Workshop | Sardinian Polyphonic Songs with Actores Alidos

Directed by Valeria Pilia with the collaboration of Elisa Marongiu, Manuela Ragusa, Roberta Locci.

Sardinia boasts a musical heritage of ancient memory, with very characteristic harmonic structures and sound blends. Female singing, traditionally monodic and less known than its male counterpart, accompanied all stages of life from birth to death. In their exploration of Sardinian singing, the Actores Alidos group, inspired by the male repertoire, has revisited and developed the female repertoire in a polyphonic key, where different voices play distinct and varied roles.
The theoretical and practical workshop provides insight into Sardinian sounds and the characteristics of female singing. It strikes a balance between tradition and innovation, ancient and contemporary influences. Traditional female songs are reinterpreted in a polyphonic style, alternating with unreleased songs and those belonging to the male repertoire. The workshop offers a wide variety of musicality, ranging from dance songs to work songs, lullabies to sacred songs, nursery rhymes to love songs, and festive songs to those from the male tradition, providing a glimpse into both the ancient and modern sounds of our land.
These songs (belonging to the concert repertoire) are presented in the workshop with arrangements adapted for group work as an “initiation” to polyphonic Sardinian singing.
Topics covered: Overview of Sardinian folk singing. Warm-up and vocal emission exercises. Vocal exploration. Sounds inspired by nature. Vibrato and quarter-tone technique. Female tradition and the value of its singing. Monodic singing and polyphonic singing. Lullabies, death songs, nursery rhymes, love songs, work songs, religious songs, and gosos are covered in the workshop.