Le Ciaramelle d'Amatrice

[Ciarameddaru]

A week ago I got back from spending 2 weeks in Italy. The main reason for my trip was to spend time In Rome visiting with the few remaining players of one of the rarest forms of Italian bagpipe, "Le Ciaramelle d'Amatrice." There are roughly only 5-6 active players of this zampogna. Fortunately two of them are in their late 20's early 30's and are both very good players and are dedicated to continuing this tradition.

The reason I chose to study this particular pipe on my recent trip as opposed to going elsewhere and immersing myself in one of the other piping traditions is because of its rarity. Also it appeals to me as a Zampognaro and amateur ethnomusicolgist of Italian folk music because it is so different from the other zampognas, not only in the fingering technique for playing it, but also in its musical scale and their relation between the two chanters, the melodic phrases and the rhythmic structure of its traditional tunes. Not to mention, it's the only zampogna w/o drones!

So I spent a lot of time talking and taking notes about the tradition, and I was fortunate to spend an evening with the bulk of the members of this musical culture in what I would describe as a "traditional" ambiance (ie. a huge dinner with lots of wine and singing and piping around the table) where I made a bunch of field recordings onto a professional digital recorder for preservation. I was also taking copious pictures and captured a few video clips as well which are posted below.

In addition to making field recordings I took a day trip to the mountains of Amatrice. It was breathtakingly beautiful as all the trees were changing. As we climbed the winding roads in the car there was snow on the ground in the shaded areas. Going to Amatrice made me realize just how physically isolated this area was - the perfect place for preserving a musical tradition that is probably one of the closest unbroken links to the greek Aulos (Tibia) that is in existence today. The music as described to me by one of the players was properly "Roman." During my trip to Amatrice I went on what I can only sum up as a wild goose chase trying to find a wood worker, of who I only had a first name, Franco, who may or may not have had an old Zampogna that his father made. To make a long story short, after going from town to town asking random people for this wood worker, my Italian friend and I ended up inside the small stone cottage of an old wood worker and his wife heated by a wood burning stove in the kitchen of which an elderly woman was sitting by warming herself. I think the last thing that he was expecting to encounter as his wife roused him from a nap on the couch was to find a young American standing in his living room very enthusiastically asking about an old bagpipe. At first they had been holding out on me insisting that there were no old pipes (this is what they had told my friends in rome as well), but I think I endeared them enough that the wife, after I made my case, came back with an old pipe that looked like it had been sitting in the basement for years. I immediately knew it was the traditional pipe I was looking for and was excited to get it for a very reasonable price. I then found out that Franco, the son of the deceased pipe maker who made my pipe has also made a handful of pipes. I did my best to encourage him to continue making them as my friends back in Rome would be excited to get a pipe from the region of Amatrice proper, instead of having to get a pipe maker from Molise to make a very Molise looking copy.

Anyway, I have the pipe back in the US. After subjecting it to a thorough cleaning and oiling it looks almost brand new. I put a bag on it and made a pair of plastic reeds and have it in what I believe to be the proper scale. I had to figure out the scale by ear. I'm still waiting on my friends in Rome to send me their interpretation of the scale so I can compare it to what my ear is hearing. If anyone has the scale for this pipe transcribed, or can easily here the scale from the videos posted below, PLEASE send it to me!

David

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3hsealpYxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uts9HfiWOBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyaL_ayfyxw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jimCcGD_YYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4BdUHHHcfI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7DSsPh4wdw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQRISbAexT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYtBNEVk6uA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBkxKqr4EJ0

[Ciarameddaru]

The music scales from the video as I have interpret them:

Left Changer: G#-A#-C-C#-D#
Right Chanter: C#-D#-F-G-G#

My Pipe is playing a half step higher at:
L Chanter: A-B-C#-D-E
R Chanter" D-E-F#-G#-A

Note: The right chanter, though having a thumb hole, only plays 5 notes as the pinky finger is not used. Notice that two notes overlap.

[Celtpastor]

Hi David!
What a cooool trip You had - how exciting!
Now - You say it's droneless (would be an interesting connection to the mediterranean-caucasian group of droneless doublechanter pipes...) but in the videos I seem to see a 3rd tube in the stock. Is that something like a "drone-dummy", without reed, as in some sopranino-drones of Zampogne a chiave?
And: What reeds does it have - single or double?
How close is the scale related to the Zampogna moderna?

Thanx for helping my couriousity!

[Ciarameddaru]

Celtpaster - your are correct! It is a dummy drone, like the high drone on the molise a chiave pipes. In fact the drone isnt even bored out - it's just a stick of wood. But if you listen to the pipe played it sounds like there is a drone at times because of the closed fingering on the bass chanter, which they then quickly "blip" the top two holes to provide the rhythm without disrupting the drone sound.

I have seen some old pictures of this type pipe with a second drone hole in the stock with a plug in it. This instrument is structurally similar to the Zampogna Zoppa, which is found in other parts of Lazio. I would guess that at some point they diverged from a common design. The Zoppa taking on the more modern a paro tuning and the Amatrice pipe retaining the ancient sound. I attribute this to the fact that the Amatrice pipe is the only zampogna not played for religious purposes so it didn't change to play the type of music being proliferated by the church.

The pipe has double reeds. Normally with open bells, but there are some closed bell examples.

The Zampogna a moderna is tuned exactly like a southern Calabrian a chiave - the type with 3 drones. The chanters are in octaves and 2 drones play the 5th and one long drone plays the tonic note of the bass chanter. The a moderna uses single reeds and doesnt have a key.

By "mediterranean-Caucasian" connection, are you referring to the Surle from northern Croatia? It's anyone's guess where the pipe came from. My guess is that it (and I would say the same for all zampognas) is descended from the Aulos/Tibia - double reed pipes that at some point they stuck a bag on and in most cases added drones. Compared to other zampognas i would speculate that the Amatrice pipe has retained the most archaic melodic and rhythmic flavor, while the other pipes have more modern sounding repertoire and tunings. As far as any connection with Croatian double chanter-drone-less pipes, it's possible, but who knows. What's your guess?

[Celtpastor]

Well - interestingly enough, Gioielli examines the Surle/Diple-type of croatian bagpipes within the 1st volume of his book about Zampogne - there was an extensive cultural connection between the Croatian coast and southern Italy for quite some time...
I had an extensive (4hrs... ) discussion about this and similar questions referring to possible connections between Diple/Mih, Carpathian pipes and the Boha with Hungarian-Croatian pipemaker Andor Vegh recently, but we didn't really come to any satisfying answers...
The beer was pretty good, though...

[Ciarameddaru]

Celtpast - where did you order the Gioielli book? Can you get it online??

I have been fiddling around with my new pipe the past several days now that I have it in what I believe to be the proper tuning and I'm starting to piece together the melodies and phrases that I captured in my recordings. When I was with the pipers I paid a lot of attention to their fingering. The fingering on this instrument is quite different from the other Zampogas. The whole ethos for making music with it is different than the other pipes. It does have a much more eastern european playing style with all the quick "blips" and trills. Also the tunes don't go back and forth between two root notes (ie. DO DO DO DO RE RE RE RE repeat...) like you find on all the other Zamps. In some ways learning this pipes is like learning another musical "language" for me.

Also, I tried to find some pictures or info on the Surle - the Croatian pipe Sean plays on his CD. All I can find is this http://www.gajde.com/index.php/en/urle.html And it doesnt even sound like it's being played through a bag. I can't find any youtube videos or other websites with info on this instrument. I'm interested in knowing a bit more about it so I can make more of a comparison to the Amatrice pipes. Anyone know of anything???

[Celtpastor]

You can get Mauro's book (2 volumes!) through Antonietta Cacci from the Circolo della Zampogna at Scapoli (just google...). She's very friendly and her English is decent. Also, she can organize You almost any type of Zampogna You're longing for...
And the Scapoli-festival in late july (, which she's one of the organizers of) is a MUST for any serious Zampogna-addict.

[Ciarameddaru]

Yes Celtpaster, I've met Antonietta at the 2008 Scapoli fest. The Scapoli fest for me is kind of like Vegas. I'm glad I went for the experience but I'm not sure how much I want to go back. It was kind of a "casino" as they would say in Italian. No pun intended.

Antonietta was very nice and has done a lot for this instrument in the Abruzzo region, though something tells me that Antonietta wouldn't have been able to hook me up with the Amatrice pipe I just got
(that being said, the Ricci pipe makers do make copies of the Amatrice pipe and they aren't bad, but as I stated before, they "look" like Scapoli pipes). I was going after one made in Amatrice region proper. Plus I needed an excuse to go to Amatrice other than for their signature pasta, (which was amazing by the way).

ps. Antonietta is no longer one of the organizers anymore, the fest was hijaciked by the town government and there was a big falling out between the town and the circolo. There is lots of drama in the zampogna world! (well only when $ is involved)

[Celtpastor]

There is lots of drama in the zampogna world! (well only when $ is involved)

That's why I prefer those bagpipe festivals running on € or smaller European currencies (like Balingen, Strakonice et al.) Who is to blame - Monsanto? GM?? Halliburton???

[Ciarameddaru]

Well It's running on the Euro. I used "$" as more of an international sign for MONEY.

[sean an piobaire]

David, YOU ARE ONE HIGHLY MOTIVATED INDIVIDUAL !!!!
(You do remind me of what I was like in my 20s, so long ago)
As for the SURLE (and / or PIVA DI TRIESTE) the Scale is written out
on Oliver Seeler's Hotpipes site. The Italians use the Piva for wedding
Music, just like the Pipers in Amatrice.
Sean (your Zampognaro) Folsom

[Celtpastor]

@Ciarameddaru: In many parts of the world, the meaning of the Euro has overrun USD by far - people rather rely on a solid currency... That much about "international sign for money".

However - in Goielli's 1st Vol., Giancarlo Palombini published the extensive article (Pp. 53-80.) "La ciaramelle: la zampogna altosabina" about this instrument. Also, Guatieri made and sold technically identical instruments as "Zampogna 30 Zoppa".
There are nice examples of tunes and lyrics there as well!
Since the book is in Italian, I was able to follow due to my knowledge of Latin, but to get the detailed answers You're looking for, I'd rather suggest to consider the book Yourself - I guess Your Italian is a lot better than mine...

[Ciarameddaru]

Hey Celtpaster. Yes we are all lamenting the death of the American $ over here, especially when we travel abroad!

Goielli's two books are on my list of books that i need to purchase. If I remember correctly they are kind of expensive. I will get them one of these days. I have however read an article he wrote on the instrument that was in Utriculus. You can download some of his articles here:
http://www.maurogioielli.net/Bibliograf ... iculus.htm

Of course I have downloaded all of them and have read a few of them, including the one on the Amatrice pipe. He talks about how the amatrice guys have commissioned or modified the pipes from the zoppa pipe makers to play the amatrice tunes because there has often been a lack of pipe makers in the amatrice area. (i suspect this is where the drone comes from) It mentions them using 28 and 30 model zoppas! I also have a bunch of articles published on this pipe from a local magazine published in the Amatrice area called Fedelis Amatrix. There are some great historic photos and ethnomusicological studies on the instrument. The publisher of the magazine was nice enough to gift me every single issue ever printed that had anything about the pipe in it.

So I have been playing this pipe daily since I succeeded in making reeds for it. I'm starting to piece together the tunes of the traditional repertoire. For a "standard" zampogna player it requires a whole new way of thinking and approach to what one normal uses when playing a "zampogna." The fingering is so different and the melodic progressions and rhythm are quite different from the other zampogna traditions. But when you get in a grove with the pipe it sounds really good and is fun to play. Plus there is something intrinsically pleasurable about knowing that I'm one of only like 5 people playing it - a tradition with an unbroken link back to what i like to think began with the greek aulos.

[Ciarameddaru]

I am really obsessed with this clip right now that I re-discovered on youtube a few days ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhEh7SSpMQo
This guy's technique is amazing. He gets so many little blips and pops thrown into the rhythm. One of the last great pipers of this style from the old generation.

I wish I could get my reeds to sound like this. I keep making new ones and ripping them apart going for perfection. Starting to drive myself crazy. If I can get my pipe sounding how I want it I'll eventually put a youtube clip up.

[anima]

Does he have socks over the end of his chanters?