CANZONIERE GRECANICO SALENTINO

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS) presents Il Mito. Eleven tracks recounting fifty years of history of the oldest and most influential folk music group in southern Italy. Led by Mauro Durante since 2007, the group revisits some of the songs that have shaped their artistic and personal journey. CGS is internationally acclaimed for its powerful rhythms, vocal harmonies, trance-inducing music and dance performances, and its unique blend of ancient and contemporary soundscapes.

The title track Il Mito was written by Rina Durante, founder of the group in 1975, and set to music by Daniele Durante. It is an invitation to join the great CGS family: a journey through memory and modernity, where tradition meets new sounds and new visions. From the repertoire that is now part of the collective imagination (Kali Nifta with Roberto Licci, the emblematic voice of Griko culture and Emanuele’s father; Lu Rusciu de lu Mare with Rossella Pinto, Mauro’s mother and singer with the band for over thirty years; Fimmene Fimmene and Aremu) to songs born from the collaboration between Rina and Daniele Durante (Quistione Meridionale, Il Mito), including more recent hits (Beddhu Stanotte, Dumenica Matina, Pizzica di Cosimino, A Mmera a Lecce).

The album concludes with a remastered version of Taranta, the famous 2015 composition by Mauro Durante and Ludovico Einaudi, a bridge between the past and the future, with Einaudi’s piano sealing a music that heals, unites and makes people dance.

Mauro Durante (violin, frame drums, vocals), Alessia Tondo (vocals, tamburello), Emanuele Licci (vocals, guitar, bouzouki), Giulio Bianco (clarinet, bass), Massimiliano Morabito (accordion), Giancarlo Paglialunga (vocals, tamburello), Silvia Perrone (dance).