseph Kamaru, who produces under the name KMRU. KMRU uses the string line from the original recording as a foundation for his rework and allows it to sit in the middle of the piece harmonically. Underneath, he layers a repetitive bassline and above he floats dreamy synths that don’t follow any time measure. By the end of the 3-minute piece, all of the elements have blended to create a blissed-out listening experience.

I would highly recommend FLEE to anyone interested in international music, or the deeper exploration of the context behind certain genres of music. FLEE wasn’t on my radar until this release, but I recommend everyone to keep an eye out for their future releases and to take a look at other work by the other producers who were featured in the six reworks at the end of the album.