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Tenores di Bitti "Mialinu Pira"      foto di Renato Brotzu

 

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The Tenores di Bitti "Mialinu Pira"

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Who Michelangelo "Mialinu Pira" was?

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 The group was born in Sardinia and takes its name from the well-known anthropologist Michelangelo “Mialinu” Pira from Bitti.

All the members have been learning the traditional singing since they were children.

After a careful preparation the group began to perform the ancient melody in many squares, theatres and churches of Sardinia , Italy and abroad:-as in Germany , Denmark , France , Canada , Dubai (Emirates A.U.; the performance was successfully broadcast by Abu Dhabi TV), Norway ( Trondheim : international Olavsfestdagene, broadcast by the national radio ), Czech Republic , Spain (with Hevia), Belgium , Nederland . The Tenores di Bitti “Mialinu Pira” performed their first record “Su monte’e mesus”.It is also remarkable their participation to the Christmas Concert for the Pope on December 2001 with artists as Hevia ,Terence Trent-Darby, Cranberries, Randy Crawford.

The concert was broadcast by “CANALE 5” on world vision  with great appreciation of public.

They were also guests in the telecast “Quelli che il calcio …”, on the  national TV RAI TRE .

Other recent international performances:

- July 2003 -- Participation in two important international festival in two towns next to Brno, in the Czech Republic, Namest nad Oslavou and Uherskč Hradiste.

- September  2003 - Really interesting collaboration with Hevia, the famous Asturian Bagpipes player who involved the Sardinian group in his concert in Avilčs ( Spain ) to open his winter tour.

In the same month the group received good reviews from the important foundation named after the greatest Sardinian folk singer Maria Carta.

In the musical event a careful and expert jury awarded the group and performance for the section "traditions".

 

- November 2003 -They participate in the Festival Europalia.Italia 2003 in Belgium and Nederland as representatives of the Italian popular music. Four concerts in Mons , Bruxelles, Anversa , Eeklo, Utrecht

 

The group works carefully for the preservation of this tradition by keeping courses in the school(on 1999 they have kept a  Regional course for Tenores Singers)  and  trying to merge this traditional singing with other genres of music as classical , on theatres ….  

Directly from the heartland of Sardinia, the city of Bitti in the region of Barbagia, known for its polyphonic singing, which many experts find one of the most expressive forms of singing, the highest peak of vocal art - come Tenores di Bitti "Mialinu Pira", which is the nickname and the surname of the famous anthropologist Michelangelo Pira. When one hears the songs for the first time they might seem primitive and hard, like a voyage in the prehistoric age, when people imitated the sounds of nature. However, four man voices one of which chants the main melody and the other three accompany it in rhythmic pronunciation of syllables, together with the guttural emission of the voice which remind us of the primitive vocal music from Oceania and Africa, one achieves an unusual harmony and a pleasant singing.

The Tenores’ singing is one of the more ancient ways of singing in the Mediterranean area .Nothing about its origins is sure, but the historians maintain that this traditional polyphony goes back  to 3000 years ago.

The singing is made by four male voices (oche, mesu oche, bassu and contra), the main feature of this polyphony is represented by “bassu” and “contra”  because of their guttural and ancestral sound. The songs are profane poems speaking about the shepherds and their solitude in touch with the nature, or religious, referring to the popular world and its traditions.

All the members have been learning the traditional singing since they were children.

 

Below find a list of our main performances in concerts or event form 1996 ‘till 2005.

 

 

1996    october  Monchengladbach Germany  in the  circolo “Eleonora d’Arborea”

1996   10 december Lecco  

1996   11 december  Bergamo “blob house”

1996   12 december   Clusone (BG)

1996   13 december  Longiano (FC) (teatro petrella)

1996    december  concert “ a Cuncordu” Montreal Canada

1999    from september ‘till december of this years the Tenores di Bitti “Mialinu Pira” kept courses in schools to teach people how to sing ‘a tenore’.    

2001   Umbertide (PG)  “teatro dei riuniti”

2001  from 6 to 16 June they sing in Abu Dhabi (Emirates) at the theatre of the ‘Cultural Foundation”. The performance was recorded and broadcast by the National TV “Abu Dhabi TV SAT”.

2001 in August is the only Italian group to partecipate in the project “world of voices” during the the ‘Cultural Olympiad” in Naestved, Danemark. The result of this event was an extraordinary cohoperation of voices and instruments from many parts of the world : Maryam Mursal(Somalia), Maria Leshkova´s Choir il mistero delle voci bulgare (Bulgaria), Irene Becker, Sille Gromberg, Martin Seeberg, Morten Carlsen (Danimarca), Yu Jun (Cina), Dawda Jobateh (Gambia), Ayi Solomon (Ghana);

2001 in December partecipate in the traditional Christmas Concert in the Hall Paolo VI at the Vatican in the presence of the Pope Giovanni Paolo II with many other artists of international fame as Hevia,. , Randy Crawford,  Terence Trent d’Arby, Russel Watson, per l’Italia Elisa,. Edoardo Bennato, Massimo Ranieri.The event was broadcasted in Italy by Canale 5 and RTL102.5, it was also in worldvision.

2002  In december they partecipated in the festival Olavsfestdagene in Trondheim, Norway. In this occasion they performed their own concert in the Nidaros Cathedral, but also togheter with the band “Enzo Favata Quintet” in Our Ladiy’s Church.The concert was broadcasted by Norwegian Broadcasting, the national radio.

2002   17 august Tagliacozzo (AQ) Chiostro S.Francesco “festival di mezza estate”

2002   18 august Pontremoli (MS) teatro della rosa

2002   12 december  Moncalieri (TO) teatro civico matteoti

2003   28 july concert in  Namest nad Oslavou (Moravia), Word Music festival Folkové prázdniny Cech Republic

2003    29 july concert in  Uherske Hradiste (Brno), Festival Summer Film School Cech Republic

2003 The 7 September they were invited by the well known spanish player of the Asturian Pipes Hevia, met at the Christmas Concert, to partecipate as special guest in the event ‘Dia de Asturias, in the town of Aviles, near Oviedo. The Tenores performed with Hevia, the flamenco guitar player Juan Manuel Canizares and the traditional singer M Luz Cristobal Caunedo.

2003 On 21 Septe3mber the group received the award “Premio Maria Carta” as best performance within the section “Traditions of Sardinia”. The foundation “Maria Carta” is set in Siligo ,the town where Maria Carta, one of the best voices in Sardinia, was born. The organization was founded to promote musical traditions of Sardinia. More information can be found in the link www.fondazionemariacarta.it

2003  19 november Concert   Utrecht (Olanda) Teatro RASA.

2003  20 november, Anversa DeSingel

2003  21 november, Mons chiesa di San Nicola

2003  22 november, Bruxelles Espace Senghor

2003  23 november, Eeklo Villa N9

This  concerts were performed within the Festival Europalia Italia 2003.

This event is organised every second year since 1969 to celebrate and promote the culture of a country which is everytime different. That’s why this year, in coincidence with the Italian semester at European Parlament,  exibitions, performances and other events in many cities in Belgium were celebrating Italian culture, History and art. Among many guests, the Orchestra Filarmonica La Scala with iuts director Riccardo Muti. The Tenores and Nuova Compagnia di canto popolare were the only Italian  delegates for the traditional music.

2004 From 28 May to 1 June they were guests in the Festival Musica Sacra International in Germany, an event which celebrated the world sacred music since 1992. Tenores di Bitti were delegates for The Catholic Religion . Many artists for all religions  partecipated in the event in the most important churces of Bavaria. For more info: www.modmusik.de

2004   Mira (VE)” tam tam festival suoni e culture dal mondo” 2 june

2004   3 september  Petrignano d’Assisi (PG)

2004  10 september Concert in Luxembourg, organized in cohoperation with the Italian Embassy in the Italian Isitut of Culture of Luxembourg.

2004   8 october concerto Concert in Slovenia at Liubljana in the theatre Cankariev Dom, organized in cohoperation with the Italian Institute of Culture.

2005 6 January.  They were guests in the broadcast “Affari Tuoi” in the national chanel RAI UNO,  directed by Paolo Bonolis. In this successful TV broadcast the song “Milia Vattu sa trotta” became the Sardinian “National” Inn.

2005   21 march Concert in Piazza Navona for the Labour Union Gilda

2005  27-28-29 April  concert in Cork (Irlanda) International Choral Festival. link

2005  31 may Mira (VE) ” tam tam festival suoni e culture dal mondo”

2005  2-3-4  june  Concert in Graz (Austria) during an expo of Sardinian traditional products, in cohoperation with ‘Prosciutteria dall’Ava San Daniele”

2005   5 august  Concert  Pola (Croazia) Festival Etnojazz Istrionica

2005   21 august  “Spoleto Estate” concert church of San Brizio www.spoletoestate.com

2005   from 22 to 30 august  concerts in San Paolo Brasil   collaboration with others 21 musicians for the project “ Orquestra Mediterranea”. For info clic here

2005   22 october concert   Sarmeola di Rubano (PD) teatro “Opera della Provvidenza”

 

 

 

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Omar Bandinu     Bassu

Marco Serra     Contra

Dino Ruiu (noto Dalleddu)  Oche

Bachisio Pira       Oche - Mesu Oche

Copertina dell'album "Su monte 'e mesus"
   

 

Udienza Papale 13 Dicembre 2001. Concerto di Natale in Vaticano

 

 

Management and Booking:

Omar Bandinu

via Brescia n° 17, 08021 Bitti (Nu)

tel. 070/563151
tel. 0784/415042

fax. 02 700 314 73

Sardegna Italy

omarbandinu@tiscali.it

 

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