ROME-The Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, one of the most popular Apulian folk groups, will perform a concert in the Finnish capital, Helsinki,  March 30. The group, which has given new life to knowledge of the music traditions of Apulia and the Salento, in Italy and in the world, has seven members, and has remained in its current line-up since 2007.

 The 'leader' of the group, Mauro Durante, has already been in Helsinki once last November during the concert given therein by Ludovico Einaudi, and Durante was his musical collaborator for the event. However, it is the first concert ever, not only in Finland, but in Scandinavia, and the artist does not hide his interest in returning for another concert, even during the festivals that take place in Finland during the summer.

 Founded in 1975 by writer Rina Durante, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino is the most important group of Salento folk music, the first to have been formed in Puglia.

 The fascinating dichotomy between tradition and modernity characterizes the music of the CGS: the group is composed of the principal architects of the music scene of Puglia, who reinterpret modern traditions that revolve around the famous “pizzica tarantata”ritual that was believed to have had the power to heal through music, trance and dance emulating the bite of the legendary Taranta spider.
Performances of the CGS are bursting with energy, passion, rhythm and magic, and take the audience on a journey from past to present to the beat of the tambourine, the heart of Salento’s tradition.

 Driven by tambourine-player and violinist Mauro Durante, who inherited the leadership of the band from his father Daniele in 2007, CGS continues to innovate and represent Italian music in the world, collaborating with artists such as Ludovico Einaudi, Piers Faccini, Ballake Sissok, Ibrahim Maalou, Fanfara Tirana, Stewart Copeland of The Police, and bringing the voice of a musical territory which has always expressed its identity through the pizzica.

 At only 26 years of age, Mauro Durante was the musical assistant of the concert master of the Notte della Taranta, Ludovico Einaudi, working on creation and artistic production of the show alongside the famous master.

 Whether in Europe or the Middle East, the group has made ​​the history of Italian world music, being recognized in 2010 by the MEI as Best Italian Folk Music Group.

 The band is composed of Mauro Durante (vocals, percussion, violin), Maria Mazzotta (voice), Silvia Perrone (dance), Giulio Bianco (bagpipes, harmonica, flutes and woodwinds popular, bass), Massimiliano Morabito (accordion), Emanuele litchis (vocals, guitar, bouzouki), and Giancarlo Paglialunga (voice, tamburieddhu).

 The Salento folk music and especially the pizzica have experienced in the last fifteen years a veritable explosion of media attention and interest from an ever-growing, local but also national and international, audience.

 The proliferation of new groups, festivals, exhibitions and productions testify to, on one hand, the increase in the number of actors who promote and produce activities related to the recovery and revival of folk traditions, and, on the other hand, to the stronger and stronger need felt by the public to rediscover their traditions, to feel connected to their roots, to create a strong sense of identity.

 The concert in Helsinki, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Finland, takes place at the renowned Savoy Theatre, located in the center of the capital. Beginning at 18:00 hrs. For more information: http://www.lippupalvelu.fi/event/canzoniere-grecanico-salentino-lippuja/124359