The spectacle of bagpipe-playing shepherds nonetheless exists in Naples and Rome.
Dressed in conventional sheepskin and woollen cloaks with peaked hats, the zampognari pipers come into the town from their mountain houses, performing conventional music and hymns together with the much-loved Italian carol Tu scendi dalle stelle.
The zampognari are vital figures within the folklore of Italian areas together with Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Molise, Puglia and Sicily.
These otherworldly characters carry out conventional Christmas melodies on the zampogna, an historical wind instrument made from animal cover, whose music is hypnotic and really loud.
The arrival of the zampogna is taken into account auspicious they usually function strongly within the Christmas crib custom of Naples, because of a preferred legend about shepherds taking part in music on their pipes upon seeing the child Jesus in Bethlehem.
As for the musical instrument itself, the zampogna shouldn’t be confused with the northern European bagpipes, each as a result of variations of geographic origin and the truth that the zampogna normally has no less than two melodic reed pipes.
The music performed on the zampogna is commonly accompanied by a ciaramella or piffaro, a wind instrument much like the oboe.
So hold an ear out for the zampognari this Christmas – you’ll hear them earlier than you see them!
Photo: Marco Mariani / Shutterstock.com.
