This fellow is playing a zampogna, an Italian bagpipe. Zampogne (plural for zamponga) are found throughout Italy. Sicily has a strong tradition of exploiting the droning sounds of zampogne—created from air vibrating through either a single or double reed—for its folk music, specifically from mountainous regions where sheep and goat herding are prevalent. The air bags of zampogne are made from the hides of sheep or goats. At slaughter, the hide is carefully removed in one piece, dried and treated (like drum skins are), and turned inside out. The full coat of the animal is left intact, inside the bag, and one front leg and both rear legs are tied to contain the air. The remaining front leg is used as the air canal through which the player’s breath travels to fill the air bag and then release it upon playing. Two or more precisely crafted, wooden chanters and drones are manipulated by the player to create different chords and pitches as the air passes through the aforementioned reed and then them.

In Sicilian, the word for zampogna is #ciaramedda.

For more about the zampogna and to hear what it sounds like, check out David Marker’s film, “Zampogna: The Soul of Southern Italy” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pa4W7iA5So.

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