The idea of music as a cultural bridge, connecting Sicily with the various shores of the Mediterranean and the world, deeply inspires the Marranzano World Festival. The event’s title, with its reference to a specific instrument, should not be misleading since the jaw harp is not only one of the most representative instruments deeply rooted in the musical tradition of Sicily but also, and above all, a metaphor for everything that, while typically Sicilian, projects into a space of international cultural relations; for everything that, despite having ancient roots, extends toward the future.
Just like the jaw harp, the focus of this second edition of the festival, the tambourine is also a typically Sicilian instrument found in a wide variety of forms and models in many traditional cultures in Italy, Europe, Asia, and the entire planet. As a witness to a very ancient form of “globalization,” the tambourine is simultaneously a symbol of our local tradition and a potential vehicle for global interconnection.

The need to rediscover and value the musical heritage of Sicilian tradition not in a parochial key but as a tool for exploring a path of knowledge and intercultural tolerance is at the core of the cultural project Marranzano World Festival. The festival aims to create a meeting point and reference for the world of popular musical instruments in Sicily, as well as for music, arts, and Sicilian cultural traditions in general. To enhance and promote the rediscovery of our ancient cultural roots and simultaneously unveil, through the history of musical instruments, deep connections with other cultures and traditions of peoples more or less distant.

The festival program, detailed in the attached version, is rich with significant local, national, and international guests. It includes an ethnomusicological conference on the history and anthropology of frame drums, an exhibition of musical instruments, a series of practical music workshops, and various concerts. These initiatives cater to a broad and diverse audience, offering the opportunity to discover the unsuspected variety and richness of the sound world enclosed between wooden frames and sheepskin.
Given the great success of the previous edition, which similarly unveiled the musical potential of the jaw harp and frame drums, this year, a concert on April 24th will be entirely dedicated to these instruments and the musical traditions of the Far East. Virtuosos from Sicily, Germany, and Japan will participate.

During the festival, there will also be an exhibition of musical instruments, providing an overview of popular musical instruments in Sicily and sound objects from the traditional and peasant world (rattles, cowbells, sound toys), as well as tambourines and frame drums from Sicily and around the world. The exhibition, enlivened by the daily sessions of the music workshops, will take place in the heart of the ancient kitchens of the Benedictine Monastery, a very evocative location that allows a glimpse into the geological history of the city, making it an additional point of interest for visitors. The Regional Archaeological Museum of Agrigento collaborated on the exhibition, contributing iconographic support on musical instruments depicted in Attic and Magna Graecia ceramics from the 6th to 3rd centuries BC.

Festival

Contacts

Infos about Festival
and parallel activities:
info@marranzanoworldfest.org

Artistic production e direction
MoMu Mondo di Musica
info@mondodimusica.it
www.mondodimusica.it

Esecutive production and administration
Associazione Musicale Etnea
info@ame.ct.it
www.ame.ct.it