Polifonie “in viva voce” 14
Launched in 1997 in collaboration with the Department of the History of the Arts and Conservation of the Artistic Heritage at Ca’ Foscari University, the polyphonic choir programme at the Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice, has called a wide range of singers from Albania, Bulgaria and Georgia; from the large Mediterranean islands, (Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily); from Liguria, the Canavese area and the Amiata area in Tuscany. For various specifi c studies, the singers have been joined by leading specialists on the polyphonic forms being presented.
Over the years the workshops and concerts have enabled the scholars, researchers and enthusiasts who have come to San Giorgio to get to know and appreciate some of the most important forms of European polyphonic singing.
On Wednesday, 17 November, the fourteenth edition will be ded icated to the polyphonic tradition of Cham male singers from Albania. The Cham population mainly lives in southern Albania, although in the past they settled in areas now within the borders of Greece.
Exclusively male, the Cham choirs make use of verse texts retelling the stories of epic and historical fi gures and episodes. Moreover, the singing is particularly complex: two “antagonistic” solo voices are supported by the iso, a drone group. The voices have a warmly textured “affectionate” timbre, tending to be gentle and rather soft in terms of acoustic intensity. In this sense Cham singing contrasts with the exuberance and great energy of other Albanian polyphonic practices.
Maurizio Agamennone, Nicholas Scaldaferri and the Polyphonic Group from the Cities of Fier and Rrogozhina (Southern Albania) will take part in the afternoon seminar. The Group then will perform in the evening concert.
