When Antonio Castrignanò listens to pizzica, he hears much more than tambourines and drums. “This music really feels like a dream,” is how the musician and composer puts it. “It gives dignity to the sacrifices my people made for their own freedom, to no longer be inferior to anyone.”
It’s an emotion other natives of Salento would doubtless understand. Birthed in village squares and olive groves, right at the heel of the Italian boot, pizzica acted for centuries as the region’s daily soundtrack.
Nowadays, however, has transcended its peasant roots – and nowhere is that clearer than at the . At the same time, the music has become known far beyond Salento, its fevered rhythms common at weddings and fashion shows. Yet musicians like Castrignanò worry that the deep heritage of is being lost.
