This document summarizes the musical traditions of the Northern Mediterranean region, focusing on Southern Europe and the Mediterranean islands. It describes the prevalence of folk traditions involving instrumental music, dance, and song that are often associated with regional costumes, instruments, and festivals. Specific traditions are discussed for countries like Spain, France, Italy, and islands like Mallorca, Sardinia, Malta that involve styles of bagpipes, pipe and tabor ensembles, polyphonic singing, and the use of vocal and instrumental drones.

1. Musical
tradi,ons
of
the
Northern
Mediterranean
Week
23

2. Southern
Europe
and
Mediterranean
• Local
Tradi,ons
• Instruments
• Scales
• Events
and
Musical
Calendars
• Dances
• Social
Func,ons
• Religion
–
Catholic
calendar,
saints
days
and
church
links.

3. Geography

4. Folk
Tradi,ons
• Most
countries
in
med.
area
have
a
vibrant
folk
tradi,on
that
involves
instrumental
music,
dance
and
song.
• OKen
involves
na,onal/regional
costumes,
specific
regional
instruments
and
local
tradi,ons
on
specific
days
or
fes,vals.

5. Spain
and
Balearic
Islands

6. Galicia
• Has
a
local
language
and
very
strong
regional
iden,ty.
• Instruments
–
gaita
with
percussion.
• Scales
–
c
major
scales
with
brighter
thirds.
• Lots
of
emphasis
on
playing
in
parallel
thirds
with
two
instruments.
• Local
dances
and
dance
forms.

7. Parallel
but
different.
• Spain
has
many
regional
tradi,ons
of
pipe
and
tabor
playing
and
also
of
bagpipe
playing.
For
the
pipe
and
tabor
Aragon
has
chiflo,
there
is
the
pito
in
Cas,le,
and
the
txistu
in
Basque
country.
• Spain
and
neighbouring
countries
abound
in
regional
bagpipe
tradi,ons.
Gallica
is
synonymous
with
the
Gaita,
Gascony
has
the
Bodega
and
in
Catalonia
there
are
bagpipes
(sac
de
gemecs)
a
bagpipe
played
with
the
a
pipe
and
tabor.
• There
are
similari,es
between
Mallorca
and
other
Mediteranean
island
tradi,ons.
The
Maltese
Zaq
is
a
bagpipe
played
with
a
fric,on
drum
and
tamborine
(tambor).
Like
the
Xeremiers
the
most
of
the
animal’s
skin
is
used
to
make
the
bag.
• The
blowpipe
is
,ed
into
one
of
the
forelegs
and
the
music
is
en,rely
seasonal
–
Christmas,
Carnival
and
the
agricultural
fes,val
of
St
Peter
and
St
Paul
and
the
end
of
harvest
are
important
dates.

8. The
Xeremiers
of
Mallorca

9. Village
tradi,ons
in
Mallorca

10. Colla
de
Xeremiers

11. Xeremies
• The
Xeremies
bagpipe
has
a
bag
made
of
very
thick
goat
skin
covered
with
cloth,
with
a
chanter
to
play
the
melody
and
two
or
three
pipes
for
drones
and
pedal
notes.
The
bag
is
inflated
through
a
mouthpiece
called
bufador
(blower),
joined
to
the
bag
by
the
nou
del
bufador
(blower’s
walnut).
The
chanter
is
semi-­‐conical
and
usually
tuned
in
(C#),
while
the
drones
are
tuned
at
C#
in
the
same
octave,
C#
two
octaves
below,
and
G#
in
the
octave
below
the
chanter.
Some
xeremies
are
tuned
in
C.
A
xeremies
player
is
known
as
a
xeremier.
• Mallorcan
xeremies
should
not
be
confused
with
Ibiza’s
xeremia
simple
(single
flute
or
flageolet)
nor
with
the
xeremia
bessona
(double-­‐barred
flute,
also
known
as
reclam
de
xeremies).
Tradi,onally
the
instrument
was
made
out
of
Granadi
wood
from
Cuba.
With
the
Castro/Cuban
revolu,on
in
1962
this
wood
became
difficult
to
get
hold
of
and
other
woods
have
been
tried.
Many
of
the
xeremiers
played
by
the
old
genera,on
had
dummy
drums
and
only
one
actually
worked.
By
contrast
the
younger
players
wanted
all
three
to
func,on
and
took
case
to
get
the
all
tuned
before
playing.

12. Southern
France
• Mediterranean
France
has
many
similari,es.
• Tradi,on
of
dance
with
pipe
and
tabor.
• Costumes
of
food
and
wine.
• Local
language
–
languedoc.

13. Provence

14. Maltese
Zaqq

15. Sardinia
• Ancient
tradi,ons
of
singing
and
performing
–
that
have
roots
in
an,quity.
• Greek
Aulos
–
and
Sardenian
‘Launadas’.
Links
over
,me.
• Song
and
dance.
Times
of
the
year
–
village
fes,vals.
• Local
dialect,
foods,
costumes.
Etc.

16. Launadas
of
Sardinia

17. Polyphonic
singing
• Folk-­‐singing
in
parts
–
extensive
use
of
drones.
• Of
major
scale
–
of
thirds.
• Connec,on
with
religion.
• All
male
groups.
• Used
specifically
to
accompany
dancing.
• Local
groups
from
par,cular
villages.

18. Tenores
de
big

19. Vocal
Drones
• Drone
based
music
is
a
peculiarity
of
the
region.
• Normally
on
instruments
–
bagpipes,
hurdy-­‐
gurdies,
jews
harps,
string
drums
etc.
• Also
vocal
drones
• Usually
movables
fiKhs.

20. Vocal
Drones

21. Southern
Italy
• Has
all
these
folk
tradi,ons.
• Regional
dialects.
• Costumes,
dances
and
instruments.
• The
Zampogna
–
the
strangest
bagpipe
of
all.
• 4
drones
and
2
chanters.
• Uses
the
en,re
animal.

22. Sicily
and
Southern
Italy

23. Balkan
region
• Instruments,
dances,
songs,
costumes,
languages,
food,
etc.
• Unusual
in
that
the
music
is
also
eastward
looking
–
Micro
tones,
composite
rhythms
(5s
and
7s
als
3+2+2,
etc.

24. Balkan
Bagpipes

25. Greece
-­‐
Macedonia