Interesting albums from the folk and roots music history, by Marius Roeting.
La Ciapa Rusa – Ten da chent l’archet che la sunada l’è longa
A musician’s or group’s musically best album isn’t always the deciding factor in how a career develops or how it’s seen historically. In 1982 a North Italians quartet releases an album. ‘Ten da chent l’archet che la sunada l’è longa’ by La Ciapa Rusa has 8 tracks of adaptations of traditional regional dancing melodies, ritual songs and ballades. They were recorded by field work, arranged with an unconventional armamentarium and melodies that are linked together. It’s not revolutionary, but it was definitely not the music Northern Italy was used to hearing. The album became nationally – and internationally – a huge success. It cleared the way for several groups to explore music from beyond the Piedmont and from across Europe. The tone has been set. La Ciapa Rusa keeps on developing, undergoes several ensemble changes and end up making 7 albums. The quality of these keeps increasing: the arrangements aren’t just spontaneous and filled with joy for the music, but becomes more academic and are thought through. The group even records a folk-rock album with a separate project Ten da chent inspired young North Italian musicians to explore their native music. The mushrooming of groups from the region dies down, but this isn’t the case for – regional – folk music. The many successions, which created internal competition and with careful transfers through notes, courses, workshops, educations, the founding of special record labels etcetera this may not be the musically best, but the historically most significant album coming from the Piedmont. That the original vinyl comes with a book with elaborated background information on the region, finding place, notes, dance descriptions, historical context for the song, instruments and much more, makes it not only an album, but also a reference work. Unfortunately, we can’t play that for you.
Beppe Greppi (l) en Maurizio Martinotti, core members of La Ciapa Rusa
La Ciapa Rusa – Ten da chent l’archet che la sunada l’è longa
– Music & words MWCD4014
1. Danze da piffero (basigna-basigna-polca-giga) 5.28
2. Questua delle uova -Curenta 5.21
3. Mazurka 2.40
4. Re Gilardin 5.02
5. Danze della valle Borbera (giga, giga, monferrina 3.54
6. La Bevanda sonnifera 4.07
7. Carnevale di Roccagrimalda (lachera, giga, calisun) 3.57
8. Gentil galant – Giga 4.46
La Ciapa Rusa – Antologia
– Robi Droli RDC015
9. Suite di Monferrine 5.29
10. La fanciulla rapita 4.30
La Ciapa Rusa – Aji & Safran
– Robi Droli/New Tone NT6729
11. la Torinese 3.04
La Ciapa Rusa – Diario di bordo
– Folkculb Ethnosuoni ES 5335
12. Pregherumma Sant’Antoni – Monferrina de Cecco – Monferrina modenese 4.07
13. Tasso barbasso – Centi 4.22
All tracks traditional, adaptation La Ciapa Rusa, except track 9, 11 (traditional, Maurizio Martinotti) and track 13 (Maurizio Martinotti)
