Il Carnevale di Biccari, la tradizione delle ‘Nzammaruchele

Dario Melissano 5 February 2023

In Biccari, close to the Dauni mountains, the carnival preserves a strange and romantic tradition. On the swing, songs composed in alternating octave rhyme are sung, the first verse with the third, and the second with the fourth and so on. The main characteristic is the dialect form, handed down in rhymes through the various generations, without ever finding a true transcription.

The theme of the songs is, as always, love, which turns into hate, into disdain when it is not reciprocated. So there are songs of love, of disdain and of complaint.

During the Carnival period, a swing is built made of a piece of wood (à léun) that serves as a seat, placed on a thick rope (zoca) that is tied inside the house, to one of the rings on the ceiling, or to the lintel above the entrance door. In the latter case, the swing, while swinging, goes out and back into the house.

Usually the participants in the game are two women, rarely two men and even more rarely a man and a woman. They sit shoulder to shoulder and push each other with their left foot, taking turns intoning the same line that the second voice repeats with small melismatic variations.

In the houses where people sing, friends and relatives gather and often the hosts purposely invite those who have a beautiful voice and know the songs well.

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The Carnival of Biccari, the tradition of ‘Nzammaruchele

Written by Dario Melissano

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The Carnival of Biccari, the tradition of ‘Nzammaruchele

Written by Dario Melissano

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