Members of Italian band Kalàscima tell Shrabasti Mallik about the traditional music of the Tarantella and how they bring together classical instruments with electronic ones
If history and folklore are anything to go by then in ancient times, people in Italy more concentrated to the South believed that music could cure a person suffering from a tarantula bite. In reality they were serious diseases like epilepsy and schizophrenia which the simple people had no knowledge or awareness about. A group of musicians played the violin, tambourine, drums and accordion for days for about a quater of an hour with a few minutes of break while person, thought to be bitten, danced uncontrollably during the entire duration. They only stopped when the person collapsed. Chances were that their body gave up due to fatigue but the people believed that the person was cured.
The particular kind of music came to be known as the Tarantella and continued till the 1950s. But times have changed and so have the rituals but Italians has kept alive this piece of traditional music. It is known by different names in different areas but belong to the big family of the Tarantella.
In Salento, a place in southern Italy, this traditional music is called the Pizzica Pizzica. “It means pinch pinch,” said Massimiliano De Marco, musician and member of popular Italian six-member band Kalàscima.
It is the band’s first time in India and they could not be more excited. Hours before their debut performance at the India International Centre, when we met them, they were busy figuring out what they could do to entertain the audience.
They come off as a passionate group of musicians. And why notIJ The band was formed 15 years ago with the first line up, which, over the years have changed. The present group came together in 2008.
Music practically runs in their veins. And they were quite eager to explain to us all about their music. “Ours is trans music and quite rhythmic and is similar to traditional music, which is the same everywhere. The basic beats are the common thing in all traditional compositions,” said Massimiliano.
The music of the Tarantella used to be played during joyous occasions and ceremonies and continues to be so. The guys drew a difference, “Some bands are more traditional than the other and may be our music can be considered a modern ritual to cure the world. It is a way to feel better.”
And they do not just stick to the traditional instruments. Riccardo Basile adds the sound of bass guitar, synth bass and live electronics into their compositions. But how does that work, we asked, and Federico lagana explained that in the traditional music of Salento, the concept of trance is the centre. “We play traditionally to get the dancers in trance. And electronic music today is the same its a modern way to get into trance. So we are trying to mix it, and for us it is easy,” he elaborated.
Initially the band started with traditional instruments if southern Italy guitar, accordion and violin. “But now we use bagpipes and flutes from Calabria, a region in South Italy, and 2008 we met Riccardo and introduced the bass guitar and electronics,” Massimiliano shared.
We learnt that the members have known each other from their school days and every one of them is trained in different musical instruments. While some of them have their base set in rock and metal (Riccardo) some are trained in the classical guitar (Massimiliano).
Federico mentioned that since they come from different musical backgrounds, it is normal for them to play their instruments in different ways. “Because traditional music is live and now we have other kind of music, and that’s normal. like we play the tambourine in the drum and base way,” he added.
We could not help but ask the guys about the name of the band. Turns out that the name Kalàscima comes from two words and means good and bad. The members offered to elaborate, “The first word is Kalà, from Greece, which means good. Ascima means not good and comes from an ancient language that was spoken in Salento called Grecia Salentina.”